UC Ranked No. 14 Among Non-Power Five Programs

Once in a while, us chuckleheads at SB Nation get together to work on a project. The Underdogs Poll is one of those programs. Writers from across the Group of Five sites vote on the top 10 teams that don’t play in the SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten. Then, using that data, a top 15 is selected.

The first poll of the season was released today and the Cincinnati Bearcats got enough votes to be on the top 15. They finished with nine points in the voting, tying them with the Georgia Southern Eagles for the No. 14 spot.

UC was one of five teams from the American Athletic Conference to make the rankings. Houston, fresh off its 13-1 campaign was a nearly unanimous No. 1 selection, with USF (No. 4), Navy (No. 8) and Temple (No. 12) also making the cut. UConn also received a vote, but did not make the final rankings.

The poll also includes a player of the week, which this week was reconfigured as a preseason player of the year. Just as Houston dominated the team voting, Cougars quarterback Greg Ward Jr. got the most love at the individual level. I guess we’ll just have to wait a little while until Mike Boone scoops one of those up.

The full poll is below.