New Year’s Six Watch: Who makes the New Year’s Six if Cincy loses?
By Dante Pryor
In a season where the Group of Five is not getting the publicity it got last season, the #24 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns have put together another solid season in the Sun Belt Conference. This season, the Cajuns have run away with a down Sun Belt West as the only team in the division with a winning conference record.
The Cajuns end their Sun Belt season with interstate rival Louisiana-Monroe. Before that game, Louisiana plays Liberty in a contest between two of the better quarterbacks in the Group of Five.
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Speaking of the better quarterbacks in the Group of Five, Frank Harris and the UTSA Roadrunners were caught playing with the pressure of expectations and looking ahead, rallying to defeat the hapless Southern Miss Eagles in the Alamodome this weekend.
The UTSA program is in a place it has never been since moving up to the FBS. They are the class of Conference USA and one of the crown jewels of the American Athletic Conference rebuilding. Next week the Roadrunners host UAB in a game to determine the C-USA West division champs.
The #22 San Diego State Aztecs have won their last two games after losing to Fresno State. Their season could be significantly different if they didn’t lose that game. The Aztecs would not be ranked ahead of Cincinnati in the New Year’s Six race but would be more apt to leap-frog the Bearcats if they were to lose.
That Fresno loss does not diminish what the Aztecs have done in Brady Hoke’s second go-around with San Diego State. Hoke and his staff have found a formula that has worked on the west coast and are in the driver’s seat in the Mountain West with two games left in the regular season.