As we approach the end of the season, let’s assess each Group of Five conference individually and rate their chances of reaching the Cotton Bowl in 2019.
Usually in this space, we look at teams individually rather than on a spectrum of where they stand in their respective Group of Five conference races. It must always be remembered, though, that — whereas a conference championship is not a stipulation for reaching the College Football Playoff itself — the system as designed in the post-BCS landscape placed that artificial restriction on the selection committee when discussing teams outside the Power Five.
So it goes that the automatic bid into a New Year’s Six bowl game for a Group of Five team is predicated on winning a conference championship. As such, there will be some great teams in individual conference races that are going to be automatically excluded from consideration by the rules as currently written.
Over the course of the year, for instance, we have seen several different American Athletic Conference teams at the top of the Group of Five Power Rankings. Only one can emerge out of the scramble to put their name in the discussion at the end of the regular season.
This week we are going to look at those conference races as they come down to the wire. Who still has a realistic shot at reaching the Cotton Bowl this year, and which leagues are completely out of the picture? Let’s dive in deeper to look conference by conference in this week’s Group of Five Power Rankings.