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The Road to the College Football Playoff looks at UB's national profile, and how far they need to go to gain the Group of 5 spot into a top bowl game, and how far they need to climb to gain an unprecidented spot in the college football playoff:
UB's Rank
| Billingsley + MOV | 100 (-1) | CBS Sports | 104 (-7) | ESPN FPI | 108 (+11) | ||
| Massey | 101 (+10) | USA Today Myerberg | 91 (+2) | Sagarin | 94 (+11) | ||
| Conrad Poll | 31 |
UB's Rank: 95 (+7)
UB's College Football Playoff Magic Number:
91
UB would need to pass 91 teams to enter the college football playoff.
UB's Group of 5 Magic Number:
31
UB is 32nd of 61 group of 5 teams, thus UB would have to leap 31 to earn the G5 auto-bid to a top 6 bowl game.
Conrad Poll:
The Conrad Poll measures how consistent a team is over the season, but with only one game played, we won't know who is consistent yet. This week's poll is based on how quickly each team put their opponent away, UB finished tied for 31st in the Conrad Poll this week.
| RK | TEAM | Result | W | L | Change |
| 1 | Kansas State | W vs S. Dakota | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | San Diego State | W vs San Diego | 1 | 0 | |
| 3 | USC | W vs Arkansas St | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | Colorado State | W vs Savannah St | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | Georgia Tech | W vs Alcorn St | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | Illinois | W vs Kent St | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | Missouri | W vs SE Mizzou st | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | Ole Miss | W vs UT-Martin | 1 | 0 | |
| 9 | Syracuse | W vs Rhode Island | 1 | 0 | |
| 9 | Memphis | W vs Missouri St | 1 | 0 | |
| 9 | West Virginia | W vs Georgiat Southern | 1 | 0 | |
| 12 | New Mexico | W vs Mississippi Valley st | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | Appalachian State | W vs Howard | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | Clemson | W vs Wofford | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | Miami (FL) | W vs Bethune-Cookman | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | Notre Dame | W vs Texas | 1 | 0 | |
| 17 | Louisiana Tech | W vs Southern | 1 | 0 | |
| 18 | Arkansas | W vs UTEP | 1 | 0 | |
| 19 | California | W vs Grambling St | 1 | 0 | |
| 20 | Fresno State | W vs Abilene Christian | 1 | 0 | |
| 21 | Baylor | W @ SMU | 1 | 0 | |
| 21 | San Jose State | W vs New Hampshire | 1 | 0 | |
| 23 | Air Force | W vs Air Force | 1 | 0 | |
| 23 | Cincinnati | W vs Alabama A&M | 1 | 0 | |
| 23 | Florida | W vs New Mex St | 1 | 0 |
The Top 10
#1: Baylor - Big 12
#2: USC - PAC 12
#3: Ohio State - Big 10
#4: Alabama - SEC
#5: Georgia - SEC
#6: Ole Miss - SEC
#7: Notre Dame - Indy
#8: TCU - Big 12
#9 Mich St - Big 10
#10 Ga Tech - ACC
The G5 Top 15:
#1: Boise State - Mountain West - #23
#2: Memphis - American Athletic - #40
#3: Cincinnati - American Athletic - #41
#4: Temple - American Athletic - #47
#5:Louisiana Tech - Conference USA - #48
#6: Marshall - Conference USA - #50
#7: Western Kentucky - Conference USA - #53
#8: Navy - American Athletic - #57
#9: San Diego State - Mountain West - #58
#10: Air Force - Mountain West - #59
#11: Colorado St - Mountain West - #64
#12: Houston - American Athletic - #65
#13: Toledo - Mid American - #67
#14: Northern Illinois - Mid American - #69
#15: Utah St - Mountain West - #70
New to the Poll: Temple, Air Force
Dropped Out: UCF, Georgia Southern
The Bottom 10
#119: SMU - American Athletic Conference
#120: UNLV - Mountain West
#121: Troy - Sun Belt
#122: Wyoming - Mountain West
#123: Army
#124: EMU - MAC
#125: Kent State - MAC
#126: New Mexico State - Sun Belt
#127: Idaho - Sun Belt
#128: Georgia State - Sun Belt
Dropped Into the Bottom: Wyoming, Troy, SMU
Started from the bottom now they out: Charlotte, Miami (OH), UTSA
UB's Schedule:
Next Opponent: Penn State #63
The Road to Bowl Eligibility: 5 Wins needed. 9 winnable games remaining (teams ranked below or within 20 of UB)
UB Ranked better: (Albany, FAU, CMU, Miami, Kent, Akron, UMass)
UB Ranked below but close: (Nevada, BGSU, Ohio,)
UB Ranked below not close (Penn State, NIU)
Schedule Projection: 10-2 (7-1)
MAC Standings:
| MAC Rank | Division Rank | Team | National Rank |
| #1 | West #1 | Toledo | #67 (-10) |
| #2 | West #2 | N. Illinois | #69 (-8) |
| #3 | West #3 | Western Mich | #79 (-6) |
| #4 (+2) | East #1 (+1) | Ohio | #85 (+6) |
| #5 (-1) | East #2 (-1) | BGSU | #94 (-14) |
| #6 (+2) | East #3 (+1) | Buffalo | #95 (+7) |
| #7 (-2) | West #4 | Ball St | #98 (-12) |
| #8 (+2) | West #5 | Central Mich | #103 (+8) |
| #9 (-2) | East #4 (-1) | Akron | #109 (-9) |
| #10 (+2) | East #5 (+2) | Miami | #112 (+10) |
| #11 (-2) | East #6 (-1) | UMass | #115 (-6) |
| #12 (+1) | West #6 | Eastern Mich | #124 (+1) |
| #13 (-2) | East #7 (-1) | Kent St | #125 (-6) |
UB's path to Detroit:
UB controls their own destiny if they finish undefeated in the MAC.