Group of Five college football power rankings, Week 9: Cincy stays on top after scare

After surviving a scare vs Navy, Cincinnati remains atop our Group of Five college football power rankings heading into Week 9 of the 2021 season

The Group of Five college football rankings once again saw a lot of movement with losses from previously ranked No. 2 in our power rankings, Coastal Carolina, and previously ranked in our power rankings, No. 7 Air Force.

This week, we welcome Eastern Michigan and Utah State to our rankings after they were previously unranked.

We say goodbye to a whopping four teams that have dropped out of the Group of Five power rankings: Army, Ball State, Charlotte, and Wyoming.

The Mountain West leads the way with six teams ranking among the Top 20 teams in the Group of Five. The American is represented by four teams, C-USA has three, the Sun Belt has three, the MAC has two and two Independent teams round out the rankings.

With that, let’s take a look at this week’s rankings.

Week 8 Status: Won 55-24 vs Bowling Green

Eastern Michigan joins the power rankings for the first time this season with an impressive and dominating win over Bowling Green. Eastern Michigan is enjoying stellar play from two players with 300+ rushing yards and accurate quarterback play to move closer to making their third bowl game in four years. It’ll be interesting to see if the Eagles can use the momentum to propel themselves ahead of Toledo when they play on Nov. 2.

Week 8 Status: Lost 24-30 vs Rice

UAB lost a very winnable game to a team that historically has not had much success in recent years. The Owls came out of the gate with a 13-0 lead and the rest of the way was a back-and-forth affair. UAB will use this Bye Week now to regroup and prepare for Louisiana Tech next week.

Week 8 Status: Bye Week

Boise State had a bye week and while they have more losses and wins, they have beaten really good teams and lost games by a very small margin. If the Broncos wish to be invited to a college football bowl game, they’ll need to win four out of their final five games.

Week 8 Status: Won 24-7 vs Memphis

UCF made a statement against the Memphis Tigers last week, holding them to their fewest points since 2015. Backup quarterback Mikey Keene has done a solid job of holding down the starting job while Dillon Gabriel continues to recover from injury. Running back Isaiah Bowser had his best game since early in the season, rushing for 111 yards.

Week 8 Status: Won 26-24 vs Colorado State

Utah State has bounced back nicely in recent weeks after losing games to Boise State and BYU. A missed CSU field goal at the end of the game allowed the Aggies to escape with a win. QB Logan Bonner had one of his worst games of the season, completing just 55% of his passes and rushing for -39 yards (on nine attempts). The junior was also sacked a career-high eight times in the game. Utah State and Bonner will get a chance to correct some of those breakdowns against Hawaii this week.