Navy beats USF: How result impacts College Football Playoff race

For the second straight week, the journey for the Group of 6 race to the College Football Playoff took another turn. Navy took down No. 24 USF on Saturday.

The Midshipmen took a 24-9 lead into halftime, but the Bulls made things interesting in the second half when it became a one-score game in the fourth quarter. However, Navy was able to seal the 41-38 victory as the Midshipmen fought off a late surge from USF to avoid disaster in the American Conference race.

With the victory, Navy improved to 8-2 on the year and 6-1 in American play to sit atop the conference standings with two weeks to go. In the process, the Midshipmen also shook up the CFP race even more.

The first shift came last week when Memphis fell to Tulane after appearing in the first projected 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. Remember, the five highest-ranked conference champions get spots in the field. USF appeared as the G6 representative this week after coming in as the No. 24-ranked team in the latest rankings reveal.

But with Saturday’s loss, the race changed dramatically once again. All eyes will now be on Tuesday’s rankings reveal to see which Group of 6 team appears in the bracket.

If the rankings turn out like they did during the first reveal show and a G6 team does not make the Top 25, the College Football Playoff selection committee will keep ranking until a projected fifth highest-ranked conference champion appears.

How it happened: Navy wins thriller against USF

Through the first half, it looked like it would be all Navy as the Midshipmen tried to bounce back from a loss at Notre Dame last week. But USF didn’t go down quietly – and it came down to the wire.

After Navy went up 24-9 at halftime, USF mounted its charge. Byrum Brown ran in a three-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-16, but another Midshipmen field goal made it 27-16. Brown then rattled off a big run to make it 27-24, and the back-and-forth was on from there.

Braxton Woodson took a 20-yard rush for a score to make it a 34-24 Navy lead, and USF’s Jeremiah Koger caught a pass from Nykahi Davenport to cut it to 34-30 after the PAT missed. Then, Woodson broke off another one, going 64 yards as Navy went up 41-30. But USF again rose to the occasion as Mudia Reuben broke free for a 41-yard touchdown, and the two-point conversion got the Bulls within three points, 41-38.

Woodson came through again, pushing ahead for a massive first down with 1:37 to play. That forced USF to use its timeouts to try and keep the game alive. Time was not on the Bulls’ side, though, and Navy held on for a thrilling victory after USF’s final attempt with one second left fell incomplete.