A scheduled bye week for Marshall and a plethora of cancellations meant that only one of our top six teams from a week ago played this week. The games we did get still provided great entertainment, from Buffalo running back Jaret Patterson’s record-breaking Saturday, to the UCF-USF shootout on Friday night, to Central Michigan’s improbable comeback against Eastern Michigan. Here is the week-by-week breakdown of this year’s rankings, and here are this week’s rankings:

#1. Cincinnati Bearcats (last week: 1)

The cancelation of the Bearcats’ game this week at Temple locks Cincy into the American conference championship game. Cincinnati takes on Tulsa in two weeks for the final game of the regular season in a game that will likely decide who gets home field advantage for the title game. If Tulsa loses this week to Navy, it would keep Memphis in the hunt as a potential matchup for the Bearcats in the championship game. If the defense is able to stifle opponents’ passing game like they have this year (5.5 yards per attempt, 13 interceptions to five passing touchdowns allowed), they’ll be tough to beat. Cincinnati’s chances of making the College Football Playoff also improved even without the Bearcats touching the field thanks to Oregon’s loss to Oregon State and Ohio State having its second game of the year canceled by COVID-19 issues.

#2. BYU Cougars (2)

BYU took its first of two bye weeks before a season-closing matchup with San Diego State. The Cougars were the team hurt the most by the initial Playoff Rankings, coming in at #14 while they were #8 in the AP Poll. The six-spot discrepancy was tied with Oregon and North Carolina for the biggest difference between AP Poll and CFP ranking. That ranking left BYU potentially out of even a New Years Six bowl game, along with seemingly killing their playoff hopes. On the plus side for the Cougars, quarterback Zach Wilson is a likely Heisman finalist as he’s completing 74.3% of his passes for just over 300 yards per game and a 26-2 touchdown-interception ratio.

#3. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (3)

Coastal Carolina kept its dream season going, taking down Texas State, 49-14. With the win, the Chanticleers clinched the Sun Belt East and locked in a date with Louisiana for the Sun Belt title. Along with the success Coastal’s having in conference, ESPN’s College Gameday will be heading to Coastal for its matchup with Liberty this week. That matchup will focus on both teams’ talented dual-threat quarterbacks as Grayson McCall continued his impressive season with 154 passing yards and two touchdowns to go along with 25 rushing yards. On the year, McCall now has 1,747 yards through the air and 365 on the ground. He has 20 touchdowns passing, five rushing and just one interception. As a redshirt freshman, McCall has Chanticleers fans excited about the next two or three years of having him as their starting quarterback. How the defense handles Malik Willis, who has 2,040 passing yards, 807 rushing yards and 30 total touchdowns, will determine whether or not Coastal Carolina can stay undefeated.

#4. Marshall Thundering Herd (4)

Marshall comes into its matchup with Rice needing just one more win to secure a spot in the Conference-USA championship game. It has been a mess of a season for the CUSA, from Old Dominion electing not to play football this fall to the high rate of cancelations that will cause some teams to end the season with no more than five games played as it appears no team will get in a full eight-game slate. Marshall has been a bright spot amid that mess, with an out of conference win over Appalachian State and an undefeated record keeping them on the outskirts of New Years Six bowl discussion. Marshall is looking to end the year strong and finish ranked for the first time since 2014 and just the fourth time in school history. A 1-2 Rice squad and 0-5 FIU team are all that stand in front of Marshall in the regular season. Win those, and Marshall gets to host the CUSA championship game after missing a shot at the title game by one game both of the last two seasons.

#5. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5)

Tulsa had its game at Houston canceled due to Coronavirus issues and travels to Navy this week with a chance to secure a date with Cincinnati in the American conference championship game. No matter what happens in the matchup with Navy, when Cincy travels to Tulsa for their matchup on Dec. 12, the winner will earn the right to host the AAC title game. Tulsa has been the master of the comeback so far this year, and if the Golden Hurricane are able to find a few more tricks up their sleeve then they just might be able to pull off winning the AAC thanks in large part due to the offensive line doing a much better job of protecting Baylor transfer Zach Smith. Smith has increased his completion percentage from 57.3% in 2019 to 60.5% this year. Navy’s offense struggled against Memphis a week ago, scoring seven points, converting just two of 13 third downs and turning the ball over twice. If Tulsa is able to handle the Midshipmen’s option attack that well, they may just run away with this game rather than needing to pull off yet another comeback.

#6. Boise State Broncos (6)

#7. Liberty Flames (7)

#8. Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (8)

#9. Buffalo Bulls (15)

#10. Western Michigan Broncos (12)

#11. UCF Knights (11)

#12. San Jose State Spartans (13)

#13. Florida Atlantic Owls (14)

#14. Nevada Wolfpack (10)

#15. Appalachian State Mountaineers (On the Bubble)

Dropped Out:

SMU (9)

On the Bubble:

Army, SMU, Central Michigan, Memphis

Conference Races

American Athletic Conference

Cincinnati has locked its spot in the conference championship and Tulsa is a win or Memphis loss from joining them there. ESPN’s Football Power Index has Cincinnati as the best team and likes their odds to win the title game.

FPI odds to win conference:

Cincinnati: 79.1%

Tulsa: 20.7%

Conference-USA

Neither division is quite secured yet, though Marshall has a massive leg up on the East. The West has an odd situation regarding the fact that the two teams with a chance at winning the division are UTSA at 5-2 and UAB at 2-1. If UAB wins its only remaining scheduled game against Rice, the Blazers will win the division with a better winning percentage than the Roadrunners. If the Blazers are able to make up a matchup that they missed this week, they’ll need to win that game along with next week’s matchup with Rice to get to the title game.

FPI odds to win conference (division:

Marshall: 77.1% (99.7%)

UAB: 20.6% (77.8%)

UTSA: 2.1% (22.2%)

Mid-American Conference

Buffalo nearly secured the East division, needing a win in either of its last two games to make it to the championship game. Western Michigan held its lead but failed to inspire confidence in a narrow win over Northern Illinois. A win combined with a Ball State loss would secure the West division for the Broncos.

FPI odds to win conference (division):

Buffalo: 68.4% (99.5%)

Western Michigan: 28.8% (87.2%)

Ball State: 1.9% (10.6%)

Mountain West Conference

The cancelation of the Boise State-San Jose State matchup and Nevada’s loss to Hawai’i greatly increased SJSU’s chances of getting to the title game while Boise State is still heavily favored over anyone else in the conference.

FPI odds to win conference:

Boise State: 69.1%

San Jose State: 17.8%

Nevada: 7.9%

Sun Belt Conference

Coastal Carolina locked up the East division to secure a date with Louisiana. The Chanticleers have better odds of getting the game at home and FPI slightly favors Coastal over Louisiana even on a neutral field.

FPI odds to win conference:

Coastal Carolina: 62.2%

Louisiana: 37.8%

Stats and info from ESPN and College Football at Sports-Reference.com.