Cincinnati continued dominating, Coastal Carolina recorded a historic blowout and the MAC is back this week. Elsewhere, UCF beat Houston to get back to above .500 in American conference play, UAB continued to struggle as the Blazers dropped to 4-3 following a loss to Louisiana Tech and Boise State took down Air Force ahead of its huge matchup with BYU this week. To view last week’s rankings, click here. Here are this week’s rankings:
#1. Cincinnati Bearcats (Last week: 1)
Cincinnati went into its home game against Memphis as a 6.5-point favorite and dominated the Tigers, finishing with a 49-10 win. The Bearcats continued to crush opponents using the run game, piling up 242 yards on the ground compared to just 5(!) for Memphis. On the year, Cincinnati is about even in passing yards as its opponents, but averages 120 more rush yards on offense than their defense allows. The last two weeks should have provided difficult contests for the Bearcats, and instead Cincinnati won by 29 and 39 points. This team is cruising right now, and contests at UCF and Tulsa in the closing weeks of the season look like the only other times Cincy may be threatened. If the Bearcats keep playing this well, there may be an interesting argument for the College Football Playoff if the Pac-12 fails to produce an undefeated champion.
#2. BYU Cougars (2)
The Cougars took care of business against Western Kentucky, having a game almost suspiciously close to what the Vegas oddsmakers expected. The game had an over/under of 52 with BYU being 31-point favorites, and the Cougars’ 41-10 victory met the spread exactly at a single point under what was expected. Zach Wilson had probably his worst game this season as he completed “just” 18 of his 32 pass attempts for a 56.3% completion rate that was his first time under 70% this year. He also threw his second interception of the year, but had two touchdowns passing and another on the ground. Wilson is now up to 2,300 yards and 26 total touchdowns in seven games. BYU earned a top-10 spot in the AP poll this week for the first time since 2009 when a win over Oklahoma in Arlington, Texas landed the Cougars at #9, and they would get as high as #7 before a loss to Florida State dropped them back down. BYU finished that year at 11-2 and ranked #12. This week at Boise State should provide the Cougars its toughest test this season.
#3. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (4)
Coastal Carolina enters the top 3 after its dominant win over Georgia State, a 51-0 performance that was as bad as the final score looked. 530-106 in total offensive yards, 30-5 in fist downs, an interception, fumble and turnover on downs for the Panthers. Georgia State missed a field goal on its first drive of the game and never crossed midfield for the rest of the game. Coastal Carolina ended the game with a kneel down in the red zone, marking just the third drive that the Chanticleers didn’t score in the game, along with a first quarter punt and fourth quarter fumble. Coastal got 250 rush yards while CJ Marable led the team with 71 and was the only player with more than 50 rush yards. Eight different players had double-digit yards on the ground while Grayson McCall had a near-perfect 98.5 QB rating, going 18-24 for 254 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. On the year, McCall has a 69.4% completion percentage and 15 touchdowns to one interception. Coastal Carolina will look to keep it rolling this week against South Alabama.
#4. Boise State Broncos (5)
Boise State had the ball for just 22:29 on Saturday against an Air Force team that loves to run the ball and dominate time of possession. The Broncos still managed to score 49 points. Boise State’s offense was extremely efficient, scoring a touchdown on six of its eight non-game ending drives. A kick return touchdown by Avery Williams after the Falcons scored to make it a two-score game early in the fourth quarter helped as well. Jack Sears, in for Hank Bachmeier as Bachmeier didn’t make the trip to Colorado with the team, threw a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage. It was Sears’ first meaningful throw since 2018, when he made one start for USC. He transferred to Boise State this summer as Kedon Slovis has the quarterback position locked down at USC. Sears finished the game 17-20 for 280 yards and three touchdowns, an impressive and important performance as Bachmeier’s status for next week’s game against BYU is currently unknown. Boise State’s defense will try to prove that its stifling of Utah State’s passing attack in the opening week (14-27, 92 yards, one interception) was no fluke as it faces a much more potent BYU offense this week.
#5. Marshall Thundering Herd (3)
Marshall had a game cancelled due to an opponent having issues with COVID-19 for the third time this year as its game scheduled for Friday night against FIU was postponed. Marshall had already postponed one Conference-USA game earlier this season against Rice, and neither of those games has a projected make-up date yet. Marshall has just three games left on its schedule, all at home, against UMass, Middle Tennessee, and Charlotte, who are a combined 4-9 on the year. Marshall’s chances of finishing the year undefeated are improving every week, but its chances of looking impressive in doing so are decreasing with every canceled game. Marshall’s game this week against UMass should be a cakewalk, as the Minutemen weren’t sure whether or not to try to play this fall as an independent, and have worked out three games in its schedule so far: a 41-0 loss at Georgia Southern, this weekend’s game at Marshall, and a November 27 trip to fellow independent Liberty. Marshall has no games scheduled after November 21, leaving plenty of time before the CUSA championship game scheduled for December 18 to make up its postponed conference matchups.
#6. Liberty Flames (6)
#7. SMU Mustangs (8)
#8. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (7)
#9. Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (9)
#10. Appalachian State Mountaineers (12)
#11. Army Black Knights (11)
#12. San Diego State Aztecs (15)
#13. Memphis Tigers (10)
#14. UCF Knights (On the Bubble)
#15. Central Michigan Chippewas (OTB)
On The Bubble
Nevada, Troy, San Jose State, Ball State, Florida Atlantic
A huge matchup looms this week between Boise State and BYU, with the winner greatly increasing its odds of going to a New Years Six bowl game and the loser being all but eliminated from consideration. The MAC kicks off this Wednesday ahead of a full weekend slate of games for the first time in 2020 as the Pac-12 also returns to play. San Jose State and San Diego State square off in a battle of 2-0 Mountain West squads, and Air Force and Army face off with Air Force having a chance to secure the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy with a win. Undefeated Liberty faces its toughest test thus far as it travels to Virginia Tech, and Troy and Georgia Southern both come into their matchup at 4-2, with the winner of that game preserving its chance at winning the Sun Belt. We’ll see you back here next week to recap it.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN and College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
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