We had three ranked matchups from these rankings last week, all with different conference affiliations. Independents BYU and Liberty ended in a blowout, Troy and South Alabama played a defensive slugfest on Thursday night in Sun Belt action, and Air Force and Boise State of the Mountain West dragged out a 19-14 contest in the mountains. These games and upsets such as ECU over UCF and Marshall over James Madison led to a big shakeup in our rankings for this week. Here is the current top 15 in the Group of 5.
#1. Cincinnati Bearcats (Last Week: 1)
Cincy was in good shape with a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter at SMU Saturday, and then needed a two-point conversion stop with just under two minutes to go to escape with the victory. The Bearcats easily outgained the Mustangs, 379-259, and didn’t turn the ball over while their defense had a takeaway, but settling for six field goal attempts (making five) while only scoring two touchdowns let SMU hang around until the end. Charles McClelland had a 129-yard performance on the ground centered around a touchdown run of 76 yards. In addition to an interception by Arquan Bush, Cincy’s defense was disruptive with six sacks in the game, including two each by Ivan Pace Jr. and Jaheim Thomas. The Bearcats have another tough test next week at UCF, a Saturday afternoon contest in the Bounce House that will kick off at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
#2. Tulane Green Wave (3)
Tulane was absolutely rolling over Memphis Saturday, getting out to a 35-0 lead at halftime, before allowing the Tigers just enough life to get nervous in the late stages of a 38-28 win. The Green Wave defense forced four turnovers and Jha’Quan Jackson had a 90-yard punt return touchdown early to help build the lead. Michael Pratt threw for 158 yards and a touchdown, while Tyjae Spears had 125 yards on the ground with a score. Tulane has next week off before a difficult four-week stretch to close out the season, in which it will go at Tulsa, host UCF and SMU, and finish the year with a trip to Cincinnati in a game that could decide a spot in or home field advantage for the AAC Championship Game.
#3. Liberty Flames (6)
Liberty continues to be a confounding team after Saturday’s win over BYU. The Flames took full advantage of the weak part of their schedule, taking single-digit victories over Akron and Gardner-Webb, but now sit at 7-1 with their only loss coming by a single point at Wake Forest and now owning a 27-point victory over a solid BYU team. The Cougars jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, but the Flames dominated from then on to finish the game on a 38-0 run. Liberty’s defense forced three turnovers on downs, Dae Dae Hunter ran for 213 yards and a touchdown and Johnathan Bennett completed 24 of his 29 passes in the game for 247 yards and two scores. Liberty will take a bye next week before a tough challenge at Arkansas in the first week of November.
#4. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (7)
The Group of 5 is down to just four one-loss teams, allowing Coastal to jump back into the top five after its bye week. The Chanticleers’ loss to Old Dominion means they currently don’t control their own destiny to get to the conference championship, but if Coastal can win out it would need the Monarchs to lose just once the rest of the way in a schedule that includes a home game against James Madison and trips to App State and South Alabama. Coastal still has App State and JMU left on the schedule, though, so no team has a truly easy path through the strong Sun Belt East. Next week, Coastal Carolina heads to Marshall for a 7 p.m. Eastern kickoff on Saturday.
#5. Boise State Broncos (10)
When the Broncos were 2-2 and trailing San Diego State 13-0 at halftime, I was starting to wonder if Boise State was heading for their first losing season in 25 years. Since then, Boise State has come back to win that game, beat Fresno State by 20, and earned a tough road win over a good Air Force team Saturday. Taylen Green threw for 207 yards, leading Boise to five scoring drives, four of them ending in field goals by Jonah Dalmas, who is now an incredible 47-52 (90.4%) on field goal attempts in his career with the Broncos. The defense got a little bit lucky when it mattered most, as Air Force had a fourth-down conversion that would have given them first-and-goal at the five wiped away on a holding penalty. Boise State then stopped them on the much harder fourth-and-13 and ran out the clock to seal the 19-14 victory. The Broncos move on to host Colorado State next week, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
#6. UCF Knights (2)
#7. Troy Trojans (11)
#8. South Alabama (5)
#9. James Madison (4)
#10. UTSA Roadrunners (12)
#11. ECU Pirates (On the Bubble)
#12. San José State Spartans (15)
#13. Air Force Falcons (8)
#14. Western Kentucky (OTB)
#15. Buffalo Bulls (NR)
Dropped Out
Toledo (9), BYU (13), UAB (14)
On the Bubble
Toledo, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Eastern Michigan, Wyoming
Murphy's Field 
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