Navy's final two games could have an unprecedented effect on the bowl season

If Navy defeats Temple in the American Athletic Conference title game this weekend, the trickle-down effect for Group of Five bowls — and perhaps the Power Five bowls — could be unprecedented.

In the recently released College Football Playoff rankings, Western Michigan was ranked No. 17 and Navy was ranked No. 19. Both teams play in conference title games this weekend and then Navy still has its season finale against Army the week after.

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If Navy beats Temple this weekend, the College Football Playoff committee would have to wait six days following the final rankings to see if Navy beats Army in order to make a call as to which team becomes the Group of Five representative in the Cotton Bowl.

CFP chairman Kirby Hocutt following the release of the penultimate rankings opened the door for Navy to jump Western Michigan if its wins its final two games.

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“Western Michigan is one of only two teams that remain undefeated. Their strength of schedule continues to be a concern, something the committee is aware of,” Hocutt said. “Look at a Western Michigan team that is very successful on the offensive side of the ball. At the same time, they’ve only beaten two FBS teams with a winning record.

“Navy has three of what the selection committee would look at quality wins over Houston, Memphis and Tulsa.”

That six-day delay for the Cotton Bowl announcement also will affect several other Group of Five bowls that would take either Western Michigan or Navy for their games and thus affect the games that involve other members of those conferences.

“I don’t want to be un-American, but nearly everyone in the bowl industry, quite frankly, is rooting against Navy,” an anonymous bowl official told ESPN on Wednesday.

Complicating the issue further would be a Western Michigan loss and a Navy win. Say, WMU falls out of the rankings and then Navy loses to Army and also falls out. That would leave the door open for the highest ranked champion from the Group of Five team to become the at-large representative. That, albeit unlikely, scenario might create chaos for the bowl system as a whole, not just for the Group of Five.

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The first Group of Five bowl games begin on Dec. 17. Delaying the Cotton Bowl announcement until Dec. 10 would give several teams a short window to arrive at their games by Wednesday, Dec. 14. Moreover, it would create logistic chaos for fans wishing to follow their team to a bowl and for coaches trying to create gameplans for unknown opponents.

But the committee knew something like this might happen. In June 2015, the CFP amended its rankings rules to delay the final rankings until after the Army-Navy game if it affected the Group of Five bid.

So all eyes will be on Navy as chaos potentially begins.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday