A Group of Six College Football Playoff? G6 Leaders Address The Possibility

As conference realignment – and money, ultimately – continues to reshape the sport of college football, countless ideas have been discussed. One, albeit not novel, has reemerged about the Group of Six.

A G6 conference commissioner has openly brought up the possibility of a Group of Six playoff.

Here’s more what it could mean for the Group of Six conferences:

G6 Conferences & CFP Possibilities

In a recent interview with the Big Mountain Podcast, American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti discussed this idea of a G6 playoff. He believes people would love more postseason football like this.

Now, a format like this that Pernetti and others have discussed would not create a separation of the Group of Six and Power Four. The G6 would still want to have at least one team in the College Football Playoff, a tournament of the top teams in the FBS. 

But this would give the teams which won their respective conferences and weren’t invited to the CFP a chance to compete against each other.

To me, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Making a tournament out of bowl games rather than one-off bowls – when many of the teams aren’t even at full strength because of transfer portal opt-outs – sounds fun. At the very least, I appreciate the willingness to explore ideas.

But it also feels like it’s one step away from separating the G6 from the P4 in the postseason entirely. If the P4 tried to break off, there would likely be legal battles to sort out and it doesn’t seem the SEC or Big Ten would love that. So all to say, I don’t think we’re approaching that just yet.

But if the G6 playoff did exist, I’m sure a lot of people – who don’t care about G6 football in a sincere way – would start asking why there’s any G6 teams in the CFP to begin with.

This isn’t the first time something like this has been explored.

Northern Illinois athletic director Sean Frazier reportedly discussed both a G5 playoff back in 2017 and even an NIT-type tournament for FBS teams that don’t make the College Football Playoff.

Even go back to Pernetti’s introductory press conference as the league’s commissioner. He noted the league is open to “maverick postseason models.”

A G5 playoff could take many forms. That means leaders of those leagues would have to agree to several issues.

24-Team College Football Playoff

College football decision-makers have recently explored the possibility of a 24-team playoff, as well as a 16-team field. The Big Ten, which supports 24 teams, and the SEC, which wants 16 teams, seem to disagree on which direction this should go.

But that’s one reason why the CFP and how it impacts the G6 is being talked about. A 24-team format being heavily discussed is one that includes 24 at-large bids, regardless of conference affiliation. But Yahoo’s report indicates an automatic G6 spot could be included.

This is one year after two G6 teams – Tulane and James Madison – made the 12-team CFP. This was because both teams were ranked higher than Duke, the ACC champion. But moving forward, the Power Four conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the CFP, with one spot going to the highest-ranked G6 champ.

If the CFP simply went to the highest-ranked 24 teams, that does seem like an easy way to faze out the G6, in my opinion. 

Look no further than this year. Memphis was the highest-ranked G6 team in one of the mid-season CFP rankings but was outside the top 25 despite being undefeated and having a win over SEC Arkansas. 

A committee might just not rank G6 schools all that often, even if they have a single loss and/or a win over a P4 team.

Here’s another reason the 24-team field impacts the G6: that type of format would likely make conference championships logistically impossible. Also, that expanded CFP field would have to make up for the revenue lost from no conference championships. And who knows how much money would go to the G6 in that situation.

What Would A G6 Playoff Look Like?

There’s several ways this could go, and all of them provide an entertaining twist on the current postseason model.

If we were to assume the top G6 team makes the College Football Playoff – and one team only – then the remaining five conference champions should be included in some way as well.

An idea that has come up is having six teams where you include the five conference champions not in the CFP and the loser of the conference championship game that included the No. 1 G6 team that’s now in the CFP at this point. So for example, if Tulane beat North Texas in the American Conference Championship and Tulane made the CFP, UNT would then be invited to the G6 tournament.

Then you’d have two teams with byes and the other four playing in the first round.

Again, a lot has to get sorted out. But I think it’s possible to pull something like this off.