The powers that be in college football may have been preoccupied this offseason with trying to widen the moat around certain conferences, but that tended to obscure just how good a year those outside the Power 4 had in the sport.
Notre Dame woke up some echoes by hosting the first playoff game on campus and then proceeded to make it to the national title game. Boise State not only made a call back to its BCS-busting days by earning the Group of 5 bid, but got a bye into the quarterfinals ahead of the ACC as well. Elsewhere, Ohio won the MAC for the first time since 1968 and Army captured their first ever conference championship by beating Tulane in West Point to win their fittingly named new home of the American.
