G5 Roundtable: Reviewing Conference Championship Weekend

After a weekend of crazy results in FBS conference championship games, we've taken a moment to decompress and get our thoughts together. 

Liberty have earned the G5's New Years Six bid and a CUSA title, while Miami (OH), SMU, Troy, and Boise State also claimed championships in the G5.

Joe Londergan and Kevin Barral of G5 Football Daily are joined by Eric Henry of 247Sports to discuss their biggest takeaways from the weekend and its implications.

Top G5 individual performance of Conference Championship weekend?

Joe: It’s hard to top Kimani Vidal, but Talyen Green’s day was also phenomenal. The Boise State quarterback accounted for four total touchdowns on the way to the Broncos’ Mountain West title. Green’s had some consistency issues so far in his college career, though he’s only a sophomore and continues to improve. I hope we see a few more equally electrifying performances from him while he’s a Bronco.

Eric: What more can you say about Troy’s Kimani Vidal. While App State’s run defense left a lot to be desired, entering the contest among the bottom third in the nation, torching the unit for 233 yards and five touchdowns is hard to top in powering Troy to the Sun Belt crown.

Kevin: What Kaidon Salter did in the Conference USA Championship is just flat out great. Passing for 319 yards, two touchdowns and then ending up being the Flames leading rusher with 165 yards and a rushing touchdown as well. He was able to keep up with a New Mexico Team that looked a lot different from the last time those two teams faced off against each other.

Biggest G5 surprise of conference championship weekend

Joe: Mine might have been the overall performance of New Mexico State. Given what we’ve seen from Liberty this year, I think I expected that one to get out of reach for the Aggies much earlier than it ultimately did. Couple that with the performance of Blaze Berlowitz after the injury to Diego Pavia, and it makes me think that the Aggies might have more to give still in their bowl game and into 2024 under Jerry Kill.

Eric: The biggest surprise of the weekend was Boise State upsetting UNLV. This is no disrespect to the Broncos, who have long been one of the top Group of Five teams. However, the Rebels really failed to capitalize on what was a golden opportunity for that program. While the loss doesn’t make the season any less of a success, winning a conference title would have been a statement for UNLV football on a broader landscape and on the field, they fielded a team that should have put forth a better effort.

Kevin: When SMU starting quarterback Preston Stone went down with an injury and wouldn’t be available in the AAC championship, it seemed as if Tulane would be a lock to win it all, but backup Kevin Jennings really showed up and showed out along with the Mustangs dominating offensively with 396 total yards. Tulane’s quarterback Michael Pratt was limited to just one passing touchdown and was picked off twice. The SMU defense ended the night with seven sacks, putting pressure on Pratt throughout the whole afternoon.

Do we agree with who got the New Years Six bid?

Joe: I see both sides here. Ultimately, I think there’s simply too much precedent with regards to how things go when an undefeated G5 doesn’t get the best possible spot. Did SMU have a tougher schedule? Absolutely. But still, the average margin of victory by Liberty makes their case tougher to dispute.

Eric: While SMU played a tougher schedule by virtue of being a deeper league in the American, there’s value in being an undefeated conference champion. While the College Football Playoff Committee may not have seen that in Florida State, given the options they had for the top-four, they got it right with Liberty.

Kevin: Liberty was easily the right choice. The only G5 team to finish undefeated and win their conference championship. What the Flames have been able to do in just their first year in Conference USA and earn the ranking that they did is extremely impressive. What Liberty did doesn’t take away anything from the Greenwave and the Mustangs, who both had great seasons, including tougher schedules, but it is hard to compete with a team who didn’t just go undefeated, but dominated in almost every single game.

Who’s your G5 Coach of the year this year?

Joe: I can’t go against New Mexico State’s Jerry Kill. Nobody did more with less. While guys like Barry Odom and Chuck Martin I think are also solid candidates, Kill just kept winning games that the Aggies would have lost by three touchdowns or more two years ago. That Auburn win alone made me question reality, a little bit.

Eric: Joe and Kevin’s pick of Jerry Kill is an excellent choice. It can’t really be overstated how much NM State struggled during the Doug Martin era. However, a program that suffered at a similar rate over the last few seasons is South Florida. Yes, Alex Golesh inherited a program in a fertile recruiting territory and a better infrastructure, but was 8-37 over their last four seasons. Immediately turning them into a bowl team in year one is an incredible job and deserves to be recognized.

Kevin: Jerry Kill inherited one of the worst programs in college football and took them to a bowl game victory last season and this year, he takes them to a 10 win season, conference usa championship appearance and a bowl game. What Kill has done with this New Mexico State program is incredible in just being able to put down his roots to how he wants to build the program and how this team can be one of the best in Conference USA for years to come.

What G5 bowl are you most looking forward to right now

Joe: Aside from the Fiesta Bowl, I’m going to go with Air Force and James Madison in the Armed Forces Bowl on December 23. It doesn’t sound like JMU will have Jordan McCloud, and we know they won’t have former head coach Curt Cignetti as he hits the ground running at Indiana. Dukes fans really wanted to see the team in a bowl game this season, so here’s what you get.

Eric: The Birmingham Bowl featuring Troy and Duke is a match-up that really intrigues me. Jon Sumrall has done an outstanding job with the Trojans in two seasons and after a bowl win over a Group of Five heavyweight in UTSA last year, getting the chance to upend Duke roughly two hours away from campus would be a nice momentum boost for his program as they try to continue their ascent.

Kevin: The Cure Bowl between Miami (Ohio) against Appalachian State should be a fun matchup. These are two teams who have never gone up against each other and are both having bounce back season, as they both made it to their perspective conference championship games.