Group of 6 Power Rankings: How Oregon’s Loss Impacts G6 College Football Playoff Race

Three new teams enter our top 10 after strong Week 2 performances.

A week after nearly knocking off Oregon, Boise State scored a huge win against fellow Group of 6 contender Memphis. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s tough out here for members of the Group of 6. Two weeks into the season, there are just 11 remaining undefeated teams from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt. 

Having a zero in the loss column is certainly a trump card in the race for the G6 College Football Playoff bid, but it doesn’t mean everything. Last week, we saw how AP and coaches poll voters treated Western Michigan after the Broncos had the rug pulled out from under them at Michigan, even if there was no hope for the controversial loss to be amended. And now, as backwards as it seems, WMU should be rooting for Michigan to continue the turnaround that began in Week 2 with its home win against Oklahoma.

Remember, under the latest iteration of the 12-team College Football Playoff, the highest-ranked G6 team will make it through, regardless of their conference champion status, so perception among the voting body is even more important than before. And that’s what we’ll focus on each week as we rank teams from the FBS’s underappreciated leagues.

But first, a look at the teams that have dropped out of our top 10 after last weekend’s games.

Previously ranked teams that dropped out after Week 2

Navy Midshipmen (1–1), Last week: No. 9

Last week: Lost to Florida Atlantic, 38–30
This week: Bye (at UAB, Sept. 25)

Navy’s defense gave up a career day to Owls quarterback Caden Veltkamp (386 yards, five passing touchdowns), and were getting run off the field before a wild late comeback bid cut into what was a 38–14 fourth-quarter lead for FAU. 

San Diego State Aztecs (1–1), LW: No. 10

Last week: Lost to UCLA, 28–10
This week: vs. James Madison 

Offense is San Diego State coach Sean Lewis’s calling card, but that side of the ball continues to trail well behind his defense. There isn’t a ton of shame in losing to what may be a very solid UCLA team, but 189 total yards of offense isn’t going to cut it. 

San Diego State mustered just 10 points against UCLA in Week 2. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

UNLV Rebels (1–2), LW: No. 6

Last week: Lost to North Texas, 44–6
This week: Bye (at Akron, Sept. 26)

A tight Week Zero loss to Memphis wasn’t enough to knock UNLV out of our initial top 10, especially after a solid, if unspectacular, win at Hawai’i in Week 1. Dan Mullen’s squad took one on the chin at the Mean Green in Week 2, however—a North Texas team that has undergone a full rebuild after Eric Morris’s offseason departure. UNT may be better than expected, but the Rebels’ playoff push is effectively over either way, as Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer outlined in this week’s CFP eliminator.

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Here is this week’s top 10.

10. James Madison Dukes (2–0), LW: Unranked

Last week: Beat Wagner, 87–3
This week: at San Diego State

James Madison responded to criticism of the rough watch that was its Week 1 win over Liberty, a 20–13 slugfest in which the Dukes put up only 291 yards of offense, by absolutely demolishing the FCS Wagner Seahawks. How much better antsy JMU fans feel after 87 points and nearly 600 yards of offense against a weak FCS squad is an open question. If the Dukes can put together another strong offensive showing on the West Coast against a good Aztecs defense, they may have something special cooking yet again.

9. North Texas Mean Green (1–1), LW: Unranked

Last week: Beat UNLV, 44–6
This week: at Texas State

Week 1’s blowout loss to Indiana was taken with an appropriate grain of salt. Even so, it was impossible to predict what Neal Brown’s program would do in just the second year of his tenure, fresh off of having its roster gutted to the bone with Morris’s move to Oklahoma State. Former Hoosiers quarterback Tayven Jackson was far from the biggest issue against his old team and has a very nice outing in the blowout win over UNLV, thought to have one of the most talented rosters in the G6. It was ex-West Virginia running back Jahiem White who really exploded against the Rebels, going for 124 yards and a score on just 12 carries. The Mean Green may not take the massive step back that many expected after all.

Tayven Jackson has given North Texas a steady hand at quarterback in year one under Neal Brown. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

8. South Florida Bulls (2–0), LW: Unranked

Last week: Beat Army, 28-24
This week: vs. Delaware State

USF’s debut under Brian Hartline wasn’t much to write home about, a 19–10 slugfest win against Florida International in which the Bulls managed a paltry 208 yards of offense. Week 2? Much, much better. South Florida made the trip to West Point and pulled out a win against a solid Army squad in the fourth quarter, with Michael Van Buren Jr. hitting Joshua Porter for a 38-yard touchdown on fourth-and-5, going ahead by four with just 19 seconds left in the game. 

DID YALL SEE THAT????

📺: @CBSSportsCFB pic.twitter.com/e2q9bmMzgN

— South Florida Football (@USFFootball) September 12, 2026

The Bulls have a chance to build some real momentum off of that huge moment, with a manageable stretch against FCS squad Delaware State, Bowling Green and Temple before an Oct. 8 trip to UTSA.

7. UMass Minutemen (2–0), LW: No. 8

Last week: Beat Sacred Heart, 37–10
This week: vs. Stonehill

For the first time since 2011, when it was still an FCS club, Massachusetts is 2–0 to start the season. Admittedly, that Week 1 win over Rutgers doesn’t look any more impressive after Week 2, as the Scarlet Knights dropped their second game at Boston College, though the Minutemen beat them much more thoroughly on the road than the Eagles did at home. UMass followed it up with a comfortable win over the FCS Pioneers—not a huge résumé boost for a program that has struggled with even decent opponents from that level, a welcome result. Next up, another FCS squad in the Skyhawks. The Minutemen can only count one win over a lower division team toward bowl eligibility, but the fact that we’re even prognosticating six or seven wins for this program is remarkable, and it looks like one that should be able to rack up some MAC wins.

6. New Mexico Lobos (2–0), LW: No. 5

Last week: Beat Mercyhurst, 70–7
Next week: at Oklahoma

New Mexico began its season by losing starting quarterback Jack Layne due to injury. Even without QB1, the Lobos have opened the season with a pair of wins by the combined score of 108–14.

Neither Luke Moga nor Toa Fa’avae has taken full control of the quarterback position. Moga, an Oregon transfer, has the better passing numbers, while Fa’avae provides a dimension on the ground. Seeing how coach Jason Eck handles the position this weekend at Oklahoma will be fascinating. If New Mexico can put a scare into the Sooners, it will find itself firmly in the top tier of contenders.

New Mexico’s Jason Eck is considered one of the rising coaching stars in the Group of 6 ranks. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

5. Memphis Tigers (2–1), LW: No. 2

Last week: Lost to Boise State, 38–20
This week: vs. UT Martin

It was a tough weekend for Memphis. Not only did the Tigers struggle to a loss at Boise State, getting shut out 21–0 in the second half after leading 20–17 at the break, but their Week Zero win at UNLV looks far less impactful with the Rebels’ blowout loss at North Texas. The loss at the Broncos certainly doesn’t eliminate Memphis from CFP contention; any team that competes at the top of the American should have a good shot. The margin for error has been significantly reduced, though, with Boise holding a very strong tiebreaker should it come down to these two.

4. North Dakota State Bison (3–0), LW: No. 4

Last week: Beat Air Force, 38–32
This week: at Sacramento State

North Dakota State didn’t have to break much of a sweat in its first two games of the season, but the Falcons made the Bison work for a win in their first Mountain West contest. NDSU led 35–13 early in the fourth quarter, before Air Force mounted a serious comeback, scoring three touchdowns in the final frame before running out of time. No one should thumb their nose at a solid road win, but coach Tim Polasek will certainly want to get some things cleaned up before the Bison get into the heart of their conference schedule.

3. Western Michigan Broncos (1–1), LW: No. 3

Last week: Beat Monmouth, 49–14
Next week: at Rice

If there was any concern that Western Michigan would have a bit of a hangover game after an apparent win over Michigan was ripped away from it, the Broncos dispelled it in Week 2 by dominating Monmouth. The Hawks actually had far more offensive success than the Wolverines did against WMU, putting up 431 total yards against the Broncos defense and controlling the ball for 31 minutes, though it should be noted that Lance Taylor’s team went up 28–0 early in the third quarter and pulled offensive starters for the fourth.

Lance Taylor’s Western Michigan program did a good job of turning the page after the controversial Week 1 loss at Michigan. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

2. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (2–0), LW: No. 7

Last week: Beat Sam Houston, 23–17
This week: vs. East Texas A&M

Tulsa’s tight win at Sam Houston is hard to judge; the Bearkats were very bad a year ago but have now lost its first two games of the season by a total of nine points. The Week 1 win against Oklahoma State, however, now looks excellent after the Cowboys turned around an outclassed Big Ten power Oregon in Week 2. The transitive property is famously flawed, especially in college football, when performances can vary week to week, but we don’t have much data to go on right now, and the Golden Hurricane’s Week 1 win now looks like the best that any Group of 6 program has under its belt.

1. Boise State Broncos (1–1), LW: No. 1

Last week: Beat Memphis, 38–20
This week: vs. South Dakota

There’s certainly a strong argument to put Tulsa—the team that beat the team that beat Oregon—over Boise State, which fell in a tight game against the Ducks. Adding the Broncos’ strong road effort against the Ducks to a thorough second-half beatdown of fellow CFP hopeful Memphis made me comfortable with keeping them up at No. 1, but this is a very tight race. For what they’re worth, a number of advanced metrics also consider Boise State the class of the Group of 6 right now. ESPN’s SP+ has the Broncos at No. 48, six spots ahead of New Mexico, while the network’s Football Power Index is even more bullish with Boise, ranking it No. 36 (with the Lobos second among G6 teams at No. 55). 

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