Throughout the past 5 years, there has been at least one Non-Power 5 school people pay attention to, espeically once December rolls around. Whether it be Northern Illinois from 2011-2014 or Houston in 2015. To Western Michigan and #rowtheboat P.J Fleck in 2016. To this past year’s UCF and potentially this year UCF. There are a number of teams this year that could contend for a NY6 spot and one team that has been severely underrated this year.
6. Cincinnati (7-1)
In Luke Fickell’s 2nd year as head coach, he has his team playing at a high level. Playing against pretty soft schedule so far, it will get tougher towards the latter half of the year with USF and UCF back to back before their final game at home against East Carolina. Cincinnati started out 6-0 including (at the time was a marquee) win against UCLA on the road. RB Michael Warren II has led the offense with 5 game of 100 yards or more totaling out with 863 yards and 12 touchdowns. QB Desmond Ridder is a dual threat that for the most part has been consistently good, with a little under 2000 total yards and 16 TD’s to just 5 interceptions. James Wiggins is the captain of the defense, as he is 4th on the team in tackles and leads the team in interceptions with 3. The back to back games of UCF and USF as well as the AAC Title game will truly show whether Cincinnati is a true contender for a NY6 spot.
5. USF (7-1)
Quinton Flowers is a name USF fans love, but also hate in that is the only person that is mentioned during the off-season was the loss of do-it-all QB. But some buzz has been around former Alabama, former Arizona State QB Blake Barnett. He has all in all played slightly above average this year, throwing for a ton of yards in 2,073, but also throwing 8 interceptions. USF likes to spread the ball around to their receivers as they have 4 players with over 300 yards on the year, led by Randall St. Felix and Tyree McCants (McCan). USF’s problem is their defense as they rank 108th in Total Defense and gave up 57 points to Houston this past week. They’ve given up more than 30 points in half of their games. If USF wants to contend for that spot, their defense will have to step up and keep them in games with key stops to give it back to their high octane offense.
4. Georgia Southern (7-1)
Out of all the teams on this list, Georgia Southern might have been the tested the hardest so far with a road game against Clemson and a win this past week on the road against then 25th ranked Appalachian State. Georgia Southern has an above average Defense that is ranked 43rd in the country in Total defense and is #1 Turnover Margin. Georgia Southern relies heavily on their rushing game as they ranked #4 in the nation led by their QB, Shai Werts (671 yards, 10 TD’s) and if teams can limit their rushing attack, can make them very one dimensional. Shai Werts has only 548 yards passing and 5 touchdowns, but with 0 turnovers. Kindle Vidor leads the defense in takeaways with 4 interceptions and Monquavion Brinson leads the defense in tackles. The defense can keep them in just about in any games with takeaways, but if they can’t force many turnovers against a high octane offense, it may be serious trouble for Georgia Southern and their chances of making a NY6’s bowl.
3. Buffalo (7-1)
Buffalo has been the out of nowhere team, although Anthony Johnson is a potential first round pick, Buffalo has played well against their competition so far. All in all, Buffalo is about average on offense ranking around 60th in both passing and rushing offense. Although Anthony Johnson does get a lot of attention due to his size and hands, KJ Osbourne leads the team in receiving with 685 yards and 6 touchdowns so far and is on pace for 1,000 yards. Similar to Georgia Southern, Buffalo relies a lot on their defense as they have a top 25 defense and is top 10 in turnover differential. Buffalo is 11th in Passing yards allowed and 10 Interceptions as a team. Buffalo has a win over Temple (a team Cincinnati lost to) a Power 5 win over Rutgers and their lone loss is against Army (a team that pushed Oklahoma to the very end). Their path to the MAC Title game is very easy with Bowling Green, Kent State (Both 1-7) and Ohio (5-3) left on the slate. With the average offense that they have, they have to be able to outscore some teams in games against very good offenses if they want to have a chance to contend.
2. Houston (7-1)
The #1 Ranked Offense in the nation has flexed their muscles on a lot of other teams this year as they’ve scored 40 or more points in every single one of their games so far. They have wins over USF, Arizona, and At. Navy. Their one slip up was a road game in Lubbock against Texas Tech. D’Eriq King has become a household name, especially after this past week, where he accumulated 500 total yards and 7 touchdowns in their 56-37 win over USF. Marquez Stevenson and Courtney Lark headline the receiving core with 509 yards and 5 TD’s for Lark and 719 and 7 TD’s for Stevenson. As well as 509 and 7 TD’s for Keith Corbin. Future Top 10 pick, Ed Oliver leads the defensive charge with 13.5 TFL and 3 Sacks so far in a year where he is going to get paid in the pros. Houston has the same problems as a lot of AAC schools have in that they give up a ton of points and yardage. There are only 10 teams in the FBS worse in Total Defense than Houston and they are the worst in the AAC in that category. If Houston stays unblemished for the rest of the regular season, they’re looking at a AAC title game with 4 potential teams awaiting them (UCF, Temple, Cincinnati, USF)
1.UCF (8-0)
Who else was it going to be? At least for now they are #1. The team that has won 20 straight has rolled through their schedule outside of a 31-30 road win against Memphis. They have a win over Pittsburgh and FAU. They had UNC scheduled, but unfortunately that game got cancelled due to the Hurricane and looks like will not be made up. UCF lost a ton on defense as well as Scott Frost, but Josh Heupel has them rolling and McKenzie Milton has kept his team perfect throughout. They returned Adrian Killings and Otis Anderson as well as Gabriel Davis from last years team. UCF’s defense has suffered though as they are #72 in Total Defense and 91st against the run. They haven’t been quite as explosive this year on offense, but it’s been plenty good enough to keep them in games. If they want to play January for back to back years, this slate will dictate what kind of team UCF is and if they’re better than last year’s team. With Temple, USF, and Cincinnati, as well as potentially Houston in the AAC title game, UCF has one of if not the toughest slate of offenses to go against in the country.
