G5 Drive: The American’s crowded title race and Hawaii’s quest to conquer the blue turf

Only loss to a G5 was Temple’s strange loss to 2-4 Buffalo

“It’s what we’ve been pointing to all along,” Aresco told The Athletic . “It’s been our goal to have the deepest conference and be as much as the so-called P5 as we can be. To do that, you have to be deeper so we have a better strength of schedule.”

The Mountain West received deserved attention early in the year for upsetting a number of Power 5 teams. But Aresco points out the American is now 26-1 against non-Power 5 teams this year. That includes 6-0 against Conference USA, 4-0 against the Sun Belt, 3-0 against the Mountain West and 1-1 against the MAC.

Computers back it up, too. The AAC West division is ranked higher than even the ACC Coastal division in the Sagarin ratings right now and only slightly behind the Big Ten West.

The AAC East division is the third-highest Group of 5 division, behind the AAC West and the MWC’s Mountain division. (The AAC and MWC have the four highest-rated G5 divisions.)

“I think our league is its strongest ever,” said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo.

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