Just last week Marshall upset Notre Dame and along with Air Force joined the ranks of possible 13-0 Group of Five conference champs looking for a New Year's Six bowl bid.
Yesterday Air Force fell to lowly Wyoming 17-14 and on Saturday Marshall lost to formerly winless Bowling Green, 34-31 in overtime.
The loss underscores the reason why Group of Five teams are rarely taken seriously by the national football press—lack of consistency. Even the top Group of Five teams seem susceptible—especially on the road—in games even against very lowly opponents.
Of the two games Marshall's was perhaps the more surprising, as the Herd were 18 point favorites to Air Force's 15 points. But both had warning sigs: Air Force won both their first 2 games by 28+ points, which seems to instill overconfidence in teams that didn't have high expectations entering the season (See also Kansas State, big winners in their first two games but upset by Tulane today).
Marshall's warning sign was last week's win over Notre Dame; you always have to prepare for the letdown following the big high.
The Herd have a very forgiving schedule (one reason why a 13-0 finish was a possibility) but they might no longer be favored against James Madison and Appalachian State going forward.
Hopefully another Group of Five team will emerge with a strong possibility for a 13-0 finish, as it tends to make things more interesting the more undefeated teams there are. But if the top candidates keep losing to some of their weakest competition, it's hard to have much confidence in any of them to achieve perfection!
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