Group of Five race: Western Michigan sitting pretty

There is only one more week in the regular college football season and the Cotton Bowl berth that will go to the Group of Five teams is in the hands of Western Michigan. The Broncos hosted ESPN’s GameDay and took care of business by beating a bad Buffalo team, 38-0.

Even though Boise State is ranked higher than Western Michigan in the most recent College Football Playoff poll, the other Broncos still need help to just reach the Mountain West title game. Boise State took care of business on their end by thrashing UNLV on Friday night, and then the Broncos had to wait to watch San Diego State vs. Wyoming.

The Aztecs vs. Cowboys game was an epic matchup which saw San Diego State needing to go 99 yards with 67 seconds left and down seven. The Aztecs score but their two-point shot came up short.

The loss for San Diego State pretty much takes them out of the race for a New Year’s Six bowl game and Boise State still needs help to win the division with a Wyoming loss in their season finale on the road against New Mexico.

Boise State has a tough one themselves going on the road to face Air Force on Black Friday.

In the American, Houston has been officially eliminated from winning the West as Navy crushed East Carolina 66-31 in a makeup game that was rescheduled to this weekend due to flooding which Hurricane Matthew caused last month.

The Midshipmen have only two total losses and are the best option from the American. South Florida also has two loses but one comes from division foe Temple and they need the Owls to fall to East Carolina next week and the Bulls need to beat UCF to win the East.

One thing about Navy is that they are in the mix for a New Year Six Bowl game the decision will be delayed until after the Army vs. Navy game which is played the week after conference championships are held. This clause may only be put into to play if Boise State does not win the Mountain West

Sorry, Sun Belt. With Troy losing to Arkansas State they now have two losses and steam from the #FunBelt likely needed to be undefeated but one loss would keep them in the mix.

On to the rankings and part of this process is ease of getting to the championship game which is a requirement.

1. Undefeated Western Michigan
2. Two-loss Navy
3. One-loss Boise State
4. Two-loss South Florida
5. Two-loss San Diego State
6. Two- loss Toledo