The NIT of college football: Could Group of Five programs have their own playoffs?

It isn't impossible for teams from the Group of Five conferences to reach the College Football Playoffs but they are at a serious disadvantage in comparison to Power Four programs.

With just the five highest-ranked conference champions getting an automatic berth to the CFPs, it's nearly guaranteed that four of them will be filled by the SEC, ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten champions.

With already four of the 12 spots filled, almost automatically, by P4 programs and the seven at-large spots given to the next highest-ranked teams, it is extremely difficult for more than one G5 team to earn a spot in the playoffs.

A solution?

The Group of Five creates a postseason playoffs of their own.

Following a similar structure to the CFPs, the G5 conferences could create a "second-tier" playoffs, kind of like the National Invitation Tournament for NCAA basketball.

The top G5 team would still go to the main draw of the CFP but the remaining top 12 teams (or however many they decide) would enter into the NIT-esque tournament.

Which conferences are in the Group of Five?

• American Athletic Conference
• Conference-USA
• Mid-American Conference
• Mountain West Conference
• Sun Belt Conference

Which teams are in a Group of Five conference?

American:

• Army
• Charlotte
• East Carolina
• Florida Atlantic
• Memphis
• Navy
• North Texas
• Rice
• South Florida
• Temple
• Tulane
• Tulsa
• UAB
• UTSA

C-USA:

• FIU
• Jacksonville State
• Kennesaw State
• Liberty
• Louisiana Tech
• Middle Tennessee
• New Mexico State
• Sam Houston
• UTEP
• Western Kentucky

MAC:

• Akron
• Ball State
• Bowling Green
• Buffalo
• Central Michigan
• Eastern Michigan
• Kent State
• Miami (OH)
• Northern Illinois
• Ohio
• Toledo
• Western Michigan

Mountain West:

• Air Force
• Boise State
• Colorado State
• Fresno State
• Hawai'i
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• San Diego State
• San Jose State
• Utah State
• UNLV
• Wyoming

Sun Belt:

• Arkansas State
• Louisiana
• Louisiana-Monroe
• South Alabama
• Southern Miss
• Texas State
• Troy
• Appalachian State
• Coastal Carolina
• Georgia Southern
• Georgia State
• James Madison
• Old Dominion
• Marshall

Read more: