Around the Dog Park: Alabama Continues to Duck In-State G5 Opponents

Around the Dog Park is our daily round up of G5 football news around the internet. Feel free to submit any news we may have missed in the comments section.

General G5 Football

• Alabama continues to dodge in-state Group of Five programs. They’ve played “money games” against teams from Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Florida though. Hmmm.
• Athlon ranks each 2017 head coach hire. USF, FAU, and WKU all received “A” rankings for their respective hires.
• SB Nation lists 25 college football games worth getting excited for in the 2017 season.

Conference USA

• Charlotte has hired Greg Adkins as offensive line coach. The 49ers current offensive line coach Johnson Richardson will slide over to coach tight ends.
• The Orlando Sentinel released their QB position rankings for Conference USA. Their ranking sparked quite a bit of debate on Twitter. We’ll be rolling out our own staff rankings closer to the start of the season after we see how guys look in spring practice and the transfer market closes.
• Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman interviews FAU quarterback De’Andre Johnson’s father in this stirring and emotional podcast.
• We ranked each Conference USA program’s production since the conference realigned in 2013.
• UAB is back in 2017 and moving to a new division in Conference USA. Who will be their rivals in the West?
• FAU football is still looking for a reliable second option at wide receiver.
• FIU’s running backs are on the verge of greatness. Can Butch Davis help them reach their potential?

American

• The Daily Stampede has started an awesome series in which they’ll detail the best plays from USF’s previous season. Here’s the 10th best play of the season— Marlon Mack’s wild 49-yard touchdown run to grab hold of USF’s all-time rushing record.
• Speaking of USF, 247Sports broke down the Bulls in their 2017 pre-season rankings.
• Houston’s similarities with East Texas powerhouse football program John Tyler don’t just end with their Greg Ward Jr. connection.
• Down the Drive profiles Cincinnati’s powerful defensive tackle Cortez Broughton.
• We graded each AAC program based off their history since the conference was formed.

Sun Belt

• Appalachian State has signed a three-game series with North Carolina. UNC will visit Kidd Brewer Stadium in 2022.
• Bill Connelly profiles App State heading into their 2017 season.
• Texas State’s quarterback position is a huge mess but at least there’s an apparent starter in 2017.
• We ranked each of Blake Anderson’s three seasons at Arkansas State. You can probably guess which season was ranked first.