That's 63 previews down, 65 to go. My annual preview series has basically reached the halfway point, with the Group of 5 conferences and non-Notre Dame independents in the books. Notre Dame will mark the official halfway point on Monday.

At the end of each set of conference previews, I have been releasing power rankings based not on numbers, but on my opinions after writing so many words about each team. You can catch them all here:

Since we've reached a benchmark, it might be interesting to merge these power rankings into one giant set of mid-major power rankings.

I'll include three independents here -- including BYU, which has probably done enough to earn honorary major status -- with asterisks (*) that signify they technically aren't part of the Group of 5 (and therefore ineligible to get the New Year's Six's Group of 5 conference champion bid). They could still make big bowls by ranking highly, of course.

Capable of making (and winning) a major bowl

1. Houston

2. Boise State

3. BYU*

4. San Diego State

5. USF

These are the five with the fewest question marks to me.

I am not as high on Houston as many -- for all of the luck-related reasons I've mentioned many times before -- but I still trust the Cougars more than any other team in the mid-major universe.

That said, they are only a nose ahead of others, and as much as conventional wisdom has settled on UH as the de facto Group of 5 favorite, most of us were saying the same things about Boise State a year ago. The Broncos went 9-4.

Anyone from the second tier below could make a run at the major bowl bid, but I would be surprised if the bid didn't go to one of the four eligible teams above.

Definite conference title contenders

6. Western Kentucky

7. WMU

8. Appalachian State

9. Toledo

10. Temple

11. Georgia Southern

12. Memphis

13. Southern Miss

14. Marshall

15. Navy

16. Cincinnati

17. Air Force

18. NIU

19. Bowling Green

20. Arkansas State

Each of these is one or two answers away from making a run at 10-plus wins. Maybe a star quarterback left, or maybe there was a coaching change. Because of uncertainty, at least a few will disappoint this fall, but they all have sturdy foundations. Most will enter November with conference title hopes.

Bowls likely

21. UConn

22. Louisiana Tech

23. CMU

24. Utah State

25. ECU

26. Colorado State

27. Ohio

28. Tulsa

This is just a half-step down from the one above. Most or all should end up in the postseason.

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Bowls possible

29. Akron

30. UCF

31. New Mexico

32. Nevada

33. San Jose State

34. Middle Tennessee

35. Troy

36. Georgia State

37. Florida Atlantic

These teams are either completely rebuilding in one unit or the other or just really stunk in one unit last year. But there is decent talent and depth.

Hey, you never know

38. SMU

39. Fresno State

40. Kent State

41. UNLV

42. Florida International

43. UL-Lafayette

44. Buffalo

45. Rice

46. Ball State

47. Idaho

48. Old Dominion

49. Tulane

50. Miami (Ohio)

51. South Alabama

52. Army*

53. UTEP

54. UTSA

55. New Mexico State

56. Wyoming

57. UMass*

58. North Texas

59. Texas State

Most of my previews for these teams centered around building (or, in the case of teams like Rice and UL-Lafayette, rebuilding) for 2017, but hey, sometimes you arrive a year early.

:(

60. Charlotte

61. UL-Monroe

62. Hawaii

63. EMU

If one of these makes a serious bowl run, I will be stunned and thrilled.

***

Friday afternoon, I took some Facebook and Twitter questions on these rankings and the Group of 5 in general here: