The University of South Florida returned Sunday to The Associated Press football poll, at No. 25, but another Group of 5 team, James Madison, is one spot higher at No. 25.
If the College Football Playoff committee offers the same scenario at season’s end, the Dukes would be in line for an automatic bid to the 12-team postseason bracket. CFP bids go to the five highest-ranked conference champions.
USF could also be in line for that slot but likely would need to win out to get it.
The next CFP committee rankings will be announced Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Comparing the Dukes and Bulls
James Madison (8-1, 6-0), of the Sun Belt Conference, is the highest-ranked G5 team, according to AP’s panel of writers and broadcasters.
The Dukes’ only loss was to Louisville (7-3), but their only win over a team with a winning record is Sun Belt foe Old Dominion (6-3, 3-2).
USF (7-2, 4-1) of the American Conference posted a 32-point win over Texas-San Antonio on Thursday to jump back into the poll after a two-week absence.
The Bulls also have wins over conference foe North Texas (8-1, 4-1), plus Boise State (6-3) and Power 5 team Florida. The Bulls lost by three in the final minutes to Memphis and by 37 to now-No. 16 Miami.
Memphis, ranked 22nd last week by AP, dropped out of the top 25 after losing to Tulane.
The American is generally considered a stronger conference than the Sun Belt, but James Madison has gained added attention over the past few weeks.
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After Saturday, the American has five teams with one conference loss tied for first place, including USF. Another is Navy (7-2, 5-1), this week’s opponent.
Most experts agree the Bulls control their own path to the CFP bid by winning their three remaining regular season games to clinch a spot in the conference title game. After Navy, USF travels to Alabama-Birmingham and hosts Rice.
Winning the American with two losses would likely secure USF a bid to the 12-team CFP bracket.
Based on the AP Top 25, the No. 12 seed would open at No. 5 Georgia.
The last time AP had two G5 conferences ranked at the same time was last year, when Boise State and UNLV of the Mountain West and Army and Memphis of the American were in the final two polls of the season.
No. 24 James Madison's previous AP Top 25 appearance was in 2023, when Coach Curt Cignetti's last Dukes team was in the final seven regular-season polls.
Other changes in the poll
Meantime, the top five AP teams remained unchanged this week. Texas climbed into the top 10 as the Atlantic Coast Conference had five teams ranked for the first time this season.
The Longhorns, the preseason No. 1 team, are ranked No. 10 in advance of its visit to Georgia this week. They had been in the top 10 for the first six polls before their loss at Florida knocked them out of the Top 25 for a week.
Ohio State was No. 1 for the 11th week in a row with 55 first-place votes. Indiana remained No. 2 after its narrow escape at Penn State, but the Hoosiers’ six first-place votes were five fewer than last week.
No. 3 Texas A&M got four first-place votes, three more than a week ago, and was 31 points behind Indiana. Alabama was fourth. After Georgia came Mississippi, Oregon, Texas Tech and Notre Dame, which dealt Navy its first loss on Saturday.
In all, 19 spots in the AP Top 25 have new teams.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
