The Tulne Green Wave, North Texas Mean Green, and James Madison Dukes were all big winners in Week 12 of the college football season because of the Navy Midshipmen’s 41-38 win over the USF Bulls in Annapolis.
As Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger relays, “the non-power league playoff race got interesting on Saturday when Navy beat South Florida, opening the door for Tulane, North Texas and JMU to squeak into the postseason tournament.”
Certainly, Alex Golesh got a friendly reminder that the talent he can accumulate in Tampa has a ceiling with such a competitive recruiting landscape and in-state rivals with much more to spend. There’s a ceiling that Golesh might’ve just realized in the shark-infested American waters.
Tulane and North Texas now move up in the American standings with the Bulls’ second conference loss. Navy is in pole position to clinch a spot in the conference championship game next weekend against the Memphis Tigers, but one of the green teams has a chance to nab the other spot.
As for James Madison, the Dukes are now in the driver’s seat to be the Group of 5 autobid with just one loss, an out-of-conference affair with the Louisville Cardinals in Week 2. JMU has just one conference game left against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, with a non-conference matchup with the Washington State Cougars next week.
The Midshipmen did much of the G5 a solid with the win over USF, including themselves. We’ll see if Navy will get some love in the AP Top 25 Poll. They didn’t receive any votes last week. Tulane was the first team left out.
Are we due for some controversy at the end of the field this year after the Boise State Broncos were an obvious G5 entry last year? Tulane getting in over JMU would be controversial to some.
The 12-team CFP field’s merits could be tested in a couple of weeks, given how many Group of 5 teams are in the mix this late in the season.