It was a gutsy call by Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith. And in executing it to perfection, the Beavers may have just ended any slim chance a G5 school had of matching Cincinnati last year and earning a College Football Playoff spot.
Trailing 32-29 with three seconds left in the fourth quarter at Fresno State, Smith elected to go for the score, bypassing a chip shot field goal and a chance for overtime.
Jack Colletto scored on a 2-yard run as time expired to give Oregon State the win and put a major dagger into the hopes of aspiring G5 playoff teams.
Fresno State (1-1) would have at least appeared on paper to stay alive for a playoff spot with a win over Oregon State, especially if the Bulldogs were to follow that up this week with a victory over USC.
For a G5 team to even be considered, it needs a big win over a highly ranked team and to go undefeated. Last year, Cincinnati won at Notre Dame and later improved to 13-0 after beating Houston, 35-20 in the American Athletic Conference title game.
And thus, the Bearcats became the first G5 school to join the playoff party.
Another similarity to Cincinnati is that Fresno State has a high-profile quarterback, never something bad when looking for visibility. Cincinnati rode Desmond Ridder, who became a third-round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons.
Jake Haener has received plenty of buzz for Fresno State, and he was more than solid, if not spectacular against Oregon State, completing 29-of-45 for 360 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. This came against an Oregon State team that was picked just fifth in the preseason Pac-12 poll.
The Fresno State loss, coupled with Houston’s 33-30 double overtime defeat at Texas Tech, was the second part of the one-two gut punch delivered to G5 playoff hopefuls.
Now the top three teams in the American Athletic Conference – Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, have all lost once.
Houston led Texas Tech 20-17 after Bubba Baxa’s 35-yard field goal with just 37 seconds left in regulation, but the Cougars allowed Texas Tech to hit a 47-yard field goal by Trey Wolff with just three seconds left to force the overtime.
Houston’s schedule, which doesn’t include Cincinnati or UCF, contained no wiggle room. Even if the Cougars would have gone 13-0, there still may have been push-back, but that is now a moot point.
Could another G5 team still make a run?
Let’s just say the chances are remote.
Only two AAC teams, SMU and Tulane are undefeated after two whole games. SMU, the best candidate, visits Maryland (2-0) on Saturday, and facing quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa won’t be any picnic.
“Whoa!!!” says the Sun Belt, “what about us?”
No question the Sun Belt has earned the right to pound its collective chest after the past weekend. Just look at some of the impressive results:
Marshall over Notre Dame.
(Hey, the Fighting Irish have been overrated, but winning in South Bend is never easy so props to Charles Huff’s team)
Appalachian State over Texas A&M.
Great win, but it came a week after App State scored 61 against North Carolina and still lost.
Georgia Southern over Nebraska.
OK, we get that everybody seems to beat Nebraska in close games, but this one came in Lincoln and that’s a great win, no matter how confounding the Cornhuskers are. It finally cost Nebraska coach Scott Frost his job as the school announced his firing on Sunday.
No G5 conference has more undefeated teams than the Sun Belt, where Coastal Carolina, Marshall, newcomer James Madison, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, and South Alabama are 2-0.
Just for the heck of it, the other G5 teams that have yet to lose are Air Force (2-0), Toledo (2-0), and Western Kentucky (2-0).
The Sun Belt teams are likely to beat each other up, and does anybody really think any of the other 2-0 teams are considered viable contenders? This is college football, and anything can happen, but Cincinnati’s success last year could be a G5 outlier.
The odds are obviously so heavily stacked against G5 teams, at least until the 12-team playoff format begins.
