Dear Group of Five,
I was not familiar enough with you prior to this season. I thank my friends on this website for opening my eyes to this world, because I have now been cultured beyond my wildest dreams and found a new aspect of college football that I have become fully immersed in.
Through my weekly Group of Five Watch, I was able to monitor the ebbs and flows of the 2023 season across five leagues, and I never ceased to be amazed by what I saw.
First and foremost, while the power leagues garnered much of the realignment attention, there were plenty of faces in new places within the G5, and many of them found considerable success in their new leagues. UTSA, for instance, nearly qualified for the American Conference Championship Game after finishing with a 7-1 record in league play. Rice also managed to qualify for a rare bowl game in its first season of action in the American, with Mike Bloomgren’s gradual rebuild coming to a peak in his sixth season at the helm.
Elsewhere, New Mexico State and Liberty dominated the Conference USA in their first season within the league. It turns out that life as an independent at the FBS level is a brutal one, and it generally pays dividends to play a structured league schedule (take notes UConn and UMass). Diego Pavia and NMSU treated us to some of the most entertaining games of the 2023 season, while Jamey Chadwell’s punishing ground attack led the Flames to an unbeaten regular season, New Year’s Six berth and C-USA championship.
Wake Forest transfer running back Quinton Cooley played a pretty big part in that success:
We also had a pair of former FCS programs make statements in their first seasons at the FBS level. Rich Rodriguez made his glorious return to the highest level of college football by leading a tough Jacksonville State team to an 8-4 regular season record and a New Orleans Bowl victory. Sam Houston, after starting winless through eight games and having its heart broken in multiple defeats, ended up winning three of its last four and avoiding last place in the league. With JSU only appearing to get started and the Bearkats losing a whopping five games by a single score, both of these programs have bright futures ahead of them.
Others such as Charlotte, UAB and Florida Atlantic found the adjustment of life in a new league to be trying, and at times downright miserable. Never fear, because Biff Poggi’s cut-off shirts and enthralling personality will surely lead the 49ers to conference glory one day, Trent Dilfer’s Blazers team has to figure out how to play defense sometime, and Tom Herman appeared to be only a couple pieces away from fielding a high-quality Owls team. And, none of those squads finished within the bottom three of the American anyway.
Per usual, we also saw plenty of notable G5 over Power Five upsets this season. Wyoming kicked things off by taking down preseason darling Texas Tech in Laramie:
New Mexico State dismantled Auburn by a score of 31-10 in an absolute stunner, Miami (OH) took back the Victory Bell for the first time in 18 years, Northern Illinois upended Boston College, Bowling Green beat Georgia Tech, UNLV sparked its upstart campaign with a win over SEC powerhouse Vanderbilt, and Fresno State pulled off a pair of P5 upsets by taking down Purdue and Arizona State on the road. Marshall managed to win a rivalry bout with Virginia Tech, and oh yeah, South Alabama beat Big 12 Championship participant Oklahoma State 33-7 in one of the stranger results of the 2023 season.
Of course, there was also the season-opening Texas State takedown of Baylor, which was the first sign that GJ Kinne had this Bobcats program ready to compete in the Sun Belt in his inaugural season at the helm. James Madison downed Virginia as well, but do we really count that as an upset?
Speaking of the Dukes, I just have to devote a section of this piece to them. For the second straight season, James Madison ran rampant through the Sun Belt despite not being allowed to compete in the conference championship or a bowl game. The Dukes would have appeared in the SB title game were they allowed…
…But, jokes on you NCAA, the FBS didn’t have enough six-win teams to participate in bowl games, meaning that JMU was able to take on Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Dukes did fall to the Falcons in that game, but an 11-2 campaign in just their second season of play at the FBS level is nothing to scoff at.
Next year, there will be no abhorrent NCAA rules that prohibit James Madison from playing in games it deserves to play in. Consider this a warning to the rest of the country.
The G5 held a 4-5 record in NY6 games heading into this season, and Liberty carried the torch for the unofficial entity this season. In taking on Oregon, the Flames were humbled to a tune of 45-6 and could not bring the record to .500 overall. Moving forward, of course, the G5 will automatically see one of its members qualify for the 12-team College Football Playoff.
In an effort to be inclusive, I’ll be devoting a small section of this piece to every G5 league, beginning with the most top-heavy: The American.
The AAC is commonly home to the best and brightest of the G5 realm, and that was certainly the case in 2023. Michael Pratt’s encore was nearly better than his opening act in ‘22, as he led the Green Wave to 11 wins despite winning only three conference games by more than 10 points. Makhi Hughes emerged as a high-quality replacement for Tyjae Spears at tailback, and the Tulane defense took a massive step forward, all of which allowed the great Willie Fritz to chalk up yet another stellar season to his name. He moves on to coach Houston now, but he leaves a great legacy behind him in New Orleans.
But, in the end, SMU prevented Tulane from going back-to-back. The Mustangs only suffered losses to TCU and Oklahoma during the regular season, with Preston Stone having the kind of campaign that makes him a noteworthy NFL draft prospect. Stone and his plethora of playmakers spearheaded one of the best offenses in the nation, but that defense was quietly stout as well.
Joining the Mustangs and Green Wave at the top were Memphis and UTSA, who each were led by high-powered offenses and, more specifically, top-notch quarterback play. Seth Henigan and Frank Harris each had phenomenal seasons, and their squads were incredibly entertaining to watch.
Rice was previously discussed, but South Florida was another pleasant surprise. Under first-year head coach Alex Golesh, the Bulls qualified for their first bowl game since 2018 behind the arm and legs of promising freshman quarterback Byrum Brown. The 45-0 victory over Syracuse is a sign that USF is a program on the rise under Golesh, as the Bulls have merely been a sleeping giant in the past five years while waiting for the right coach to come along. A new on-campus stadium in 2027 should also push things in the right direction as well.
The Conference USA was another league that was hit hard by realignment, and it actually got stronger as a result. NMSU, JSU and Liberty took over the league at the top, kicking aside preseason favorite Western Kentucky. And, with Jerry Kill rebuilding the Aggies, Rich Rod leading the Gamecocks and Chadwell at the helm for the Flames, each of those programs seems to be well on their way to dominating this league for years to come. The interesting part will be seeing how quickly Sam Houston can build itself into a power given its Texas recruiting grounds and late-season success.
The Group of Five’s darling league also delivered yet again in 2023, as the MAC fielded two of its better teams of the past decade. Toledo fell only to Illinois at the beginning of the season before reeling off 11 straight wins and qualifying for the MAC title game.
Senior Dequan Finn was stellar at quarterback all season long, and he formed a great duo with running back Peny Boone:
But, Miami (OH) was able to snatch the MAC championship trophy away thanks to some suffocating defense, avenging an early-season defeat at the hands of those Rockets.
The RedHawks displayed incredible resilience in rallying to make the MAC title game after that initial loss to Toledo despite losing star quarterback Brett Gabbert for the season in October. Ohio was one win over Miami (OH) away from appearing in the conference championship game, but Kurtis Rourke did effectively recover from offseason surgery to ensure that yet another Rourke would go down in MACtion lore.
The Mountain West was a gauntlet. At one point, Wyoming looked like the best team. Then, Air Force and Fresno State appeared to be locks to make the conference title game after great starts to the conference season. However, they both faltered late, allowing Boise State and UNLV to rally and qualify for the MW Championship.
The Rebels had moderate expectations under first-year head coach Barry Odom, and when quarterback Doug Brumfield went down with injury early in the season, it appeared that all was lost. But, freshman Jayden Maiava stepped up, and the local kid linked up with star receiver Ricky White on many occasions to spearhead a potent offense. The Broncos, on the other hand, sputtered to a 2-3 start before rallying to win four of their last five. They did so amid the firing of head coach Andy Avalos, a musical chairs rotation at quarterback and an injury to star running back Ashton Jeanty. The fact that BSU still made it to the conference title game speaks volumes to that program’s character and grit, and the way in which the Broncos handled UNLV with such ease was impressive on another level.
I would be remiss if I did not mention San José State, which had the most miraculous late-season rally of them all. The Spartans sat at 1-5 entering October, but those losses all came to opponents that finished with seven wins or more. Brent Brennan’s group took care of business against the weaker competition in the MW then carried that momentum into signature wins over Fresno State and UNLV, both of which came in dominant fashion. Were it not for the MW relying upon computer rankings to determine its championship game participants, SJSU would have finished as one of the top two teams in the league. Regardless, it was an incredible run from the Spartans, who now will have to find a way to maintain this success after Brennan moved on to coach Arizona.
Wyoming also certainly deserves a shout out, mostly because it delivered some of the wildest games of the 2023 college football season, including this blocked field goal to beat Appalachian State:
Craig Bohl, thank you for turning the Cowboys into one of the most consistent and fun-to-watch programs in college football. You will be missed.
Lastly, that leaves us with the Sun Belt, aka the deepest league in the G5 this season. And, much like the MW, a plethora of teams appeared to be the top dog for periods of time.
At one point, Georgia State and South Alabama looked like the best teams in the league. Then, it was Texas State and Georgia Southern. Then, it was James Madison. Then App State. Then Troy. In fact, every team not named Louisiana-Monroe (sorry Warhawks) had at least one shining moment this season. 12 out of the 14 teams in the league qualified for a bowl game, and everybody was insistent upon beating each other up throughout the ‘23 campaign.
In the end, JMU reigned supreme, with the elder statesmen of Boone, N.C being the only team that was capable of taking the Dukes down. App State snuck into the Sun Belt title game as a result, but Troy repeated as the Sun Belt champ with a dominant 49-23 win over the Mountaineers.
Also, I have to shout out Frank Gore Jr., who yet again ran wild for Southern Miss, and Jason Henderson, who led the nation with 170 tackles with Old Dominion but sadly went down with an injury late in the season.
You can see what he means to his team here:
The future outlook for the Group of Five, despite its 2023 success, is a murky one. With conference realignment and playoff expansion taking the nation by storm next year, this writer fears that the G5 will become obsolete in the eyes of some college football fans.
The five leagues will be guaranteed a participant in the College Football Playoff, which should create a new level of intrigue. But with bowl games seeming to be going to the wayside, what will become of the many 6-8 win programs that have no shot at sniffing the playoff yet still field quality teams that are deserving of recognition?
I choose to take an optimist’s perspective. The influx of FCS programs to the FBS level appears to only be gaining traction, as Delaware recently announced that it would be moving up to the C-USA in 2025. The success of JMU, JSU and even Sam Houston has appeared to inspire the masses, and those former FCS programs will only continue to improve as they adjust to life at this level of collegiate football. At this juncture, I’m assuming that plenty more FCS powers will follow suit.
On top of that, star players and coaches will never cease to exist at the Group of Five level. For every top-tier quarterback that moves up to a P5 school, a new one will emerge in the Group of Five. For every up-and-coming 30-something coach that takes over a P5 job, a new rising coordinator will step up in their place. The cycle will never end, no matter how much the power leagues attempt to drain the G5 dry.
For instance, there’s a chance that this guy is next up to be a star after going for 1K as a true freshman:
Thus, rest easy in the fact that Group of Five football is not going anywhere. Former FCS programs are providing new life, and the conferences themselves were incredibly competitive in 2023, featuring a healthy mix of high-caliber contenders and strong depth. Those trends should only continue as time goes on, even if the postseason looks far different in the future.
From Lynchburg to Laramie. From Boone to Boise. From Harrisonburg to Houston. Coast to coast, the Group of Five continues to capture the immense passion and entertainment that exists when “small” schools take the field to play football.
In the end, all I can say is this:
Thank you, Group of Five, for treating us to another heart-stopping, roller coaster ride of a season.
Here’s to more of the same in 2024.
My final power ranking of the year:
- Liberty
- James Madison
- SMU
- Troy
- San José State
- UNLV
- Appalachian State
- Ohio
- Wyoming
- Tulane
About the author
I grew up a Tennessee fan in Atlanta, and yes it was certainly rough to live amongst so many UGA fans. Oregon has also been a favorite team of mine for as long as I can remember. I currently attend the University of Missouri studying sports journalism. I also cover Mizzou's FB and MBB teams for Rock M Nation.
