The Most Underrated Thing Was …
For everyone worrying about the division between the haves and have-nots, and the rise of the super-conferences, we’re already here.
1-25.
One win.
Old Dominion stunned Virginia Tech 20-17 in the final seconds on Friday, and that’s it for the Group of Five wins over Power Five programs.
As bad as it has been so far for the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt, it gets even worse.
22 of those 26 games were total wipeouts.
Appalachian State gave it a good ride in the wild 63-61 loss to North Carolina, East Carolina HAD NC State finished, and Cincinnati was solid in the loss to Arkansas, but 1) Cincinnati is really a Big 12 program now, and 2) that’s not enough.
The Group of Five hasn’t even been competitive so far against the teams from the bigger conferences.
And why? The matchups haven’t been all that great, the Group of Five programs almost always have to go to the Power Five places, and most importantly, the transfer portal is creating a further imbalance.
The Power Five programs already have Power Five talents in place. When they get a few new parts, they’re filling in the gaps. Group of Five programs almost always get castoffs from Power Five programs or the ones who couldn’t get the gigs in a bigger league.
There will be Group of Five upsets over the Power Five at some point soon – UCF is a Big 12 program soon, but it could beat Louisville this week, Air Force will likely beat Colorado, Fresno State hosts Oregon State, and …
This isn’t going to get better.
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– Week 1: Most Overrated Thing
– Well that was fun: What It All Means, Week 1