Group of Five: Top 15 Power Poll

[Cane from the Bend]

Temple has the schedule.
Houston has the record.
Navy put down Memphis.

All of these would make a quality competitor. Right now, though, with an undefeated win/loss mark, Houston should have the lead.

Navy could knock them off too, which would make the decision of placing Temple or Navy ahead an interesting one. But, until they lose, the Cougars [imo] are leading this race.

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[armchairqb]

1. Navy (8-1)
2. Houston (10-0)
3. Memphis (8-2)
4. Temple (8-2)
5. Bowling Green (8-2)
6. Cincinnati (6-4)
7. BYU (7-3)
8. Western Kentucky (8-2)
9. Louisiana Tech (7-3)
10. Toledo (8-1)
11. Boise State (7-3)
12. Air Force (7-3)
13. Arkansas State (7-3)
14. Marshall (9-2)
15. San Diego State (7-3)

[armchairqb]

1. Navy (10-1)
2. Temple (9-2)
3. BYU (8-3)
4. Toledo (9-1)
5. Houston (10-1)
6. Western Kentucky (9-2)
7. Memphis (8-3)
8. Northern Illinois (8-3)
9. Bowling Green (8-3)
10. Air Force (8-3)
11. Marshall (9-2)
12. Louisiana Tech (8-3)
13. Boise State (7-4)
14. Arkansas State (7-3)
15. Southern Mississippi (8-3)

[Eric]

Seeing Navy in a big-time bowl as the Go5 representative would be incredible. When that spot was created, I don't think anybody assumed that an academy could ever make it in, but Navy can really play some football. Surprisingly, the reason they are better than usual this year is because of their defense. They have a legitimately solid defense that can hold their own against some good offensive players. That and Keenan Reynolds is the best Navy QB in decades.

There's a lot on the line with Houston and Navy this week. I wonder if Houston will rush Greg Ward back into action or if he'll still be too hurt to play. I think Postma might be out.

Plus, there's another connundrum: Will Navy get the group of 5 game even with another game left to go? The bowl selections should come out after the championship games, but as usual, Navy will play Army the following week so they can keep the tradition of closing out the year against the Knights. So....What if the unthinkable happened? Navy wins the AAC, but loses to Army after prepping to play Michigan State or Florida or somebody? Navy never loses to Army so I doubt it's a possibility, but that would certainly be bizarre. "You just lost to a bad 2-9 Army team, so have fun playing Ohio State / Oklahoma State / Etc.!"

[armchairqb]

1. Temple (10-2)
2. Houston (11-1)
3. BYU (9-3)
4. Navy (9-2)
5. Memphis (9-3)
6. Western Kentucky (10-2)
7. Bowling Green (9-3)
8. Toledo (9-2)
9. Boise State (8-4)
10. Southern Miss (9-3)
11. Ohio (8-4)
12. Arkansas State (8-3)
13. Louisiana Tech (8-4)
14. Appalachian State (9-2)
15. Northern illinois (8-4)

[armchairqb]

1. Houston (12-1)
2. Temple (10-3)
3. BYU (9-3)
4. Navy (9-2)
5. Memphis (9-3)
6. Western Kentucky (11-2)
7. Bowling Green (10-3)
8. Toledo (9-2)
9. Southern Miss (9-4)
10. Boise State (8-4)
11. Ohio (8-4)
12. Arkansas State (9-3)
13. Louisiana Tech (8-4)
14. Appalachian State (10-2)
15. San Diego State (10-3)

[billybud]

The sad thing is that no one wants to be the one who plays Houston in the NY6 bowl.

And Houston will go to the Peach or the Fiesta....(I am praying "please, not the Peach"). Let them play Ohio State in the Fiesta.

FSU learned with 12-1 NIU in the Orange a few years back. Nobody really cares. The P5 is expected to win no matter how good the G5 team is. The fans want to play a Notre Dame or Iowa or Ohio State and don't want to pay the big bowl bucks to play a NIU or Houston.

A noon kick off game with Houston in the Peach? I hope not.

Houston, we have a problem.

[donovan]

I get the Houston feeling. At least when Boise State was in that position there was year long hype which helped...but Houston is a boring as the town.

[Cane from the Bend]

Boise also had the BCS argument, where the media wanted to give the Broncos that amount of hype.

Now that espn has the tournament they were asking for, the Group of 5 is a forgotten man in the iron mask.

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[armchairqb]

The sad thing is that no one wants to be the one who plays Houston in the NY6 bowl.

And Houston will go to the Peach or the Fiesta....(I am praying "please, not the Peach"). Let them play Ohio State in the Fiesta.

FSU learned with 12-1 NIU in the Orange a few years back. Nobody really cares. The P5 is expected to win no matter how good the G5 team is. The fans want to play a Notre Dame or Iowa or Ohio State and don't want to pay the big bowl bucks to play a NIU or Houston.

A noon kick off game with Houston in the Peach? I hope not.

Houston, we have a problem.

This is definitely a different scenario than NIU. Houston has thrown $ to keep their head coach and he is actually staying. UH is seriously looking at getting into a power conference, and they have much more going on paper and on the field than NIU. QB Greg Ward Jr could be on the Heisman short list before 2016 starts. They may not win, but they could make it quite close.

[Cane from the Bend]

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That won't happen unless Houston finagles their way into a Power 5 conference by next season.

Houston may have money; but they do not have a money conference to support their name.

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[Cane from the Bend]

The sad thing is that no one wants to be the one who plays Houston in the NY6 bowl.

And Houston will go to the Peach or the Fiesta....(I am praying "please, not the Peach"). Let them play Ohio State in the Fiesta.

A noon kick off game with Houston in the Peach? I hope not.

Houston, we have a problem.

And; FSU vs Houston in the Peach Bowl it is.

[Eric]

The problem with Houston is that they are a 'tweener type of program. Not quite big enough to be attractive for their own sake, but definitely a bigger fish in a smaller pond. They don't offer the Big 12 anything they don't already have. If the Big 12 actually wants to get to 12, they'd rather go BYU, Memphis, Cincinnati, and possibly even Tulane before they went with Houston (or they could go on that hypothetical ACC raid that was rumored a few years ago). Not their fault, but what can they do.

[Spence]

The problem with Houston is that they are a 'tweener type of program. Not quite big enough to be attractive for their own sake, but definitely a bigger fish in a smaller pond. They don't offer the Big 12 anything they don't already have. If the Big 12 actually wants to get to 12, they'd rather go BYU, Memphis, Cincinnati, and possibly even Tulane before they went with Houston (or they could go on that hypothetical ACC raid that was rumored a few years ago). Not their fault, but what can they do.

Tom Herman is the reason for Houston's success. He is going to be a great head coach.

[donovan]

Houston needs to just be comfortable with who they are. Anything else is doomsday. Boise is the same. Nobody cares. So they go to San Diego to play Northern Illinois....let be sure to rush and get our tickets...to Sea World. At least it will be warm weather.