5 steps for Group of 5 team to make 2018 College Football Playoff
3. Pure Domination
An undefeated season paired with a key upset is hard enough, but perhaps an even greater hill to climb towards a playoff spot is the necessity to put up double-digits in the win column all in decisive fashion.
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This isn’t such a farfetched idea when it comes to in-conference games, but when discussing the terms of an upset, a multi-score margin of victory would turn a bad game into an embarrassing loss for the team on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
Unquestionably, the Group of Five team would need to win big against every conference team it plays so that it can truly gain separation from the rest of the pack. Against Power Five teams, however, a nail-biting win would be acceptable as the exception to this rule.
For a non-Power Five team to make a run at the playoff, it would have to show that it belongs among the best that college football has to offer. For example, a 12-0 team that collects around half its wins in one-score games doesn’t look nearly as impressive as an undefeated team that thrashes opponents each week.