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The truth about the College Football Playoff

By Dante Pryor

NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 13: Head coach Ed Oregon of the LSU Tigers receives the trophy after defeating the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42-25 for the national title. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 13: Head coach Ed Oregon of the LSU Tigers receives the trophy after defeating the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42-25 for the national title. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images) /
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Syndication: Phoenix
Syndication: Phoenix /

The Group of Five was never supposed to be in this conversation.

No iteration of an attempt to have the top two teams play was meant to include a team from the Group of Five conferences. Neither the Bowl Coalition nor the BCS ever included the Group of Five. The Coalition blatantly left out those teams, and a Group of Five team would never have a high enough conference rating for a top-two ranking.

The College Football playoff never gave the Group of Five a seat at the table. Though the committee has had administrators from the Group of Five, teams from those conferences were never intended to be included in the four-team playoff. Those teams’ reward was always intended to be an at-large bid to a New Year’s Six Bowl.

In the eyes of the committee, the BCS algorithms and the exclusionary practices by the Coalition prove that many think that the Group of Five is a different class of football. This is why there is so much spin by the committee when it comes to Group of Five.

There are statistics that support the feelings of the committee. The Group of Five is a respectable 3-3 in the New Year’s Six against Power Five schools. However, the regular season tells a bit of a different story. Over the last five seasons, the Group of Five has just a .168 winning percentage against the Power Five. In the context of this season, the Bearcats have no Power Five wins this season, and Coastal Carolina’s lone Power Five win is against hapless Kansas.

Cincinnati and Coastal’s argument should be if both teams could get into the New Year’s Six, not the College Football Playoff.

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