Last Sunday, the College Football Playoff Committee selected the twelve teams that will compete for this year’s playoffs. Among the twelve teams, two of them, James Madison (SBC) and Tulane (AAC), are from the group of five conferences, eliminating Notre Dame and BYU.
The Group of 5 Conferences consists of the American Conference (Formerly American Athletic Conference), Mountain West Conference (MWC), Sun Belt Conference, Mid-American Conference (MAC), and Conference USA (CUSA).
To be fair, both schools won their conferences and deserve to be there. However, many members of the sports media have voiced their opinions that these two don’t deserve to be in the playoffs, and they may have a case.
Tulane will play Ole Miss, the two played earlier this year, with the Rebels thumping the Green Wave 45-10. Ole Miss is currently a 17.5-point favorite. Meanwhile, James Madison will play Oregon. Oregon is a 21.5-point favorite over the Dukes. James Madison’s only loss of the year came against Louisville by the final score of 28-14.
There is a chance that both teams could get smoked, and the game might not be competitive. Or, both teams could pull out stunning victories. We’ll see when the time comes.
Since 1987 (Akron Zips), over 20 teams have moved up from the FCS to the FBS. The truth is, some teams like Boise State have been competitive, while others, like the University of Massachusetts, have not been competitive. For Boise State, their success has led to them moving up to the Pac-12 Conference next year. Outside of a few schools like Boise State, many have not had a chance to compete for a national championship, and I think it’s time to change that.
The Group of 5 Conferences should consider getting together and forming a new football league. Call it FBS 2. I’ll go one step further. Shrink the conferences down to four, maybe merging two of them, with each conference fielding 10 teams each. As I mentioned above, there are some teams that have not been competitive and really need to go back to the FCS.
Give this new league a 12-team playoff, using some of the bowl games like the New Orleans Bowl, Frisco Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Arizona Bowl, and the Cure Bowl to make them playoff games. To make conference championship games matter, the top four spots should be reserved for those who win their conference and get a bye in the playoff. The teams that lose their conference title games get to host the first-round matchups against four at-large bids.
The four at-large bids could be one team from each conference getting in to even the playoff. That means there would be an even playing field with three from each conference playing in a playoff. Right now, the SEC has five teams, the Big 10 has three teams, and everyone else has one. How is that a fair playoff?
In today’s college football, the bowl games mentioned are essentially consolation bowls, and many do not watch them, and players opt out of them to either transfer or get ready for the NFL Draft. By adding them to the playoff, these bowls would become important to where players might play them, and people might watch them.
The Group of 5 conferences would benefit from doing this. Having their own league and playoff would end any debate on whether or not they should be in the College Football Playoff. These moves could lead them to getting better TV deals.
Right now, some of the TV deals in most of the conferences expire after the 2030-31 season. With so many streaming services and sports networks out there looking to add sports to their lineup, they would be in a position to negotiate a better deal with these networks that would see them carrying their playoff games. Networks like the CW, Scripps Sports (Ion Television), and others I think would be interested in signing them to air their games.
In the NIL era, schools are looking to get the most money to attract new players to play for their program. If the Group of 5 conferences consider doing this, they could be in a position to grow, thrive, and finally get the respect that they deserve.
