Week 9 of the 2023 college football season is in the books and one of the interesting questions that has emerged is which Group of Five program will receive a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game. This year, the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, or Peach Bowl are all in play for the fortunate team who earns the bid.
Since 2014, a spot in one of the six prestigious New Year’s bowl games has been reserved for the highest ranked Group of Five conference champion in the final set of College Football Playoff rankings. In the nine seasons this system has been in place, the American Athletic Conference reigned supreme by claiming seven bids and its crowning achievement came in 2021 when Cincinnati actually made the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.
However, the race is wide open this year as a number of top programs from these conferences could be standing among the sport’s elite during New Year’s weekend. Each week moving forward, we’ll comb through each league and identify the programs who stand a chance at grabbing the bid. It should be noted that the first batch of CFP rankings will be released this Tuesday, meaning we’ll get our first glimpse at which G5 program the committee is eyeing for the spot.
AAC
No. 22 Tulane remains the frontrunner in the American and was able to survive road test at Rice with a 30-28 victory on Saturday. UTSA and Memphis continue to lurk as potential challengers for the conference title but everyone should be on alert for SMU, who buried Tulsa in a 69-10 win on Saturday.
Conference USA
Liberty is far and away the frontrunner in CUSA, improving to 8-0 with a 42-29 victory over Western Kentucky last Tuesday. Jacksonville State would be second in the conference if it wasn’t ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA transition rules, putting New Mexico State in the driver’s seat to potentially challenge Liberty. The Aggies edged Louisiana Tech 27-24 last Tuesday.
MAC
Most MAC teams were off this past week with mid-week #MACTION beginning next week. Miami-OH maintained its position at the top of the East division standings with a 30-16 victory over Ohio on Saturday. West division leaders Toledo were one of the teams that were off.
Mountain West
No. 19 Air Force continued to cruise through its Mountain West slate, surviving snowballs to beat Colorado State 30-13. Don’t look now, but Boise State is creeping back into the MWC title race after drubbing Wyoming 32-7.
Sun Belt
Unless the NCAA has a change of heart, James Madison will remain ineligible for postseason play despite cruising at the top of the Sun Belt East for most of the season. Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, Georgia Southern, and Coastal Carolina all have a shot at claiming the division in the final month of the season. Meanwhile, reigning conference champ Troy re-gained control of the West division by downing Texas State on Saturday.