When the College Football Playoff bracket was revealed, everyone demanded that the format should be changed. Teams like Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, BYU, and Texas were kept out of the Playoff field while two Group of 5 teams were allowed in the field as Tulane and James Madison earned the 11th and 12th seeds.
In the lead-up to the College Football Playoff, everyone argued against their inclusion in the Playoff as they felt that the two temas stood no chance of competing. Nick Saban even equated their inclusion to allowing AAA teams to play for the World Series.
"Would we allow the winner of the Triple-A baseball league, the International League, whatever they call it, would you let them in the World Series playoff? That’s the equivalent of what we do when JMU gets into the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame doesn’t."Nick Saban
Heading into the weekend, Tulane and James Madison each had a chance to pull off the shocking upset and quiet all of the haters. While the Dukes will try to shock the world, Tulane has already lost in blowout fashion making the conversation even louder.
Tulane may have proved that the Group of 5 doesn't belong
On Saturday Night, Jon Sumrall's Tulane team looked like a team that didn't even belong on the same field as Ole Miss for the second time this season. Despite Lane Kiffin leaving for LSU, Ole Miss was just as dominant beating the Green Wave 41-10.
The Rebels' offense was able to get whatever it wanted, passing for 10.2 yards per attempt while rushing for 4.4 yards per carry in a game where Kewan Lacy left early with an injury. Pete Golding's defense didn't allow Tulane to find any success as the Green Wave scored their lone touchdown with just 4 minutes remaining in the game.
Considering that this was deemed to be the best Group of 5 team in the country, it's going to be hard to defend their inclusion in the Playoff moving forward. If the goal of the Playoff is to have the best 12 teams competing for a National Championship, then there needs to be a change to the format to ensure that any Group of 5 team proves during the regular season that they belong.