OT - Group of 5 officials considering own football playoff

[admin]

Interesting:

Northern Illinois athletic director Sean Frazier is among a growing number of Group of 5 officials that favor adding a playoff specifically for the Group of 5 schools.

"It's time to have a realistic conversation about creating a playoff for the Group of 5," Frazier told ESPN. "Why not?"

It's been 32 years since a non-Power 5 team won a national championship (BYU in 1984) and it likely will never happen again in the current format. In the first three years of the College Football Playoff, a Group of 5 team has never ranked higher than No. 13 (Memphis in the 2015 initial rankings) by the CFB Playoff selection committee.

P.J. Fleck led Western Michigan to a 13-0 record and a trip to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic to play Wisconsin. But WMU was ranked No. 15 -- behind six Power 5 teams with three losses and one Power 5 team with four losses. Patrick Gorski/USA TODAY Sports
"There is absolutely no ability for us (teams in the Group of 5) to be in that national title conversation," Frazier said. "That's just reality. Anyone that says we can: that's a flat-out lie."

The Group of 5 consists of schools from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences along with independents BYU, Army and UMass.

Frazier said he believes a Group of 5 playoff could be financially rewarding to those schools. NBC, CBS and ESPN have interest in televising a Group of 5 playoff, an industry source said.

"As long as the financial agreement that currently exists with the CFB Playoff remains and we had the opportunity to package a Group of 5 championship, why wouldn't we want to do it?" a Group of 5 official said. "It would spread the exposure to all five conferences, rather than just the one conference champion that plays in a New Year's 6 bowl."

Currently, the highest-ranked Group of 5 champ is under contract to play in a New Year's 6 bowl -- either the Cotton, Fiesta or Peach -- for the next nine years, through the 2025 regular season. Frazier envisions an eight-team playoff made up of the five Group of 5 conference champions and three at-large teams or independents.

[DeltaV]

A football NIT? Sure, why not.

[Edrick]

The is the first step in creating 1-AA again. So, I guess, its a good thing FCS is called that now.

[whiteandblue77]

It's reverse psychology, to speed up the expansion to 16 teams in the playoff. That's what every fan wants. It must be done soon, right? Everyone knew four teams was not a true playoff.

[MUPanther]

Heck, no. Nobody wants 16. These are kids. Too many games.

[sciencejay]

I think 8 teams is the ideal number for a CFP. With four teams, you have #s 5 and 6 with legitimate claims for having been included (this year #5 Penn State at 11-2 and with B1G championship), but with 8 teams in, that's not an issue. Rarely would #s 9 and 10 really have an argument for being in the hunt for an NC--this year 9-3 USC and 10-3 Colorado. The first round could be on campus sites of the higher seed the weekend around Christmas, and then the semis and final game could go about the same time they do now (and be done before second semester starts--it's all about the student athletes, right?)

8 teams gives you a three week tourney for the crown. And it would be more similar to the hoops tourney if they always included one (or two) from the G5. Sometimes underdogs win (Nova '85), and everyone loves that.

I would say 16 is ideal (like I-AA has been forever), but they would have to shorten the season by a game, and with home game revenues in the millions (I think ~$4M/game at Nebraska), I don't see university presidents/ADs agreeing to a shortened season.

[Jet915]

I agree that 8 is a great number. It gives G5 teams a chance if they play a decent schedule and go undefeated to make the playoff.

[DudeAnon]

Heck, no. Nobody wants 16. These are kids. Too many games.

Unfortunately, until the players have some kind of voice in these decisions their well-being will not be a determining factor.

[Bill Marsh]

8 teams gives you a three week tourney for the crown. And it would be more similar to the hoops tourney if they always included one (or two) from the G5. Sometimes underdogs win (Nova '85), and everyone loves that.

More recently than that.

I agree with your sentiment. Games are played during intercession. Why not?

[XtoDC]

I am guessing it will be 8 soon enough with the P5 conference champions, the best team from the G5, and two at larges. I think they were hesitant to do this at first because going straight to 8 would be an even bigger change than going to 4, but they also didn't want to give the G5 any chance of winning the championship and undermining the P5 superiority. It isn't like the G5 teams struggle badly when they have opportunities in the big bowl games, and they were worried a Boise State could totally kick the door down if given the opportunity in a tournament. However now the Big 12 is seeing themselves get left out of the playoff, and now Big Ten champions are being left out, so I think it expands within 5 years to 8 once they figure out the best way to spin it so that it somehow benefits the student athletes.

What could be really interesting in the future though is if they take this G5 playoff idea, and expand on it so that there is a NCAA tourney/ NIT situation with two separate tournaments. I think it would generate more interest and possibly even more money for the schools. The advertisers may pay more because there would be very clear tiers to each of the bowl games. They would obviously have to pay more to put their name on an NCAA tourney bowl game, and within that the advertisers could be separated based on which round. I also think more people would watch the meaningless bowl games if it was in a tournament format. The key aspect would be making sure there were sites available near the higher seeds to help with travel and attendance in the first rounds since people won't want to travel for up to three games. I doubt it would happen, but it would make me more interested and lead to more gambling/ bracket challenges which generates interest as well.