Folks, we are well into the meat and potatoes of the 2022 college football season. It’s hard to believe, I know, but we’re just about halfway through it, despite it feeling like the season just started yesterday. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for some deeper college football storylines to dig into beyond the College Football Playoff race, allow me to be your guide. Some good stuff has started to shape up, and there are a few of these teams and conference races that I’m going to be glued to as we make it down the home stretch.
Cotton Bowl – Who the hell is going to rise up and claim the Group of Five’s New Years Six bid to the Cotton Bowl? I mean, Cincinnati is the highest ranked of the bunch, but I don’t think they’ve looked particularly good this season. Tulane is the only other team currently in the top 25. James Madison, South Alabama, UCF, and Liberty all got at least one vote in the AP poll. Coastal Carolina is still sitting there at 6-1. Are any of these teams particularly inspiring? Probably not. But, outside of Cincinnati, it’s wide open. I’m sorry, but the prospects of James Madison in the Cotton Bowl in their first season in the FBS is highly entertaining.
East Carolina Pirates – East Carolina has been a surprisingly fun scrappy team to watch this season. They lost a nail-biter against NC State, 21-20, to open the season. They won a nail-biter against Memphis 47-45 in quadruple overtime a week ago. They’re sitting there at 4-3, and they should get a win over Temple to close the season. But, getting that sixth win is going to come down to likely pulling off an upset with games against UCF, BYU, Cincinnati, and Houston on the docket.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – How about the Yellow Jackets firing their head coach, then turning around a 1-3 start into upsetting Pitt and Duke to get to 3-3?! With games against Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Miami left on the schedule, there’s a real chance that they could polish this turnaround off with a bowl bid, and Georgia Tech getting to a bowl game would be one of the big surprises of the season.
The entire MAC conference – who the hell is going to win the MAC this year? Are there any good teams? They’re all going to start playing and beating each other up. Is it Toledo? Is it Buffalo? Don’t look now, but Ohio is sitting there at 4-3, too. I can’t look away.
Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders – Who am I kidding? I think I’m the only degenerate sports blogger on the internet who has a vested interest in the Blue Raiders and that’s just because I went there. But, I do think 2022 is interesting for MTSU because this team wasn’t expected to do a whole lot, and all of a sudden they’re upsetting the Miami Hurricanes on the road. They’re sitting there at 3-4, with games they should win against Charlotte and FIU left on the schedule. Can they get one more between UTEP, Louisiana Tech, and Florida Atlantic, and end up as a surprise bowl team? That sounds like wholesome fun to watch in my book, but I get it if you don’t care about the Harvard of the South.
Rice Owls – I barely even noticed Rice sitting there at 3-3 with quality wins over UAB and Louisiana on their resumé. But, at just one game back in the loss column from the top of the conference, they’re right there in the thick of the C-USA hunt. I had pretty much written these dudes off after USC blew them out to start the season, but they could be pushing for a bowl game come season’s end.
The Sun Belt race – Saying this a decade ago would’ve sounded like blasphemy, but I think it’s reasonable to at least ask the question in 2022 – is the Sun Belt currently the best Group of Five conference? It seems like Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, and Georgia State are the only teams that are out of the hunt. The ELEVEN other teams in this conference are going to be in play for a bowl game. And, there’s no telling which team is actually going to come out on top at the end of this thing – James Madison? Coastal Carolina? South Alabama? Troy? Hell, if the season ended today, Old Dominion would be in the championship game! This is going to get good….real good.
UConn Huskies – Maybe I’m just a disgusting human being, but ever since I saw the Huskies give Utah State everything they had, I thought this could be a scrappier team under Jim Mora, Jr.. They’ve won two of their last three after starting 1-4. Their remaining schedule includes Boston College, UMass, Liberty, and Army. Are there three wins there? I don’t know, but if UConn can get to a bowl game, that would be nothing short of a massive upset. Remember, this program was historically bad for the last several seasons…one of the worst in the entire country.
UNLV Rebels – Admittedly, this is based more on the 4-1 start than the last two games. UNLV was on top of their division at one point this season before reality set in and San Jose State and Air Force beat ’em by a combined 82-14. Two more wins are certainly possible to get to a bowl game, but I don’t know how this weekend’s trip to Notre Dame is going to go. A surprise? Sure. A legitimate contender in the Mountain West after all? Likely not.
West Virginia Mountaineers – Everyone’s going to be talking about the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12, but I think they’ve got a bowl bid locked down. The Mountaineers are the much more interesting team to watch because of how wildly variant their play has been. It’s been a rollercoaster. They’re definitely going to have to pull off an upset to get to six wins, but it ought to be fun to watch.
If you haven’t already, be sure to go subscribe to the College Football Roundup Podcast, on which Steven McCash and myself break down all the action from the college football world and look ahead to the week to come.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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