• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

San Francisco Sports Today

San Francisco Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Baseball
    • A’s
    • Giants
  • Football
    • 49’ers
    • Raiders
  • Basketball
    • Kings
    • Warriers
  • Sharks
  • Earthquakes
  • Colleges
    • San Jose State
    • Stanford
    • University of California, Berkeley

Group of Five Teams In New Year's Six Bowl Hunt: 21 For 2021 Preview Topics

July 23, 2021 by College Football News Leave a Comment

21 for 2021 preseason topics: No. 10. The top Group of Five college football teams that should be in the New Year’s Six bowl chase.


– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

“(function() {var sc = document.createElement(“script”), scCnter = document.getElementById(“container-sdp-voltax-player-01evcez1p3ybm8h26z-7831”), done = false;sc.src = mm_video_data.endpointUrl + “/01evcez1p3ybm8h26z.js”;sc.onload = sc.onreadystatechange = function() {if(!done && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == “loaded” || this.readyState == “complete”)) {sdpVoltax[“01evcez1p3ybm8h26z-7831”].initializePlayer( {“id”:”01f1343a1wt7q817p7″,”playlist_id”:””,”player_id”:”01evcez1p3ybm8h26z”,”type”:”playlist”,”image”:”https:\/\/collegefootballnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/mm-video\/images\/playlist-icon.png”,”container_id”:”01evcez1p3ybm8h26z-7831″});done = true; sc.onload = sc.onreadystatechange = null; }};scCnter.appendChild(sc);})();”var sdpVoltax = window.sdpVoltax || []; sdpVoltax[“01evcez1p3ybm8h26z-7831”] = sdpVoltaxPlayerHandler().start(“01evcez1p3ybm8h26z-7831”);

This piece is almost certainly going to be wrong.

Two years ago we didn’t get Memphis – who ended up getting the New Year’s Six Bowl nod – and last season we weren’t even in the right zip code when it came to the rise of Coastal Carolina and Louisiana.

But we did have Cincinnati on the 2020 list.

So far in the College Football Playoff era, six teams from the Group of Five conferences – the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt – have been the highest-ranked conference champion in the final CFP rankings to get the New Year’s Six spot. None of them have been able to get into the playoff, but if the tournament expands, that will change.

Boise State beat Arizona in the first shot for the Group of Five, and Houston followed it up with a win over Florida State. Western Michigan, Memphis, Cincinnati, and UCF (twice) are the other schools to get the big spotlight game, going 3-4 overall and generally playing very, very well in the losses.

This year, the Group of Five champion – if it’s not in the College Football Playoff – will either play in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl or the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.


21 for 2021 Preview Topics (so far)  
21. Thoughts, Wishes, Hopes for 2021
20. Best Teams To Not Make CFP
19: Teams That Will Rebound Big
18. Teams That Will Fall Back
17: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
16. Expectations For New Head Coaches
15. Expectations For 2nd Year Head Coaches
14. Power 5 Hot Seat Coach Rankings
13. 21 Key Transfers You Need To Know
12. Group of 5 over Power 5 Upset Alerts
11. 5 of College Football’s New Superstars

– CFN 2021 Preview: All 130 Team Previews


So what does it take for a Group of Five program to get that New Year’s Six slot? Realistically – but not technically – 1) needs to go unbeaten or finish with just one loss, 2) it should have at least one signature win to impress the College Football Playoff committee that does the rankings, and 3), as part of the requirement, it has to win its conference championship.

Here’s hoping that a few teams will rise up and shock the world, but assume that one of these teams will likely have the best shot at getting the New Year’s Six nod.

Let’s start with a total cop-out.

College Football Group of Five Programs in the New Year’s Six Hunt

5. San Jose State at Nevada winner

– CFN 2021 San Jose State Preview

Boise State is always the instant pick from the Mountain West to have a shot at the New Year’s Six bowl bid, but this year’s team is undergoing a coaching overhaul and it has a few tweaks it has to make, but there are three problems …

Non-conference schedule, non-conference schedule, non-conference schedule.

The Broncos should be strong enough in a relatively weak Mountain Division to get to the Mountain West title game, but they have to start the season at UCF, host Oklahoma State, and they have to go to BYU.

If they win all three they should probably be No. 1 on this list, if they win two of the three they’ll be in the hunt, and if they win just one, forget it. Throw in the road games at San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State, and it’s a tough ask.

– CFN 2021 Nevada Preview

From the West, Fresno State will be dangerous, San Diego State always has a puncher’s chance to get to the NY6, and Hawaii will be plucky, but it should – like last year – come down to the showdown between San Jose State and Nevada.

The Spartans have to go to USC, but they other three non-conference games are against Western Michigan, New Mexico State and Southern Utah. If they’re good enough to win the Mountain West title, they’ll be good enough to win all three of those.

They don’t have to play Boise State and get San Diego State and Fresno State at home. However, they start November with a trip to Reno.

The Wolf Pack are loaded with high-octane offensive talent, the overall experience is in place, and the coaching staff is hitting its stride. They have to at least split the road games against Cal and Kansas State, and they follow that up with a trip to Boise State. Throw in road games at San Diego State and Fresno State, and there’s a problem.

However, get by San Jose State, go on to win the Mountain West title, and they should be in the hunt.

NEXT: Group Of Five Teams In New Year’s Six Bowl Hunt, No. 5

Filed Under: San Jose State

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • DeMeco Ryans’ future appears to be coming into focus
  • Brock Purdy’s poise on field starts with poise in weekly preparation
  • Latest On Timo Meier
  • Buccaneers complete interview with Keenan McCardell
  • Steelers kept Matt Canada so Kenny Pickett wouldn’t have to “start all over again”

Categories

  • 49'ers
  • A's
  • Earthquakes
  • Giants
  • Kings
  • Raiders
  • San Jose State
  • Sharks
  • Stanford
  • Uncategorized
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Warriers

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021

Our Partners

All Sports

  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • San Francisco Examiner
  • The Mercury News
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • Forgotten 5
  • Golden Gate Sports
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • San Francisco Giants
  • Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - San Francisco Giants
  • MLB Trade Rumors - A's
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Giants
  • White Cleat Beat
  • Around The Foghorn
  • Athletics Nation
  • McCovey Chronicles

Basketball

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Sacramento Kings
  • A Royal Pain
  • Amico Hoops - Kings
  • Amico Hoops - Warriors
  • Blue Man Hoop
  • Golden State Of Mind
  • Hoops Hype - Warriors
  • Hoops Hype - Kings
  • Hoops Rumors - Warriors
  • Hoops Rumors - Kings
  • Lets Go Warriors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Golden State
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Sacramento
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Warriors
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Kings
  • Real GM - Warriors
  • Real GM - Kings
  • Sactown Royalty

Football

  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • 49ers Gab
  • Just Blog Baby
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors - San Francisco 49ers
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Las Vegas Raiders
  • Niners Nation
  • Niner Noise
  • Niners Wire
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors - 49ers
  • Pro Football Rumors - Raiders
  • Pro Football Talk - 49ers
  • Pro Football Talk - Raiders
  • Raiders Wire
  • Silver And Black Pride
  • Total 49ers

Hockey

  • Blades Of Teal
  • Fear The Fin
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Center Line Soccer
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • California Golden Blogs
  • College Sports Madness
  • College Football News
  • Rule Of Tree
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Californian
  • The Stanford Daily
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in