Ever since Tulane and James Madison made the College Football Playoff field, debate has ensued about whether Group of Five teams deserve a chance to compete in the CFP.
Those arguments against the G5 have mostly come from the talking heads of some of the most influential sports media in the country. But do they have a point? Or should they be using that influence to argue on behalf of the “little guy” from the G5?
As someone who is in favor of G5 teams appearing in the CFP – I wasn’t always like that – I wanted to take the time this week to address some of the many points that big names in sports media are making to bar Group of Five programs from appearing in the CFP:
Aren’t The Group of Five Teams Going To Be Blown Out?
Maybe, maybe not. But that’s not a strong argument against the G5 being in the CFP.
- In the College Football Playoff era, the average margin of victory in the national championship is 19.3 points.
- There hasn’t been a one-score national championship since 2018.
- Five of the 11 championships have been decided by 21-plus points, six of those 11 have been three-score games. And none of those games included G5 teams.
The most recent example we have of a G5 team in the CFP was last year when Boise State lost to Penn State by 17 points in the Fiesta Bowl. But there’s many reasons why this doesn’t prove the G5 should be barred from the CFP:
- That was far from the least competitive game in the 2024 College Football Playoff, the first season with a 12-team field. The first round alone featured two games with larger scoring discrepancies. Tennessee vs. Ohio State, the No. 9 seed playing the No. 8 seed in a matchup which should’ve been the closest on paper, was a 42-17 win for Ohio State.
- People have pointed out Boise State had a bye last year and still lost. But every team that had a bye last season lost – and only one of those contests was a one-possession game.
The Group of Five Doesn’t Have Good Enough Players & Coaches
Some say G5 teams are playing a completely different sport. This is absolutely false on so many fronts.
If the G5 talent wasn’t good enough, then why do so many Power Four schools continue to utilize its disproportionate financial resources to entice G5 players to transfer to their schools? Why do so many programs – like Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Auburn, and UCLA this year alone – get their head coaches directly from G5 programs?
Looking at this year’s Associated Press All-American teams, 26 of those players that made those lists are either currently on G5 rosters (13) or transferred from G5 schools (13). A third of the first-team All-Americans alone are currently or formerly played for G5 teams.
This year, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy after previously playing at New Mexico State in Conference USA. Last year, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty was a Heisman runner-up and was drafted sixth overall by the Las Vegas Raiders. The year before, Quinyon Mitchell was drafted in the first round out of Toledo and has become one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.
There are star players and coaches in the G5 right now. You just may not have heard of them because you don’t see their names on ESPN every 30 seconds.
Group of Five Teams Don’t Have A Difficult Enough Schedule
This is an interesting point. But much of this isn’t the Group of Five’s fault.
Many G5 teams would love to play more Power Four programs to build their resumes. Look at Tulane this year. The Green Wave played Northwestern and Duke and beat both of them. And remember that Duke won the ACC Championship this year. Tulane literally proved on the field that it was better than a Power Four conference champion.
But those G5-P4 matchups are going to happen much less often as the Big Ten and Big 12 have moved to nine-game conference schedules, and the ACC and SEC are doing the same next year. So that leaves three non-conference games for those programs. Many of those limited slots are going to be used to play other power conference teams. And a lot of those games are going to be scheduled years in advance, so it’ll be impossible to know exactly how competitive the game is going to be when it’s scheduled.
So strength of schedule isn’t a talking point that’s going to go away. But it’s an easy one for those talking heads because it’s only going to be easier to make that argument in the near future.
Why Doesn’t The Group of Five Just Make Its Own Playoff?
Don’t bring this up to (most) fans of G5 programs. More than likely, they won’t just dismiss the idea, they will hate the idea.
And don’t get me wrong, I think a G5 playoff would be fun to watch if the Power Four split off and the G5 had no other choice. But for right now, it’s better for the G5 to have a chance to compete in the CFP.
All these Group of Five fans want is the chance – the hope – to make the CFP. That makes talking about the sport exponentially more engaging when you have a real chance to compete for a national championship.
And even if these teams never even get to the semifinals, the exposure and revenue from the CFP is heavily beneficial for these G5 programs.
Consider March Madness: A mid-major pulling off a wild upset in the first round over a big-name program is something those fanbases remember forever and something even the average fan remembers for a long time – much longer than any G5 national championship.
Cinderella stories are one of the many things that make college football fantastic. But you can’t have David vs. Goliath if you don’t even invite David to the fight.
A Group of Five Team In The CFP Is Bad For Ratings
If it’s all about ratings, why don’t we put the most-watched teams in the CFP every year and forget the records?
This is the College Football Playoff that we’re talking about. The ratings are going to be fine.
And here’s my question: Why should the average fan care if ratings are up or down a few points? Fans will have easy access to watch these games either way. And from an entertainment standpoint, seeing different teams in the field is surely more interesting than seeing Ohio State play Notre Dame over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.
And over.
