Criticism of College Football Playoff format remains inconsistent, and the proposed solution is massively flawed
The complaints about the College Football Playoff having the Group of Five included are loaded with hypocrisy, and removing them doesn’t change anything.
Heavy hitters in the world of college football have been lighting up social media with criticism of the 12-team College Football Playoff, which just kicked off its second year.
- “I genuinely feel bad for these JMU players” – Joel Klatt
- “This is awful for our sport” – Matt Leinart
- “This is a joke” – Bud Elliott
The Saturday games that started the festivities seemingly invited these critiques when two Group of Five teams, the Tulane Green Wave and James Madison Dukes, lost their games by double digits. The problem with the criticism? It’s inconsistent.
College Football Playoff blowouts aren’t just Group of Five teams
One of the biggest criticisms of having Group of Five participation in the College Football Playoff is that the games aren’t competitive and they don’t belong in the 12-team field. In theory, there is some “merit” to that, as the Power Four teams have more resources and play tougher schedules than those in the Group of Five. Even so, that doesn’t mean they are better teams. It’s why we play the games.
Yes, Tulane lost to the Ole Miss Rebels by 31 points and the Dukes to the Oregon Ducks by 17, but it’s not just Group of Five teams that lose big. In fact, blowouts have been a thing since the beginning of the College Football Playoff. There have been 45 games since the beginning of the College Football Playoff in 2014, and 32 of them have been decided by more than 10 points. Of those games, only four of them included a team from the Group of Five.
The complaining wasn’t the same when last year’s College Football Playoff was loaded with blowouts
If we were talking about an isolated incident where the Group of Five teams were getting blown out, and the other games were always close, this would be a different conversation entirely. However, 28 of the 41 College Football Playoff games that were solely between Power Four teams were decided by double digits.
The idea that having one Group of Five participant in the field each year harms the product just isn’t the case. Having that participation is good for the sport. That’s how you get a 2004 undefeated Utah Utes team that won a BCS game, a 2006 Boise State Broncos team that beat the Oklahoma Sooners in arguably the greatest Fiesta Bowl in history, and a No. 3 ranked TCU Horned Frogs team led by Andy Dalton to a Rose Bowl win over a top-10 Wisconsin team.
Last year, the first round of the College Football Playoff had all four games decided by double digits.
- Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17
- Penn State 38, SMU 10
- Texas 38, Clemson 24
- Ohio State 42, Tennessee 17
Where was the complaining about the lack of quality games, or is that just reserved for teams that aren’t in a Power Four conference?
Where do we go from here? The common answer is to eliminate the Group of Five from getting a spot in the tournament through the top-five ranked conference championships. That doesn’t solve anything, other than line the SEC’s pockets.
The simple answer is that having the inclusion of the Group of Five is good for everyone, as it gives each Division-1 FBS team hope that they can make the dance and win a national championship. It’s the same way that we’ve seen the college basketball tournament constructed, with the exception being that every conference champion makes the dance.
The more complicated answer is based on conference realignment and television money. These factors drive the conversation. The Group of Five doesn’t bring in big money for the major players in the industry, but the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns sure do. If we didn’t see the SEC and Big Ten grow to 16 teams over the last 15 years, would this even be a conversation? The TCU’s and Boise States of the world would still be as successful in the Mountain West.
Having participation from everyone is a good thing, as it gives everyone hope that they can make a special run (even if it’s unlikely). Plus, the magic of college football has always been about any given Saturday, a team could pull off a big upset. Do we really need to take that away because we might get one more “competitive” game in the playoffs with a team that played in the SEC? Plus, the realities of revenue sharing and NIL will level out over time, mitigating the severe advantage that some schools have over others.
The reality is simple: those criticizing the playoff are just mad about the results, while the process is mostly good and just. Taking away the Group of Five to give them “their own playoff” goes against the spirit of the sport, and it won’t help the quality of the tournament.
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