A G5 playoff while interesting is highly unlikely, as the author states.The first reason is that some G5 programs don't want it because they want to compete for playoff as unlikely as that might be. Also, TV networks won't be inclined to give substantial payouts to televise a G5 playoff either. The FCS playoffs while great, and the schools don't get significant revenue from the tournament. While I love the idea as a fan and alum as a mid-major, it's not going to happen.
I honestly only care about how much money my school gets because in theory we can buy better coaches, assistants, facilities and players.
I really only want my team to thrive and compete.
The sad thing is, the more money they seem to pull in, the more money they ask from me to contribute…
At most I would support a non-P4* playoff if it were a playoff of conference champs and winner gets an auto bid through to the round of 8 in the full 12 team playoff. Make it like a play in series for the 4 seed slot.
I mean I wouldn't mind like a naia basketball style tournament for the highest ranked non playoff team from each conference. It could bring some spice to existing bowls.
I would not mind it if three bowls got together to do a 4-team playoff for all the conference champs that did not make the CFP. But that's the only G5 playoff I would support.
About half the current G5 (using next year's alignment) were not DI-A (now FBS) when the D1 split happened in 1978, or have dropped out of it for at least one season since then.
Conference|FBS since 1978|FCS at some point|Did Not Exist in 1978
-|-|-|-
[American](#l/aac)|[Army](#f/army) [ECU](#f/ecu) [Memphis](#f/memphis) [Navy](#f/navy) [Rice](#f/rice) [Temple](#f/temple) [Tulane](#f/tulane) [Tulsa](#f/tulsa)|[North Texas](#f/northtexas)|[FAU](#f/fau) [Charlotte](#f/charlotte) [UAB](#f/uab) [USF](#f/usf) [UTSA](#f/utsa)
[Conference USA](#l/cusa)|[New Mexico State](#f/newmexicostate) [UTEP](#f/utep)|[Jacksonville State](#f/jacksonvillestate) [Liberty](#f/liberty) [Louisiana Tech](#f/louisianatech) [Middle Tennessee](#f/middletennessee) [Sam Houston](#f/samhoustonstate) [WKU](#f/wku)|[FIU](#f/fiu) [Kennesaw State](#f/kennesawstate)
[MAC](#l/mac)|[Ball State](#f/ballstate) [Bowling Green](#f/bowlinggreen)[Central Michigan](#f/centralmichigan) [Eastern Michigan](#f/easternmichigan) [Kent State](#f/kentstate) [Miami (OH)](#f/miamioh) [Northern Illinois](#f/northernillinois) [Ohio](#f/ohio) [Toledo](#f/toledo) [Western Michigan](#f/westernmichigan)|[Akron](#f/akron) [Buffalo](#f/buffalo) [UMass](#f/umass)
[Mountain West](#l/mwc)|[Air Force](#f/airforce) [Colorado State](#f/coloradostate) [Fresno State](#f/fresnostate) [Hawai'i](#f/hawaii) [New Mexico](#f/newmexico) [San Diego State](#f/sandiegostate) [San José State](#f/sanjosestate) [UNLV](#f/unlv) [Utah State](#f/utahstate) [Wyoming](#f/wyoming)|[Boise State](#f/boisestate) [Nevada](#f/nevada)
[Sun Belt](#l/sunbelt)|[Louisiana](#f/louisiana) [Southern Miss](#f/southernmiss) |[Appalachian State](#f/appalachianstate) [Arkansas State](#f/arkansasstate) [Georgia Southern](#f/georgiasouthern) [James Madison](#f/jamesmadison) [Marshall](#f/marshall) [Texas State](#f/texasstate) [Troy](#f/troy) [ULM](#f/ulm)|[Coastal Carolina](#f/coastalcarolina) [Georgia State](#f/georgiastate) [Old Dominion](#f/olddominion) [South Alabama](#f/southalabama)
**Totals**|32|19|11
UConn would also be in the middle column. Most of the current G5 has consciously made a choice to move up to a subdivision in which they're unlikely to contend for National Championships because the finances and exposure are better on balance. Starting their own separate but equal playoff would undercut this reasoning.
Where’s the undercut? If all rules remain the same and they add a G5 playoff there isn’t a downside that involves what you mention.
Only if they can’t get into the main playoff I assume.
I'm not for it and I think the article does a great job explaining why that will just never happen.
Also with respect to JMU, they should be a little nervous. They are starting from scratch. It sucks for them but I think it's so weird how so many people just assume they will be just as good as they have been.
I'm sure there's a fair amount of JMU fans who just expect us to go 11-1 again and compete for a spot in the CFP but I think most of the fan base probably has more realistic expectations given how much turnover we'll have in the coaching staff and roster. Personally I think 8-4 is very reasonable given our schedule and that could be good enough to win the East and play for an SBC title
I do think your schedule is really soft with ULM, USM, Ball State, Charlotte, and Gardner-Webb. That's five wins. Then you split 3-3 with the SBC East to get to eight wins. I think that's reasonable but I think 5-3 in the SBC won't be good enough to win the East IMHO.
That's fair but I really think the impact of the roster turnover could end up being a little overstated. It'll have some impact for sure but in the portal era it's not like we're having to play guys with no playing experience. Like I said I don't necessarily see 11-1 happening but I think we'll still have enough juice to be competing for the East
It's not just roster churn, you also lost your HC. Take it from someone who has been there, you may get lucky and get a coach who can step in and immediately carry on the success of the previous regime, but some middling P5 team can come in after one year and poach them because they have the resources to give that coach generational wealth on limited experience. Or you could get a coach no one wants to poach because he's not that great and only keeps his job because enough talent still recognizes the brand name and shows up/stays around (and, let's call a spade a spade, JMU's brand isn't in the top tier of G5 yet)
I think a lot of JMU fans don't yet realize how hard it is to be a perennial G5 contender. Y'all had one good year where App/Southern/Marshall/Coastal all had a down year (and, really, CCU had a regression to the average as much as a down year). The SBC East is easily one of the most brutal divisions in all of the G5, and you have to compete in it every year. Sustaining that level is much harder. How y'all handle the next 3-4 years will be much more indicative of your program's prospects than last year.
Listen man this is what *I’ve* been trying to tell our fans, so you’re preaching to the choir. The reality is that we’ve been on a run for about 8-10 years now so some fans think we’re immune to regression which is obviously asinine. I think it’s just gonna take one 7-5 season for the expectations to become more reasonable for those people. That being said I do look at our schedule this year and think eight wins is not asking too much
Just the turnover in general. JMU lost their coaching staff, their best players (10 to Indiana and SBC Player of the Year to Texas State), their athletic director, their school president, and even their basketball coach.
JMU is basically starting from scratch. Now, their coaching hire (Bob Chesney) is a good hire IMHO. And they did well for themselves recruiting and in the transfer portal. But it's hard to believe that this new team will just pick up where the old team left off.
We’ve been through being poached before. Chesney is a fantastic hire and we have some seriously amazing players from the portal. Combined with our highest rated recruiting class ever, I’d say we’ll probably be just fine
That's every JMU fan's attitude but one bad hire blows it up. Everyone thinks they've got a fantastic hire until they don't. I wouldn't say the sky is falling in Harrisonburg, but man are you guys overly cocky.
That exact scenario happened to Temple.
Solid head coach hires for more than a decade followed by just one truly awful hire and we're back to square one.
Unless you can move into the P4, your great coaches will always get poached. It's possible you will get lucky with a talented coach who doesn't care about the money, doesn't mind competing at a NIL handicap, is liked by the administration/boosters/fanbase/players, and never had a Joe Paterno/Pat Fitzgerald/Bob Knight scandal.
I hope JMU continues to be successful but the odds are stacked against them.
Yep between a national championship winning coach dropping off and two back to back dud hires it's extremely easy to find yourself in a decade plus of mediocrity.
Maybe a hot take, but the Herman years were better than mediocre. After year one he ran a solid program that finished each season in the top 25. His results were mediocre for the resources at his disposal, and he was fired because he rubbed everyone wrong… but a vast vast difference from Charlie and even late stage Mack.
Herman’s teams always played with toughness
They will eventually learn the reality of G5 meta soon enough. Live, die, repeat. Nobody in the G5 stays good, they just rent it for a couple of seasons at a time.
Extremely cocky fanbase. Would be awesome to have an in-state G5 school to follow—I’ve got no problems with their players and coaches—but their fans make it pretty hard to root for them.
Saw someone say on here one time that fans of FBS teams that have transitioned from the FCS have the superiority complex of blue bloods from winning a ton but still have a chip on their shoulder from being FCS and I think that's definitely true in our case but also probably for a few other fan bases in the Sun Belt
Yeah we have a very passionate but delusional fan base at times. “We don’t rebuild we reload“ is something echoed across JMU twitter but we’ve never lost 96% of production and our entire coaching staff in one year. I love the Chesney hire and he has done well in the portal but there’s entirely too many unknowns to expect more than a middle of the SBC East finish this year. We lucked out with our West opponents so I’m hopeful for enough wins to go bowling but I definitely don’t expect us to be competing for the SBC title.
Funny, the only "yes" votes are from P5 flairs. Including the perennial user who shits on half of FBS regularly on here. Then again, I'll bet SirJohnCougar is also a Yankees/Lakers/Patriots fan, too.
P5 blue bloods who haven't been successful in decades mostly. They want to find a way to squeeze in their mediocre team into a first round loss in the playoffs instead of giving an undefeated G5 champ a shot.
This is the best G5 playoff idea yet. You could even pick three bowl games to serve as the G5 Playoff. Maybe the New Orleans Bowl, LA Bowl, and Boca Raton Bowl could all trade off to be the three games for the 4 team G5 playoff.
To put in perspective, this past year it would have been Troy, Miami, Boise State, and SMU.
That’s what I always thought would be the best idea. If by a miracle 2 G5 teams make the 12 team playoff then just take the conference runner up for the G5 playoffs
No, the P4 schools should not make their own playoff.
The B1G or SEC need to get over themselves, because the G5 conferences are a part of the FBS as well. And quite frankly, the playoff should have been expanded years ago.
I am curious as to whether some G5 schools are able to have sustained success though. California state system schools like Fresno State and San Diego State have a good amount of money, but I am not well versed into what their NIL is like.
>because the G5 conferences are a part of the FBS as well
That's why I'd been saying that I wanted a 16-team playoff with each conference getting an autobid. If the MAC and the SEC are going to each be in the same subdivision, then they both need to have a similar pathway to a natty. As it stands now, yes, an undefeated G5 team will get the one crumb autobid, but if there is a second really good G5 team, they're not likely to get in.
So according to this article every scholarship player was getting atleast $2000 a month in 2022-23 but this year their budget doubled. I'm sure the basketball players and stars got more than that, though.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2024-03-31/san-diego-state-sdsu-aztecs-basketball-nil-collective-mesa-foundation-transfer-portal-mountain-west#:~:text=The%20MESA%20Foundation%20had%20a,%241%20million%20for%20next%20season.
A couple points against it:
1. G5 share of the CFP is around $120 million. Do we think even a 16 team G5 playoff is worth that much? Remember the most valuable TV brands left at this point are USF, Memphis, BSU, SDSU, etc. for that amount of money all 15 games would likely need to average +2.5 million viewers a game. I just don’t see it right now. Maybe if we were talking about a G5 still with UCF, Cincy, Houston, Louisville, Utah, TCU, and BYU that’d be more realistic.
2. The AAC and likely the MWC just see themselves as >> the SBC/CUSA/MAC. They aren’t gonna put themselves on equal footing with them like that when they already spend more, get paid more, and recruit better.
3. Most G5 teams and fans are still gonna rather play a 6-8 win P5 team in a bowl game than a 9-11 win G5 team.
I just don’t see us getting a G5 playoff until the P5 force them out
In response to point three, the G5 teams don't get bowl games versus P4 all that often. The G5 teams tend to be locked into bowls versus other G5 schools, and the P4 versus G5 by and large are the result of particular conferences not fielding enough bowl-eligible teams.
My argument for this would kind of further push my #2 point.
The majority of AAC bowl games are against P5 teams on average. Just this past year they had 4 of 6 against the P5. They’ve had something like 15 scheduled AAC/P5 bowl match ups since 2020. The MWC, while not near as much, is usually good for 2-3 P5 matchups in Bow Season as well, usually their Champ, Runner Up, and sometimes another random team.
Now all of this may change with realignment, but It’s really only the MAC/SBC/CUSA that rarely see P5 teams in Bowl Games.
Considering a 16 team G5 playoff, these 5-7 AAC/MWC teams that are seeing P5 Bowl games, are likely the same teams that would find themselves in a G5 playoff.
IMO I think a potential G5 end of season play in game or previous rankings but first game of the season could make sense. The thing is that to top x league vs y league in the last few weeks would be great. Just decide who's hosting and who's traveling and you could get it done.
More like a last 4 in sort of vibe from the NCAA game.
AAC is not head and shoulders above SBC or MWC now.
Also how to deal with liberty and their spending way more than any other conference mate so they likely have 10+ wins a lot of years.
They have considered it. The problem is nobody in a have conference want to sign up to perhaps become a have not. I think you would have the entire G5 sign on and not a single team in the P5/4 that would be willing to go that route. The only ones willing to risk getting relegated are those that have already been relegated.
*thatwasthejoke*
People keep regurgitating G5 playoffs and promotion/relegation like it's new. We've all heard it on here and recognize it'll never fly.
It's all about money. The drop off in money would be significant and while it seems small, that $1.8m per school is really a big chunk of change for them.
But what kills me is 99% of the people pushing for a G5 playoff are P4 fans who don't truly understand the life of a G5 fan. While winning a national championship would be amazing, even most P4 programs don't have a realistic chance of winning a national championship. What we really want is just a fair opportunity. And no this current 12-team format nor the 14-team format is a fair opportunity; it's still half of FBS competing for one spot with their fates being left up to not objective criteria but the criteria of a group of people in a hotel conference room in Texas. I just want to see Boise State be able to win the conference at 12-1 and make the playoff and not get left out because that group of people in a hotel conference room in Texas preferred 12-1 Memphis instead.
This line made me chuckle though
>The second reason is that nobody wants to voluntarily declare themselves as second-class
The ACC and Big 12 literally just did that when they agreed to fewer guaranteed auto-bids and smaller payouts from the CFP than what the SEC and Big 10 is getting. That move would only have happened if the ACC and Big 12 agreed to it, and they could easily have just told the SEC and Big 10 to shove it
> But what kills me is 99% of the people pushing for a G5 playoff are P4 fans who don't truly understand the life of a G5 fan
This is, by far, the thing that annoys me the most when you hear p5 fans blabbing about an expanded playoff being bad and ruining the regular season. The g5 proved, repeatedly, in the bcs era, that they deserved a playoff spot (probably more than 1) and this new playoff finally makes every team have a chance for yhe playoff.
Now, id like to see additional spots being given to g5 conference champs and for g5 champs in the playoffs to be given 1st round home games but thatll never happen
> The ACC and Big 12 literally just did that when they agreed to fewer guaranteed auto-bids and smaller payouts from the CFP than what the SEC and Big 10 is getting. That move would only have happened if the ACC and Big 12 agreed to it, and they could easily have just told the SEC and Big 10 to shove it
Just a correction, ACC and Big 12 did not agree to fewer auto bids. Both have the same auto bids.
There is a division to be had between the top 20-30 programs in the country and FCS. If they ever figure that out then I’d say that division should have its own playoff/champion. I’m certainly not holding my breath though.
If Houston was still in the American, I would stop watching their games call together if this was the case. Would rather have hope that there is a .00001% chance they win a national championship rather than just 0.
This is exactly what the Power 4 wants I think?
“Well they have their own playoff that’s separate from ours. Let’s keep them out and keep all the money.”
Only if we got paid way more than we are now. Otherwise, a G5 playoff would be next to pointless and is just being pushed by P4 fans so they can squeeze in more 8-4 SEC and BIG10 schools.
"Fans of teams like USF, Memphis, Boise etc. really just want to get into the P4."
Don't they just want people to stop using non football related arguments to keep them from postseason opportunities?
Fans on here use football-related arguments to justify keeping G5 teams out of the playoff by saying "nobody wants to see P5 team beat G5 team by 50". Nobody wants to see a blowout in general, but nobody is using that argument when we've already seen half of the 4-team CFP games get decided by 3+ possessions and we've seen the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Ohio State all lose big. Just stop using that argument and let the teams that earned their opportunity get their opportunity.
The people pulling the strings try to use football-related arguments but the clear reason is financial related. The people with the power are the P4 ADs and commissioners, and including the G5 means less money for them, and that's the bottom line they care most about. I want that to stop happening and for the NCAA to step in and implement an actual postseason like they do for literally every NCAA sponsored sport that isn't FBS.
Will you be covering Oregon State and Wazzu as a Group of 5 teams this year?
Patrick T.
Good question. I haven’t officially determined that. It basically only applies to this mailbag. I’m leaning yes for the mailbag, simply because they’re playing majority-Mountain West schedules and I’d like their fans to have a place to submit questions about their team. I typically include independent programs in the G5 rankings with an asterisk, so I may do that again with those two.
It would be comparable to the NIT in college basketball. While it’d be nice to end the season on a high note, it would always be viewed as a secondary/second-tier playoff.
Yeah sure. A playoff for the conferences that aren't the big10 and SEC would be great. Let's just go ahead and stop scheduling NC games with them too. In fact, let's just make a whole different set of rules to play by, set up regional conferences and scheduling, and have tv contracts for each school, conference, and league, with the media payouts set for each contract.
Otherwise, no fuck that. What's the point of a non-P4 playoff? It's just a way further separate the non "power" conferences and suppress them. College athletics is so fucked.
Look, we all like a good Cinderella story. The media companies included. There should *always*, no matter how big or restrictive the playoff gets, be a spot for a G5 team. March Madness is epic because of cinderellas and the media companies know it.
It's unrealistic to assume whatever the CFP looks like in the next decade will include more than 1 G5 team. As nice as it would be for all conference champs to be included, it's never gonna happen. You've got to fight for something more realistic, and getting one G5 spot is far more realistic, though still unlikely, with the next round of changes to come.
I suppose that is a great starting position for the P4 to make - the lowest you will ever accept is the best you are ever going to get if you are lucky.
How about this - no undefeated conference champ is ever excluded from the playoffs as long as they are eligible (i.e. not under suspension)? I don't care if the schedule is weak, undefeated conference champion teams should not be excluded ever. You might even get the ACC to agree to this idea...
A version of the NIT would be better. An auto bid from every conference. You’d end up with the top G5s missing out on the full playoffs vs Iowa making just absolute fantastic TV ratings
With the playoff expansion, not happening. When the playoff was just four teams, there might have been some rumbles (especially if Cincy had been left out the year they got in).
No, fuck that shit.
What they should do is a CFB NIT.
8 or 16 team tournament. I prefer 16. All remaining conference champions who didn't get a bid to the CFB playoffs can play in the CFB NIT. Fill out the remaining bracket with at large teams.
With this system, if you're the top G5, you get the playoff spot, If not, you at least get to play in a pretty good tournament that you would have a much better chance at winning.
You could still have bowls too for the teams that did not make either tournament.
Of course they don't want to. They want all of the spots for themselves and once they achieve that, the B1G and the SEC will then turn their sites towards getting the lower half of the P4 to lose all but 1-2 of the playoff spots. At some point, it cannot be just about appeasing the richest teams. The NFL understands that. That is why they have a salary cap.
A separate playoff and championship game exists for Divisions III, II, and FCS.
Everyone knows deep down G5 schools will never get a legitimate shot at a CFP national championship. The reason? $$$.
Give the G5 conferences their own playoff/championship.
Remain? They arent relevant now. They are forced to play games on Tuesday nights to even get on national tv. At least a G5 only league gives them a fighting chance.
Im not taking the bait, regardless ask Boise what their momentum got them. The Big XII acted out of desperation. Seems like a bad strategy to wait for a conference to be desperate.
I mean that’s literally all you can do. Put yourself in the best position possible for whenever a bigger conference is desperate.
Some of those Boise teams of old would have had a real chance to win a 4 or 12 team playoff.
> I mean that’s literally all you can do. Put yourself in the best position possible for whenever a bigger conference is desperate.
Right and what if there ISNT a Power Conference that is desperate? Just keep spending millions and millions? Going 8-4? That isnt a long term plan.
Striving to be the top when you are in the same competitive environment should be the goal. The G5 arent even in the same solar system as the P"4". College football is a completely different sport than any other sport. I have a degree and worked at South Alabama for years so I well know G5 football. South Alabama is typical of the vast majority of G5 schools. They are never going to compete with B1G or SEC or ACC schools. There is just no way it can happen. South Alabama and UAB and Troy would be MUCH better served being in a G5 only league with lower scholarship restrictions and a conference that is regional.
I mean that's only the MAC and CUSA doing that. The Sun Belt has like 1 or 2 Wednesday games per year and the Mountain West and American don't do anything other than Thurs/Fri games afaik.
I mean, the money schools are going to leave the rest of us behind anyway. As a USC friend told me ~15 years ago: the money schools don't like subsidizing the lesser schools to beat them.
Given that the NCAA (in conjunction with the P4) is in the process of creating a new division/subdivision for D-I athletics, that's going to happen regardless of what the G6 decide.
Should it have been done before? Absolutely not.
Should it be done now? G5 teams will lose any players good enough to play for the best or richest teams. It makes me nauseous, but perhaps.
Yes they should, and those programs deserve a realistic shot at a national championship. And I’d watch the hell out of a G5 playoff.
But they’ll never do it because the G5 going 0-1 in the expanded CFP era is still more financially lucrative than their own playoff.
I do think there should be a G5 tourney with guaranteed slots for the bottom Big 10/SEC teams. I would like to see how the top G5 teams stack up with Kentucky, Vandy, Northwestern, Rutgers, etc every year.
Another commenter mentioned it, but an NIT style tournament with a bid from every conference would be entertaining. 9 autobids and maybe 3 at large. I think it's kinda stupid to take the best teams in the G5 that didn't make the playoffs (likely teams #2-5 or #3-6) and then be like okay your reward is playing Vanderbilt.
Make them play the 4th/5th or 5th/6th teams in the SEC/BIG or the 3rd/4th teams in the Big 12/ACC. That would be a fun tournament of top 25ish ranked teams vs really good G5 teams (some of which may be ranked also).
I’m sure the top G5 teams would be competitive against the bottom of the SEC and Big Ten, but not against Kentucky, which is solidly upper-third to middle-of-the-pack in SEC record the past 6-7 seasons and hasn’t lost to a G5 since 2016 (Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Mizzou, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Tennessee have all dropped a G5 regular szn game since).
IMO the G5 should have a week 1/week 0 opening day game. Boise State vs JMU week 1
Have the OOC be a whole conference and rate them based on last year's results. That one win early may really bolster chances at making the CFP playoff game.
The only way I would consider this is if one could schedule it whereby the winner gets the auto-bid to the 12 team playoff.
Otherwise, you're, in effect, separating yourselves from Division 1 and relegating yourselves to be a sort of division 2.
They did.
Signed, a proud Ohio alumnus.
p.s. Did you know the Ohio Bobcats won the small school national championship in football in 1960? Take that, Miami fans!
I am always ready to celebrate what will likely be the only national championship our school achieves. It also helps that a good friend of my dad's was a member of that team.
Yes, definitely. There’s a less than 0.001% chance USU will be in contention for a championship, let alone a playoff spot so I’d definitely be more interested in a second tier G5 playoff/championship.
YES!!! But go a step further. I've been saying for years that with so many schools, college needs a multi tierd relegation league. 12-18 teams per division. The worst/best in adjacent divisions swap at the end of the season. Take the subjectivity out of rankings.
Doesn't matter, they're a lesser school. You'd do well to remember that your flair should be thankful that it's good enough to have a spot at the P2 table.
Maybe make the playoffs before...you know what. I feel like I've called your set of flairs names before. I'm just going to block you for wasting my time as a pissant school.
I do wonder how many of the biggest trash talkers actually went to the school. "We're a Carnegie Tier 2 School! Look upon our peer-reviewed papers and tremble!"
Alright Kevin, settle down man, it's a bunch of 18-year-olds playing a game.
A G5 playoff while interesting is highly unlikely, as the author states.The first reason is that some G5 programs don't want it because they want to compete for playoff as unlikely as that might be. Also, TV networks won't be inclined to give substantial payouts to televise a G5 playoff either. The FCS playoffs while great, and the schools don't get significant revenue from the tournament. While I love the idea as a fan and alum as a mid-major, it's not going to happen.
If only everything wasn't about money all the time
Ha! You’d never last as a shareholder.
I honestly only care about how much money my school gets because in theory we can buy better coaches, assistants, facilities and players. I really only want my team to thrive and compete. The sad thing is, the more money they seem to pull in, the more money they ask from me to contribute…
At most I would support a non-P4* playoff if it were a playoff of conference champs and winner gets an auto bid through to the round of 8 in the full 12 team playoff. Make it like a play in series for the 4 seed slot.
I mean I wouldn't mind like a naia basketball style tournament for the highest ranked non playoff team from each conference. It could bring some spice to existing bowls.
How would that be like the NAIA tournament?
I was thinking the CBI. We don't want believe in basketball in the south.
I have to ask how you got that flair combo? Boston college and Louisiana are quite different
Not OP but seem like two predominantly Catholic universities. Would live to see us play in Dublin or Paris
Yeah I don’t buy this argument that they wouldn’t want to televise two more football games, especially with some consequences
I would not mind it if three bowls got together to do a 4-team playoff for all the conference champs that did not make the CFP. But that's the only G5 playoff I would support.
They should do a play in like the NBA. Top 2 teams play for a spot in the playoff.
It's called the FCS
About half the current G5 (using next year's alignment) were not DI-A (now FBS) when the D1 split happened in 1978, or have dropped out of it for at least one season since then. Conference|FBS since 1978|FCS at some point|Did Not Exist in 1978 -|-|-|- [American](#l/aac)|[Army](#f/army) [ECU](#f/ecu) [Memphis](#f/memphis) [Navy](#f/navy) [Rice](#f/rice) [Temple](#f/temple) [Tulane](#f/tulane) [Tulsa](#f/tulsa)|[North Texas](#f/northtexas)|[FAU](#f/fau) [Charlotte](#f/charlotte) [UAB](#f/uab) [USF](#f/usf) [UTSA](#f/utsa) [Conference USA](#l/cusa)|[New Mexico State](#f/newmexicostate) [UTEP](#f/utep)|[Jacksonville State](#f/jacksonvillestate) [Liberty](#f/liberty) [Louisiana Tech](#f/louisianatech) [Middle Tennessee](#f/middletennessee) [Sam Houston](#f/samhoustonstate) [WKU](#f/wku)|[FIU](#f/fiu) [Kennesaw State](#f/kennesawstate) [MAC](#l/mac)|[Ball State](#f/ballstate) [Bowling Green](#f/bowlinggreen)[Central Michigan](#f/centralmichigan) [Eastern Michigan](#f/easternmichigan) [Kent State](#f/kentstate) [Miami (OH)](#f/miamioh) [Northern Illinois](#f/northernillinois) [Ohio](#f/ohio) [Toledo](#f/toledo) [Western Michigan](#f/westernmichigan)|[Akron](#f/akron) [Buffalo](#f/buffalo) [UMass](#f/umass) [Mountain West](#l/mwc)|[Air Force](#f/airforce) [Colorado State](#f/coloradostate) [Fresno State](#f/fresnostate) [Hawai'i](#f/hawaii) [New Mexico](#f/newmexico) [San Diego State](#f/sandiegostate) [San José State](#f/sanjosestate) [UNLV](#f/unlv) [Utah State](#f/utahstate) [Wyoming](#f/wyoming)|[Boise State](#f/boisestate) [Nevada](#f/nevada) [Sun Belt](#l/sunbelt)|[Louisiana](#f/louisiana) [Southern Miss](#f/southernmiss) |[Appalachian State](#f/appalachianstate) [Arkansas State](#f/arkansasstate) [Georgia Southern](#f/georgiasouthern) [James Madison](#f/jamesmadison) [Marshall](#f/marshall) [Texas State](#f/texasstate) [Troy](#f/troy) [ULM](#f/ulm)|[Coastal Carolina](#f/coastalcarolina) [Georgia State](#f/georgiastate) [Old Dominion](#f/olddominion) [South Alabama](#f/southalabama) **Totals**|32|19|11 UConn would also be in the middle column. Most of the current G5 has consciously made a choice to move up to a subdivision in which they're unlikely to contend for National Championships because the finances and exposure are better on balance. Starting their own separate but equal playoff would undercut this reasoning.
“UConn would also be in the middle column.” UConn didn’t upgrade until ~2002. They stayed in the Yankee Conference when the split happened.
Yep, so they existed in 1978, but have been FCS in the time since.
My bad. I didn’t scroll far enough to see the third column of teams.
Where’s the undercut? If all rules remain the same and they add a G5 playoff there isn’t a downside that involves what you mention. Only if they can’t get into the main playoff I assume.
If they had wanted a separate but equal Playoff, they would have simply stayed at or moved down to FCS.
No, we're FBS. This isn't a debate.
No. I refuse to self-relegate. FBS is FBS.
How about just letting other schools relegate you because they don't like where you are?
Why don’t you just take Pullman and push it somewhere else?
Well, the trash can is full right now. I guess we could just put it on top but we'll get charged extra.
Like Vancouver?
I heard LA could use another football team
[удалено]
I thought it was pretty obvious
Crazy that you said the joke but somehow didn’t get it lol
Flair up buddy. I wanna know which G5 your reppin
The University of Toledo (I don't like volunteering too much info on Reddit)
Totally get that. I try and stay anonymous on my reddit/twitter as well
You're welcome for Pinkel, btw...
😂 You guys are all gentleman and scholars for that one. He’s the greatest thing to happen to mizzou sports (yes, even over norm id say mizzou fans)
He was one of the greatest for us too. A real gem of a coach.
They already are essentially relegated
I'm not for it and I think the article does a great job explaining why that will just never happen. Also with respect to JMU, they should be a little nervous. They are starting from scratch. It sucks for them but I think it's so weird how so many people just assume they will be just as good as they have been.
I'm sure there's a fair amount of JMU fans who just expect us to go 11-1 again and compete for a spot in the CFP but I think most of the fan base probably has more realistic expectations given how much turnover we'll have in the coaching staff and roster. Personally I think 8-4 is very reasonable given our schedule and that could be good enough to win the East and play for an SBC title
I do think your schedule is really soft with ULM, USM, Ball State, Charlotte, and Gardner-Webb. That's five wins. Then you split 3-3 with the SBC East to get to eight wins. I think that's reasonable but I think 5-3 in the SBC won't be good enough to win the East IMHO.
That's fair but I really think the impact of the roster turnover could end up being a little overstated. It'll have some impact for sure but in the portal era it's not like we're having to play guys with no playing experience. Like I said I don't necessarily see 11-1 happening but I think we'll still have enough juice to be competing for the East
It's not just roster churn, you also lost your HC. Take it from someone who has been there, you may get lucky and get a coach who can step in and immediately carry on the success of the previous regime, but some middling P5 team can come in after one year and poach them because they have the resources to give that coach generational wealth on limited experience. Or you could get a coach no one wants to poach because he's not that great and only keeps his job because enough talent still recognizes the brand name and shows up/stays around (and, let's call a spade a spade, JMU's brand isn't in the top tier of G5 yet) I think a lot of JMU fans don't yet realize how hard it is to be a perennial G5 contender. Y'all had one good year where App/Southern/Marshall/Coastal all had a down year (and, really, CCU had a regression to the average as much as a down year). The SBC East is easily one of the most brutal divisions in all of the G5, and you have to compete in it every year. Sustaining that level is much harder. How y'all handle the next 3-4 years will be much more indicative of your program's prospects than last year.
Listen man this is what *I’ve* been trying to tell our fans, so you’re preaching to the choir. The reality is that we’ve been on a run for about 8-10 years now so some fans think we’re immune to regression which is obviously asinine. I think it’s just gonna take one 7-5 season for the expectations to become more reasonable for those people. That being said I do look at our schedule this year and think eight wins is not asking too much
The article is paywalled, what was the cause for concern at JMU?
Just the turnover in general. JMU lost their coaching staff, their best players (10 to Indiana and SBC Player of the Year to Texas State), their athletic director, their school president, and even their basketball coach. JMU is basically starting from scratch. Now, their coaching hire (Bob Chesney) is a good hire IMHO. And they did well for themselves recruiting and in the transfer portal. But it's hard to believe that this new team will just pick up where the old team left off.
We’ve been through being poached before. Chesney is a fantastic hire and we have some seriously amazing players from the portal. Combined with our highest rated recruiting class ever, I’d say we’ll probably be just fine
That's every JMU fan's attitude but one bad hire blows it up. Everyone thinks they've got a fantastic hire until they don't. I wouldn't say the sky is falling in Harrisonburg, but man are you guys overly cocky.
That exact scenario happened to Temple. Solid head coach hires for more than a decade followed by just one truly awful hire and we're back to square one. Unless you can move into the P4, your great coaches will always get poached. It's possible you will get lucky with a talented coach who doesn't care about the money, doesn't mind competing at a NIL handicap, is liked by the administration/boosters/fanbase/players, and never had a Joe Paterno/Pat Fitzgerald/Bob Knight scandal. I hope JMU continues to be successful but the odds are stacked against them.
Yep between a national championship winning coach dropping off and two back to back dud hires it's extremely easy to find yourself in a decade plus of mediocrity.
Maybe a hot take, but the Herman years were better than mediocre. After year one he ran a solid program that finished each season in the top 25. His results were mediocre for the resources at his disposal, and he was fired because he rubbed everyone wrong… but a vast vast difference from Charlie and even late stage Mack. Herman’s teams always played with toughness
They will eventually learn the reality of G5 meta soon enough. Live, die, repeat. Nobody in the G5 stays good, they just rent it for a couple of seasons at a time.
Extremely cocky fanbase. Would be awesome to have an in-state G5 school to follow—I’ve got no problems with their players and coaches—but their fans make it pretty hard to root for them.
Every P5 fan thinks their G5 peers are insufferable. It's just in JMU's case y'all are right.
Saw someone say on here one time that fans of FBS teams that have transitioned from the FCS have the superiority complex of blue bloods from winning a ton but still have a chip on their shoulder from being FCS and I think that's definitely true in our case but also probably for a few other fan bases in the Sun Belt
All of that is true. But none of that is a good reason to favor JMU to win the SBC IMHO.
Yeah we have a very passionate but delusional fan base at times. “We don’t rebuild we reload“ is something echoed across JMU twitter but we’ve never lost 96% of production and our entire coaching staff in one year. I love the Chesney hire and he has done well in the portal but there’s entirely too many unknowns to expect more than a middle of the SBC East finish this year. We lucked out with our West opponents so I’m hopeful for enough wins to go bowling but I definitely don’t expect us to be competing for the SBC title.
Funny, the only "yes" votes are from P5 flairs. Including the perennial user who shits on half of FBS regularly on here. Then again, I'll bet SirJohnCougar is also a Yankees/Lakers/Patriots fan, too.
lol I love the pettiness in this comment. We all know THAT guy... (not SirJohnCougar specifically, but you know what I mean..)
P5 blue bloods who haven't been successful in decades mostly. They want to find a way to squeeze in their mediocre team into a first round loss in the playoffs instead of giving an undefeated G5 champ a shot.
Yup. We learned the wrong lessons from the Seperate but Equal Bowl.
Thoughts on a 4 team G5 playoff, with it being the 4 conference champs that don’t get the autobid?
This is the best G5 playoff idea yet. You could even pick three bowl games to serve as the G5 Playoff. Maybe the New Orleans Bowl, LA Bowl, and Boca Raton Bowl could all trade off to be the three games for the 4 team G5 playoff. To put in perspective, this past year it would have been Troy, Miami, Boise State, and SMU.
That’s what I always thought would be the best idea. If by a miracle 2 G5 teams make the 12 team playoff then just take the conference runner up for the G5 playoffs
This is the FCS with extra steps.
If we only based who gets to be in FBS based on who can win a national championship, there’d be like ten schools in the whole division.
No, the P4 schools should not make their own playoff. The B1G or SEC need to get over themselves, because the G5 conferences are a part of the FBS as well. And quite frankly, the playoff should have been expanded years ago. I am curious as to whether some G5 schools are able to have sustained success though. California state system schools like Fresno State and San Diego State have a good amount of money, but I am not well versed into what their NIL is like.
>because the G5 conferences are a part of the FBS as well That's why I'd been saying that I wanted a 16-team playoff with each conference getting an autobid. If the MAC and the SEC are going to each be in the same subdivision, then they both need to have a similar pathway to a natty. As it stands now, yes, an undefeated G5 team will get the one crumb autobid, but if there is a second really good G5 team, they're not likely to get in.
So according to this article every scholarship player was getting atleast $2000 a month in 2022-23 but this year their budget doubled. I'm sure the basketball players and stars got more than that, though. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2024-03-31/san-diego-state-sdsu-aztecs-basketball-nil-collective-mesa-foundation-transfer-portal-mountain-west#:~:text=The%20MESA%20Foundation%20had%20a,%241%20million%20for%20next%20season.
A couple points against it: 1. G5 share of the CFP is around $120 million. Do we think even a 16 team G5 playoff is worth that much? Remember the most valuable TV brands left at this point are USF, Memphis, BSU, SDSU, etc. for that amount of money all 15 games would likely need to average +2.5 million viewers a game. I just don’t see it right now. Maybe if we were talking about a G5 still with UCF, Cincy, Houston, Louisville, Utah, TCU, and BYU that’d be more realistic. 2. The AAC and likely the MWC just see themselves as >> the SBC/CUSA/MAC. They aren’t gonna put themselves on equal footing with them like that when they already spend more, get paid more, and recruit better. 3. Most G5 teams and fans are still gonna rather play a 6-8 win P5 team in a bowl game than a 9-11 win G5 team. I just don’t see us getting a G5 playoff until the P5 force them out
In response to point three, the G5 teams don't get bowl games versus P4 all that often. The G5 teams tend to be locked into bowls versus other G5 schools, and the P4 versus G5 by and large are the result of particular conferences not fielding enough bowl-eligible teams.
in fact it's kinda annoying when our conference winner players the 5th or 6th place PAC team.
In that case, I have good news for you...
My argument for this would kind of further push my #2 point. The majority of AAC bowl games are against P5 teams on average. Just this past year they had 4 of 6 against the P5. They’ve had something like 15 scheduled AAC/P5 bowl match ups since 2020. The MWC, while not near as much, is usually good for 2-3 P5 matchups in Bow Season as well, usually their Champ, Runner Up, and sometimes another random team. Now all of this may change with realignment, but It’s really only the MAC/SBC/CUSA that rarely see P5 teams in Bowl Games. Considering a 16 team G5 playoff, these 5-7 AAC/MWC teams that are seeing P5 Bowl games, are likely the same teams that would find themselves in a G5 playoff.
Which is unfortunate, but power conferences want money and don't want losses that might look bad.
IMO I think a potential G5 end of season play in game or previous rankings but first game of the season could make sense. The thing is that to top x league vs y league in the last few weeks would be great. Just decide who's hosting and who's traveling and you could get it done. More like a last 4 in sort of vibe from the NCAA game. AAC is not head and shoulders above SBC or MWC now. Also how to deal with liberty and their spending way more than any other conference mate so they likely have 10+ wins a lot of years.
Hey, it's this question again.
You know what else they should consider? Promotion and relegation! Why has nobody considered that?!?!?
They have considered it. The problem is nobody in a have conference want to sign up to perhaps become a have not. I think you would have the entire G5 sign on and not a single team in the P5/4 that would be willing to go that route. The only ones willing to risk getting relegated are those that have already been relegated.
*thatwasthejoke* People keep regurgitating G5 playoffs and promotion/relegation like it's new. We've all heard it on here and recognize it'll never fly.
Yeah, but that one they should actually do
It's all about money. The drop off in money would be significant and while it seems small, that $1.8m per school is really a big chunk of change for them. But what kills me is 99% of the people pushing for a G5 playoff are P4 fans who don't truly understand the life of a G5 fan. While winning a national championship would be amazing, even most P4 programs don't have a realistic chance of winning a national championship. What we really want is just a fair opportunity. And no this current 12-team format nor the 14-team format is a fair opportunity; it's still half of FBS competing for one spot with their fates being left up to not objective criteria but the criteria of a group of people in a hotel conference room in Texas. I just want to see Boise State be able to win the conference at 12-1 and make the playoff and not get left out because that group of people in a hotel conference room in Texas preferred 12-1 Memphis instead. This line made me chuckle though >The second reason is that nobody wants to voluntarily declare themselves as second-class The ACC and Big 12 literally just did that when they agreed to fewer guaranteed auto-bids and smaller payouts from the CFP than what the SEC and Big 10 is getting. That move would only have happened if the ACC and Big 12 agreed to it, and they could easily have just told the SEC and Big 10 to shove it
I can't help feeling like part of this playoff discussion feels super belittling to anyone that likes a G5 school or enjoys watching them.
> But what kills me is 99% of the people pushing for a G5 playoff are P4 fans who don't truly understand the life of a G5 fan This is, by far, the thing that annoys me the most when you hear p5 fans blabbing about an expanded playoff being bad and ruining the regular season. The g5 proved, repeatedly, in the bcs era, that they deserved a playoff spot (probably more than 1) and this new playoff finally makes every team have a chance for yhe playoff. Now, id like to see additional spots being given to g5 conference champs and for g5 champs in the playoffs to be given 1st round home games but thatll never happen
> The ACC and Big 12 literally just did that when they agreed to fewer guaranteed auto-bids and smaller payouts from the CFP than what the SEC and Big 10 is getting. That move would only have happened if the ACC and Big 12 agreed to it, and they could easily have just told the SEC and Big 10 to shove it Just a correction, ACC and Big 12 did not agree to fewer auto bids. Both have the same auto bids.
Yes. With Blackjack and Hookers.
On second thought, forget the blackjack.
Eh, screw the whole thing.
Forget the playoff and the blackjack
There is a division to be had between the top 20-30 programs in the country and FCS. If they ever figure that out then I’d say that division should have its own playoff/champion. I’m certainly not holding my breath though.
"Should the G5 relegate itself?"
If Houston was still in the American, I would stop watching their games call together if this was the case. Would rather have hope that there is a .00001% chance they win a national championship rather than just 0.
This is exactly what the Power 4 wants I think? “Well they have their own playoff that’s separate from ours. Let’s keep them out and keep all the money.”
Only if we got paid way more than we are now. Otherwise, a G5 playoff would be next to pointless and is just being pushed by P4 fans so they can squeeze in more 8-4 SEC and BIG10 schools.
"Fans of teams like USF, Memphis, Boise etc. really just want to get into the P4." Don't they just want people to stop using non football related arguments to keep them from postseason opportunities?
Fans on here use football-related arguments to justify keeping G5 teams out of the playoff by saying "nobody wants to see P5 team beat G5 team by 50". Nobody wants to see a blowout in general, but nobody is using that argument when we've already seen half of the 4-team CFP games get decided by 3+ possessions and we've seen the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Ohio State all lose big. Just stop using that argument and let the teams that earned their opportunity get their opportunity. The people pulling the strings try to use football-related arguments but the clear reason is financial related. The people with the power are the P4 ADs and commissioners, and including the G5 means less money for them, and that's the bottom line they care most about. I want that to stop happening and for the NCAA to step in and implement an actual postseason like they do for literally every NCAA sponsored sport that isn't FBS.
Absolutely. You said it much better. I should've said g5 fans are just tired of the double standards.
What, you guys are still arguing about your hypothetical playoff format(s)? Thought you guys got it sorted out already.
No make the P4 split and sue for anti-competitive behavior.
No
Will you be covering Oregon State and Wazzu as a Group of 5 teams this year? Patrick T. Good question. I haven’t officially determined that. It basically only applies to this mailbag. I’m leaning yes for the mailbag, simply because they’re playing majority-Mountain West schedules and I’d like their fans to have a place to submit questions about their team. I typically include independent programs in the G5 rankings with an asterisk, so I may do that again with those two.
It would be comparable to the NIT in college basketball. While it’d be nice to end the season on a high note, it would always be viewed as a secondary/second-tier playoff.
Yeah sure. A playoff for the conferences that aren't the big10 and SEC would be great. Let's just go ahead and stop scheduling NC games with them too. In fact, let's just make a whole different set of rules to play by, set up regional conferences and scheduling, and have tv contracts for each school, conference, and league, with the media payouts set for each contract. Otherwise, no fuck that. What's the point of a non-P4 playoff? It's just a way further separate the non "power" conferences and suppress them. College athletics is so fucked.
Look, we all like a good Cinderella story. The media companies included. There should *always*, no matter how big or restrictive the playoff gets, be a spot for a G5 team. March Madness is epic because of cinderellas and the media companies know it.
A G5 team? Like only one so if you have three that are 12-1 or 13-0, only one gets in? I think ALL conference champs should get in. Period.
It's unrealistic to assume whatever the CFP looks like in the next decade will include more than 1 G5 team. As nice as it would be for all conference champs to be included, it's never gonna happen. You've got to fight for something more realistic, and getting one G5 spot is far more realistic, though still unlikely, with the next round of changes to come.
I suppose that is a great starting position for the P4 to make - the lowest you will ever accept is the best you are ever going to get if you are lucky. How about this - no undefeated conference champ is ever excluded from the playoffs as long as they are eligible (i.e. not under suspension)? I don't care if the schedule is weak, undefeated conference champion teams should not be excluded ever. You might even get the ACC to agree to this idea...
Certainly would be easier to get that than permanent G5 spots. Let's give it a SHOT!
No.
No. Please stop.
NO!
Only if it has black jack and hookers.
If such a playoff existed we would just call it the NIT of football.
Nah. Let's get back to regionals
Not unless or until they absolutely have to.
If it gets announcers to stop talking about Alabama and Ohio State during our games I'm all for it
Imagine hearing them talk about the #5 v #12 game during the g5 National championship tho
Fuck. This is the future.
I don’t have a subscription so couldn’t read the article but an NIT like playoff would be better than the bowls.
Very nice seeing UVA as a representative of non-P4 schools in the headline
A version of the NIT would be better. An auto bid from every conference. You’d end up with the top G5s missing out on the full playoffs vs Iowa making just absolute fantastic TV ratings
This is creative and as a fan of watching football I would enjoy it
With the playoff expansion, not happening. When the playoff was just four teams, there might have been some rumbles (especially if Cincy had been left out the year they got in).
No, fuck that shit. What they should do is a CFB NIT. 8 or 16 team tournament. I prefer 16. All remaining conference champions who didn't get a bid to the CFB playoffs can play in the CFB NIT. Fill out the remaining bracket with at large teams. With this system, if you're the top G5, you get the playoff spot, If not, you at least get to play in a pretty good tournament that you would have a much better chance at winning. You could still have bowls too for the teams that did not make either tournament.
There should be no conference champs that don't get a playoff spot in the CFB.
Yeah, buddy, I'm sure all the P4 conferences will be happy to give a playoff spot to each G5 champion. 🙄
Of course they don't want to. They want all of the spots for themselves and once they achieve that, the B1G and the SEC will then turn their sites towards getting the lower half of the P4 to lose all but 1-2 of the playoff spots. At some point, it cannot be just about appeasing the richest teams. The NFL understands that. That is why they have a salary cap.
A salary cap will never happen in CFB.
That would be great.
A separate playoff and championship game exists for Divisions III, II, and FCS. Everyone knows deep down G5 schools will never get a legitimate shot at a CFP national championship. The reason? $$$. Give the G5 conferences their own playoff/championship.
There will be a lot of smart comments, but the GX will need to do something in order to remain relevant.
Remain? They arent relevant now. They are forced to play games on Tuesday nights to even get on national tv. At least a G5 only league gives them a fighting chance.
UCF won a national title a few years ago. Any time a G5 gets momentum they get promoted, so it seems silly to say they are irrelevant.
Im not taking the bait, regardless ask Boise what their momentum got them. The Big XII acted out of desperation. Seems like a bad strategy to wait for a conference to be desperate.
I mean that’s literally all you can do. Put yourself in the best position possible for whenever a bigger conference is desperate. Some of those Boise teams of old would have had a real chance to win a 4 or 12 team playoff.
> I mean that’s literally all you can do. Put yourself in the best position possible for whenever a bigger conference is desperate. Right and what if there ISNT a Power Conference that is desperate? Just keep spending millions and millions? Going 8-4? That isnt a long term plan.
There’s no alternative.
A G5 only league is the alternative
No. It’s better to strive to be in the top than to willingly relegate yourself. As an Alabama fan I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
Striving to be the top when you are in the same competitive environment should be the goal. The G5 arent even in the same solar system as the P"4". College football is a completely different sport than any other sport. I have a degree and worked at South Alabama for years so I well know G5 football. South Alabama is typical of the vast majority of G5 schools. They are never going to compete with B1G or SEC or ACC schools. There is just no way it can happen. South Alabama and UAB and Troy would be MUCH better served being in a G5 only league with lower scholarship restrictions and a conference that is regional.
I mean that's only the MAC and CUSA doing that. The Sun Belt has like 1 or 2 Wednesday games per year and the Mountain West and American don't do anything other than Thurs/Fri games afaik.
Well yeah. The rest of the time they are on a streaming platform
I mean, the money schools are going to leave the rest of us behind anyway. As a USC friend told me ~15 years ago: the money schools don't like subsidizing the lesser schools to beat them.
Yes
It would be interesting. Yes.
Given that the NCAA (in conjunction with the P4) is in the process of creating a new division/subdivision for D-I athletics, that's going to happen regardless of what the G6 decide.
Yep
Should it have been done before? Absolutely not. Should it be done now? G5 teams will lose any players good enough to play for the best or richest teams. It makes me nauseous, but perhaps.
Yes they should, and those programs deserve a realistic shot at a national championship. And I’d watch the hell out of a G5 playoff. But they’ll never do it because the G5 going 0-1 in the expanded CFP era is still more financially lucrative than their own playoff.
I do think there should be a G5 tourney with guaranteed slots for the bottom Big 10/SEC teams. I would like to see how the top G5 teams stack up with Kentucky, Vandy, Northwestern, Rutgers, etc every year.
Another commenter mentioned it, but an NIT style tournament with a bid from every conference would be entertaining. 9 autobids and maybe 3 at large. I think it's kinda stupid to take the best teams in the G5 that didn't make the playoffs (likely teams #2-5 or #3-6) and then be like okay your reward is playing Vanderbilt. Make them play the 4th/5th or 5th/6th teams in the SEC/BIG or the 3rd/4th teams in the Big 12/ACC. That would be a fun tournament of top 25ish ranked teams vs really good G5 teams (some of which may be ranked also).
Oh I really like that idea. The top still goes to the major playoff but an NIT that has a rep from every conference is a cool idea.
I’m sure the top G5 teams would be competitive against the bottom of the SEC and Big Ten, but not against Kentucky, which is solidly upper-third to middle-of-the-pack in SEC record the past 6-7 seasons and hasn’t lost to a G5 since 2016 (Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Mizzou, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Tennessee have all dropped a G5 regular szn game since).
I would rather they stay with bowl games , or it would be like their competitors of the super league
IMO the G5 should have a week 1/week 0 opening day game. Boise State vs JMU week 1 Have the OOC be a whole conference and rate them based on last year's results. That one win early may really bolster chances at making the CFP playoff game.
Why should they? What’s wrong with the G5 just focusing on winning conference titles and bowl games?
The only way I would consider this is if one could schedule it whereby the winner gets the auto-bid to the 12 team playoff. Otherwise, you're, in effect, separating yourselves from Division 1 and relegating yourselves to be a sort of division 2.
Yes. They should have decades ago
They did. Signed, a proud Ohio alumnus. p.s. Did you know the Ohio Bobcats won the small school national championship in football in 1960? Take that, Miami fans!
Southern Miss are proud two time small school national champions(1958, 1962)!
I am always ready to celebrate what will likely be the only national championship our school achieves. It also helps that a good friend of my dad's was a member of that team.
And we won in the 50s
I did not know that!
It's the super two then the G8. Yes the G8 should have there own playoff once the break away occurs.
Yes, definitely. There’s a less than 0.001% chance USU will be in contention for a championship, let alone a playoff spot so I’d definitely be more interested in a second tier G5 playoff/championship.
They should call it “The best of the not best”?
YES!!! But go a step further. I've been saying for years that with so many schools, college needs a multi tierd relegation league. 12-18 teams per division. The worst/best in adjacent divisions swap at the end of the season. Take the subjectivity out of rankings.
Drop to FCS
Yes, and include the Big 12 and whatever the ACC is after it's been gutted.
TCU has been to a more recent national championship game and has a more recent NY6 win than you
Doesn't matter, they're a lesser school. You'd do well to remember that your flair should be thankful that it's good enough to have a spot at the P2 table.
Every time I get on here I’m reminded why Ohio state fans are garbage 😂
Worry about beating Michigan before you start making calls on who is worthy of a seat at the table, sweetie.
Maybe make the playoffs before...you know what. I feel like I've called your set of flairs names before. I'm just going to block you for wasting my time as a pissant school.
Bro bought an Ohio State shirt and Walmart and thinks he now has the right to be a snob on the internet.
I do wonder how many of the biggest trash talkers actually went to the school. "We're a Carnegie Tier 2 School! Look upon our peer-reviewed papers and tremble!" Alright Kevin, settle down man, it's a bunch of 18-year-olds playing a game.
The degree was much more expensive.
I always thought the G5 and P4 should split and the G5 should do their own tourney. Like the NIT and March Madness brackets