3 Things We Learned In The G5: Week One

Week 1 was wild for some of G5's biggest playmakers

Week one provided more than its fair share of action as the college football season officially kicked off nationwide. The headline was Wyoming’s upset of a Texas Tech team that entered 2023 with expectations of challenging for a Big 12 title. 

Several new coaches began there tenures as we got our first look at the post Jamey Chadwell era at Coastal Carolina and Chadwell’s debut with Liberty. 

Here’s a look at our Three Things We Learned from the Group of Five Weekend. 

An experienced and tested Wyoming team upsets Texas Tech at home

Entering his ninth season at the helm of the Cowboys, Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl knows what it takes to build a winner. Five bowl berths in the last seven seasons should have been more than enough evidence that his team wouldn’t be intimated by welcoming a Power Five opponent to War Memorial Stadium. 

While the rest of the nation may have been stunned, Group of Five followers were more than aware of a this year’s Wyoming club that returned several key players from last year’s team, led by an especially experienced defense. 10-of-11 defensive starters returned from a 2022 club that ranked among the top-third of teams in FBS football in several major defensive categories, including points per game allowed (23.9) – with the entire front-seven in-tact, including defensive ends Braden Siders and DeVonne Harris, who combined for 100 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 15 sacks last year.

Lastly, Cowboys’ quarterback Andrew Peasley entered the season as a highly-motivated player, looking to show that he could be the signal-caller that drives a team. The redshirt senior was supposed to be the heir apparent to Jordan Love at Utah State, but lost a quarterback competition during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, followed by a coaching change which led to his transfer to Wyoming. 

All of the above helped make the team’s 35-33 double-overtime win over Texas Tech, a game that saw the defense rebound from a slow start to limit the Red Raiders to only six points in the last three quarters of regulation. Peasley had a gutsy performance that saw him lead the team in rushing and come up large in big moments. 

Defense leads the way for the Flames 

Liberty defensive back Kobe Singleton has certainly logged some travel mileage in his football journey. A Tallahassee, Florida native, Singleton was lightly-recruited out of high school and began his collegiate career at Southern Utah, before heading across the country to sign with the Flames prior to the 2021 season.

He became a starter last year and emerged as a valuable playmaker in the Flames’ secondary. The 6'0", 180-pound junior appeared in every contest, logging 26 tackles with two interceptions and six pass breakups.

Singleton entered the 2023 season with a legit chance to earn an all-conference spot in Conference USA and his season-opening performance should help in those efforts. His pick-six made the difference in Liberty’s 34-24 win over Bowling Green, one in which the defense forced five Falcon interceptions – led by Flames’ defensive back Jerome Jolly Jr.’s pair of picks. 

Western Kentucky wins – but still has room for improvement

Austin Reed is undoubtedly one of the top quarterbacks among the Group of Five ranks and the best in Conference USA. However, for as good as Reed and the Hilltoppers’ offense is, they’ll need a more complete performance than what they had in Saturday’s win over lowly South Florida. 

Reed did, well, what we’ve come to expect from him and the Western Kentucky offense. They topped 40 points as Reed threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, they allowed 374 rushing yards to the Bulls, including a pair of 100-yard rushers. While they did force three turnovers, that still wasn’t enough to put the game out of reach until the Hilltoppers race away from USF in the fourth quarter. 

The win is nothing to downplay, however, when looking at these two programs – Western Kentucky has been head and shoulders above the Bulls for several seasons and should have been able to put together a more well-rounded day versus a clearly rebuilding program.