Temple, Memphis, Toledo and Houston have taken college football by storm, barreling into the Top 25 on the heels of wins over the likes of Ole Miss, Penn State, Arkansas and Louisville. But in the midst of their rise, one mid-major team is being overlooked this fall: UAB.

Former UAB linebacker Jake Ganus has become a force at Georgia.

After the school shut down its football program – only to be reinstated and set to kickoff again in 2017 – a really good team dismantled. Players dispersed across the country and while we'll never know how good this team might have been in 2015 had it stayed together, we now know that the team it would have fielded sure does have some individual talent.

No less than nine former UAB players now lead their current FBS teams in at least one major statistical category. This starting lineup would be legit.

Offense

Former UAB quarterback Cody Clements has thrown for over 230 yards per game and 10 touchdowns at South Alabama and his top targets are his Blazer brethren. TE Gerald Everett leads the team in catches with 26 and he has 475 yards receiving and seven touchdowns. Josh Magee is right behind him with 402 yards receiving and three touchdowns of his own.

Louisville receiver Amari Staples has been effective when healthy recently catching six passes for 78 yards in three games and Buffalo receiver Colin Lisa has 16 catches, 188 yards and a touchdown on the year.

Offensively, those guys would be even better due to Jordan Howard carrying the ball. He has rushed for 709 yards and four touchdowns in five games with Indiana and when healthy he looks like one of the best backs in the nation.

It's not as if, UAB couldn't open up holes for Howard and protect Clements. Roscoe Byrd is starting on a Georgia Southern offensive line that leads the nation in rush offense. Cameron Blankenship, when healthy, was the best offensive lineman for South Alabama. Meanwhile Victor Salako is the starting left tackle on an Oklahoma State team that is undefeated and within the Top 25 in total offense.

Defense

As good as that offensive unit is, defense is just as impressive led by linebacker Jake Ganus and his breakout season at Georgia. Ganus leads the Bulldogs with 50 tackles and two interceptions. He's not leading his UAB brothers in tackles though. That goes to Western Kentucky's TJ McCollum who has 54 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. Neither linebacker can top what Georgia State's Alonzo McGee has done behind the line of scrimmage with nine tackles for loss and two sacks.

The secondary would be loaded behind Bobby Baker and his 31 tackles, 2 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries at Georgia State. South Alabama's Kalen Jackson has pitched in 34 tackles, four tackles for loss and two interceptions from his safety position as well. Roland Milligan at Toledo has two interceptions, and two forced fumbles while Kelton Brackett has two interceptions, 26 tackles and one fumble recovery for UMass.

Collectively, UAB's former players have accounted for an interception total that would put them in the top 13 nationally. Include the fumbles recovered and forced and this team would be a top ten team at creating turnovers.

It's a shame that UAB had to take this kind of step back given their trajectory but Bill Clark clearly knows how to recruit and develop talent.

Weekend takeaways

*I’m alongside everybody else in calling Leonard Fournette the Heisman frontrunner but his biggest competition isn't getting enough attention: Dalvin Cook. Cook has been phenomenal this fall and he looks to be the single most important player on any team, even more so than Fournette. With Cook, and a still stingy defense, Florida State remains a national title threat.

*In watching Alabama dismantle Texas A&M over the weekend, the Tide's national roster continues to jump out. If you think about the guys that made the game-changing plays for Alabama it was Minkah Fitzpatrick (New Jersey), Eddie Jackson (Florida), Derrick Henry (Florida) and Jonathan Allen (Virginia). There's still plenty of Alabama talent on the roster but Nick Saban's increasingly national recruiting approach is surely opening the door for some of the South Carolinas and Mississippi States of the world to land some quality talent from Alabama due to a trickle down effect.

*The best player you may not have heard of could be Shalom Luani out of Washington State. He was a four-star on 247Sports out of the 2015 JuCo class and he's living up to that billing in a big way. The former soccer player originally out of American Samoa had an 84-yard pick six on Saturday to seal the win for Washington State.

*I haven't felt Ohio State was deserving of a top 4 ranking all year but do you sense that they're starting to put it together? They just beat Penn State by 28 and you still didn't even get the sense that they were playing their best football. This team is still the most talented team in the country and they're about to find their groove.

*My Top Four after the weekend: 1. Baylor 2. Utah 3. Ohio State 4. LSU