Group of Five – Syndication Server

College football analyst has five SEC teams in the College Football Playoff

On3’s Andy Staples thinks that five of the teams in the 12-team playoff will be from the SEC.

College football is expanding to a 12-team [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

After decades of the polls deciding the national champion (1936-1991) and early attempts at creating a national championship game such as the Bowl Coalition (1992-1994) and the Bowl Alliance (1995-1997), the Bowl Championship Series was born. The [autotag]BCS[/autotag] lasted from 1998 to 2013, when the College Football Playoff was introduced and the four-team model stuck for a decade (2014-2023).

Now, the playoffs will feature 12 teams with five automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions. The top four of those champions will get a first-round bye (likely the [autotag]SEC[/autotag], [autotag]Big Ten[/autotag], [autotag]ACC[/autotag] and [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] champs). The seven at-large teams and the fifth conference champion (probably coming from the [autotag]Group of Five[/autotag]) will be seeded 5 through 12, rounding out the field with the first round of games.

It’s yet to be seen how the playoff committee will balance teams with better records coming from easier conferences like the Big 12 and ACC against teams with worse records coming from harder conferences like the Big 10 and SEC. One college football analyst, however, believes the Oklahoma Sooners’ new league will be well-represented come December.

On3’s Andy Staples gave 10 of his predictions for the [autotag]2024 college football season[/autotag]. Among the most notable was that the SEC would get five of the 12 spots in the new expanded playoffs.

“It’s not apples to apples because you can’t just port Texas or Oklahoma playoff appearances to the SEC because of how the automatic bids work and because we don’t know if those teams would have had a different record playing in a different league, but seven teams that will be in the SEC in 2024 (Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, Oklahoma) finished in the top 13 last season,” Staples said. “The No. 12 team is likely getting kicked for the highest-ranked Group of Five champ, but the power conferences are so big now that the champions of all four likely will finish in the top 11. That would keep anyone else from getting punted.”

Staples also backed up his prediction by touting the sheer competition that SEC teams will face every single week.

“The SEC’s schedule draw is the biggest reason for this prediction,” Staples said. “Alabama and Georgia got tougher conference schedules, but they’re also talented enough to handle them. Texas and Ole Miss appear to have CFP-caliber rosters and fairly manageable schedules. Missouri and Tennessee may not be perfect, but they’re going to be good and they fared well in the schedule draw. Oklahoma and LSU are Oklahoma and LSU; they’re almost always a threat to win double-digit games. That’s a lot of legitimate contenders, and it’s entirely reasonable that five-eighths of that group could finish in the top 11.”

Staples’ comments are felt by many in the new SEC footprint, hoping that the depth and competitive nature of the league will be rewarded.

For example, should a 9-3 SEC team with three close losses to playoff-caliber teams be left out in favor of a 10-2 ACC team that hasn’t played the same overall level of competition? That’s the answer Oklahoma and SEC fans are waiting for the committee to answer for the first time this winter.

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Notre Dame-Marshall named third-worst Group of Five loss in CFP era

Like you needed a reminder of how bad that loss was.

We all knew that when Notre Dame lost to Marshall in Week 2 of the 2022 season, any College Football Playoff hopes for the year were cooked. But just how bad was it in the big picture? Well, Twitter user Big Game Boomer has offered one opinion. The college football list aficionado lists the Irish’s 26-21 loss to the Thundering Herd as the third-worst loss by any Power Five program to a Group of Five program since the College Football Playoff began:

Top 50 Worst Group Of 5 Losses Of The CFP Era pic.twitter.com/1vzLjMbQUA

— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) May 17, 2023

The good news for the Irish is that they appear only once on this list. But the fact that they appear in such a prominent spot on the list shows how much they should not have lost to the Herd. They probably weren’t going to the playoff anyway in 2022, but it was an awful feeling to have those hopes dashed so early into the season. It was both a reminder and a hard lesson not to take any opponent for granted.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Countdown to Kickoff: 7 best Group of Five players

The countdown to kickoff continues with the seven best Group of Five players in the country.

Through College Sports Wire’s countdown to kickoff, the Power Five has been overwhelming the focus, and rightfully so. It’s time to look at the Group of Five and its top seven players entering this fall.

The Group of Five’s place in today’s college football landscape is interesting. Thanks to the transfer portal, many of the top players from Group of Five player programs eventually end up at Power Five programs. This was one major worry about the transfer portal and its potential impacts.

There are Groups of Five stars who still have chosen to stay at their respective programs – which is excellent news for college football. While the Group of Five has rarely produced true competitors for national championships, it remains a vital part of college football and what makes the sport special.

This caliber of players choosing to stay at Group of Five programs will only ensure that college football, despite widespread changes, remains healthy from top to bottom.

Honorable mentions for players who just missed the cut in today’s list include Southern Mississippi’s Frank Gore Jr., Colorado State’s Tory Horton, and Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley,

Notre Dame-Miami game scheduled for 2024 pushed to 2026

Apologies to those who love to recall Catholics vs. Convicts.

Those who followed Notre Dame in the late 1980s remember the games against Miami all too well, particularly Catholics vs. Convicts. However, the programs haven’t met since the Hurricanes crushed the Irish, 41-8, in 2017. The good news is the rivalry finally will be renewed later this decade. The bad news is it now will take a year later than originally scheduled as reported by the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson:

This solves a UM scheduling conundrum that had emerged in 2024. Miami had 5 non-conference games booked in 2024 and could play only 4, of course: at Gators, Florida A&M, Ball State and at USF. Now they don't need to play both UF and Notre Dame on the road in 2024. Only UF in 2024 https://t.co/hdc9OlZAaj

— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 7, 2023

This is perfectly understandable from the Hurricanes’ perspective. They aren’t going to drop any games against in-state rivals, and they sure won’t give up a home against Ball State just so they can go to South Bend. You don’t want to put yourself at any kind of scheduling disadvantage.

As for the Irish, they now need to find another home opponent for 2024. The remaining ones from the ACC are Louisville, Florida State and Virginia, and the Irish also play Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Pittsburgh and Wake Forest come to Notre Dame Stadium this upcoming season, so you can cross them off the list. 2025 will bring visits from NC State and Syracuse.

Maybe Boston College fills the spot since the Irish already are scheduled to travel to them in 2025? Or another Power Five school that has a 2024 opening? Perhaps a Group of Five school that’s never been to South Bend will get its chance? The speculation will run wild until a new opponent can be determined.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

The looming bowl controversy which could leave USC and Pac-12 in the cold

Tulane lost to Southern Miss at home. #USC lost to Utah on the road. Tulane could get a Cotton Bowl berth over USC. That seems wrong.

We need to talk about a possible bowl controversy which could emerge one month from now. We’re just about to begin the month of November. In early December, the bowl selections will be revealed.

One scenario could leave USC and the Pac-12 in the lurch, and it would be one more black eye for the Trojans as they linger in the conference before moving to the Big Ten.

You probably know that one of the New Year’s Six bowl slots is reserved for the Group of Five champion, the highest-ranked conference champion from the AAC, Mountain West, C-USA, MAC, and Sun Belt.

The reason for this Group of Five slot is reasonable, obvious and good: Giving the smaller schools and conferences a big bowl game with a substantial payout. Nothing wrong with that.

However: The Group of Five is really bad this year … and that could take a New Year’s Six bowl slot from USC and the Pac-12. Let’s go through the details:

Super-conferences will ruin college football as we know it

This all sucks so badly.

For years now, word has been brewing that college football supremacy will be challenged for only by a select few. A major step in that direction has been taken with the reported defection of USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. That appears to only be the beginning as other Pac-12 schools could follow suit. USA TODAY’S Paul Myerberg believes this all eventually will lead to the Big Ten and SEC becoming two super-conferences at the expense of the remaining Power Five conferences.

All I can say is this absolutely sucks. Never mind what this might mean for Notre Dame. What about college football as a whole? Geographical regions and rivalries suddenly mean far less than who can make the most money out of having ESPN, Fox and whatever other network or streaming service pay for showing the games to audiences.

What happened to the thrill of preparing to beat an opponent only a few hundred miles away? Are we really going to see Rutgers travel to Los Angeles for a game that kicks off at 9 a.m. local time? This is an absolutely ridiculous thought, and one that inexplicably is about to become reality. Say goodbye to team buses for most conference games and hello to being jet lagged during those games on a regular basis.

Yes, I know this is all about money, and I know players are allowed to make it through NIL deals now. But this is where we have to bring up the cliche of money being the root of all evil. In this case, it’s destroying everything that has made college football beautiful for over a century. The future of the sport appears to be a professional league disguised as college football, and that’s not what it’s supposed to be about.

You might remember the major backlash when the European Super League was announced a year ago. Pretty much everyone who loved soccer demonstrated such an outrage over it that the league ultimately ended before it even began. Where’s the anger over this? It’s probably too late, but if fans don’t put up the slightest fuss, this will become our new reality:

Every D1 school is either Big Ten or SEC. FOX owns B1G, ESPN the SEC

Amazon buys both FOX and ESPN, merges 2 conferences together to make the New Coalition of American Athletics (NCAA). The coalition then splits up into divisions called the Pac-12, Big 12, ACC, SEC, Big Ten, etc https://t.co/ugQkd9oo8G

— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) June 30, 2022

If this has to be our new reality, there needs to be a complete realignment of the levels of college football. The idea that all Football Bowl Subdivision teams are under the same umbrella has been laughable at best and an outright lie at worst for some time now. When this all comes to pass, any remaining Power Five programs need to compete for their own championship, as do all Group of Five programs. No one from that latter group ever is going to make the College Football Playoff anyway, so why keep stringing them along?

This latest proposal means that the sport future generations watch will not be the one we, our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents watched. Only the most prominent college football programs will be allowed to compete for the mountaintop, and every other school can forget about ever ascending to that level. Very few of the best players in the country are going to Group of Five schools now, and this will ensure that none of them will go there because they want a chance to go all the way, and they want the most exposure possible.

If none of this bothers you even a little bit, I don’t know how you possibly can enjoy watching the rich get richer. It’s not like college football has a whole lot of integrity these days, and this will annihilate whatever is left of it. We are at a tipping point, and history will remember it as such. That is, if history hasn’t been bought and paid for by another power entity that will ruin that, too.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Where does Oklahoma fall in ESPN’s College Football Playoff picks after week 1?

How did the Sooners fare in ESPN’s College Football Playoff picks after week 1’s win over the Tulane Green Wave?

National observers haven’t taken kindly to the Oklahoma Sooners second-half let down in their matchup with Tulane on Saturday. ESPN and Pro Football Focus dropped Oklahoma in their power rankings, and CBS expects the Sooners to dip in the polls when they’re released on Tuesday.

It’s not surprising. Analysts and experts can be a fickle bunch, often swaying week-to-week as the results on the field change the view of college football teams across the country. It was a poor second-half showing against Tulane. Of that, there is no doubt. However, there was a lot to like in the first half that can propel the Sooners if they can keep their minds right moving forward.

In ESPN’s latest College Football Playoff projections, the ESPN college football staff voted the Sooners fourth. Landing on the ballot of five of their 12 analysts, the Sooners come in behind Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State. Alabama and Georgia each received votes on all 12 ballots, while the Buckeyes were selected on 11 of 12 ballots.

Here’s what ESPN had to say.

Unlike Georgia and Alabama, Oklahoma struggled out of the gates but held on to beat Tulane 40-35 in the season opener. Due to the close call, the Sooners land in only five of 12 lists. – ESPN

It isn’t surprising that some analysts chose to leave Oklahoma off their ballots. National observers have been looking for a reason to knock the Sooners after failing to advance in College Football Playoff appearances of the past.

However, when you look at the teams that did get votes, it just doesn’t make sense.

I can see an argument for Clemson, even if their week one performance was a letdown. They played a strong Georgia team, and their ACC schedule should provide them an opportunity to win the conference and be one of the top teams in the nation by the season’s end. There’s plenty of time to make people forget how bad you looked in your week one loss to Georgia.

Texas A&M, I can understand a bit as they were one of the hot teams. They finished just outside of the college football playoff after their lone loss to Alabama last season. In a tough SEC West, they’ll have a chance to make their case as one of the best four teams if they can navigate it relatively unblemished.

Those two teams are highly thought of squads. Clemson a recent two-time national champion, and A&M an SEC darling. But UCLA and Cincinnati, I struggle to understand.

Sure, UCLA looked good in their blowout win over LSU. But is LSU really that good? Their 5-5 record from 2020 seems to indicate they’re not very good. Are we ready to say that Chip Kelly is back? That UCLA is for real? That seems like a stretch after a half-decade of below .500 play.

Cincinnati is a really good Group of Five team that could one day be in the Big 12, but are they really a better squad than Oklahoma? Desmond Ridder will keep the Bearcats in the national title picture in a solid AAC, but it’s hard to make an argument that they’re better than the Sooners, despite OU’s second-half performance against Tulane.

That’s why expanding the playoff will make this all so much more fun. Instead of debating resumes and worthiness, the best teams will get to decide it on the field.

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Stream college football games from the SEC, Big 12, The American, and more on ESPN+

Should Group of Five schools conduct their own championship?

Why are we keeping the Group of Five under the same umbrella as the Power Five?

Talk of Big 12 schools leaving the conference for greener pastures means the future of college football has become a hot topic yet again. There’s speculation that longtime rivals Texas and Oklahoma will leave for the SEC. We’ve also heard of Kansas and Iowa State heading to the Big Ten. It makes one wonder if the Big 12 even has a future as a Power Five conference.

Then, amidst all that discussion, you see tweets like this from Statistically Speaking Podcast host Kyle Umlang:

The future of College Football pic.twitter.com/1zckIaF3Hr

— Kyle Umlang (@kyleumlang) July 23, 2021

Notre Dame no longer being an independent aside, this graphic gives you pause. Note that some Group of Five schools have been bumped up to Power Five status. “Some” is the key word here. Most of them remain on the outside looking in.

The point is the Power Five conferences only are going to get bigger as time goes on. Unless they eventually admit all Group of Five schools, which is unlikely, what’s even the point of those schools trying to compete with the big boys? Invitations to major bowls already are hard to come by for them, and the new College Football Playoff proposal only serves to benefit the Power Five even more.

Given all of this, there is only one solution: Break the Group of Five conferences away from the Power Five, and let them compete for their own championship. The likes of Northern Illinois and UAB have no hope of winning a national championship under the current or future structure. A new playoff system just for them would at least give them a shot at adding serious hardware to their trophy case. No reasonable college football observer can say they have one now.

Power Five schools still would be allowed to schedule Group of Five schools if they wish, just like they currently do with Football Championship Subdivision Schools. After all, Nick Saban is well within his right to schedule lesser opponents just ahead of the Iron Bowl, as cheap as that is. However, it no longer does any good for the Power Five and Group of Five to compete under the same umbrella. The Group of Five schools barely ever has a shot at New Year’s Six bowls anymore, let alone a national title. That structure is keeping these programs from growing, and they’re stuck where they are as a result.

Let’s discontinue this charade of all Football Bowl Subdivision schools being on equal footing. It’s not true, and everyone knows it. By starting a new playoff for the Group of Five, there would be more opportunities for those schools to play for high stakes, and that would be better for the development of both the players and coaches. When the best you realistically can hope for is a conference championship, something is amiss. At least with March Madness, every Division I conference has a shot at standing above the rest.

Let’s add yet another champion to the college football season. Some might call it a cheap move, but is it any better than what we have now? Heck, the new Division I subdivision can take some of the bowls its team already gets sent to. Would it really bother the Power Five schools if they didn’t get to go to the New Orleans Bowl or Bahamas Bowl?

The national championship is the goal for every team. Give the Group of Five teams a chance. It’s time to set them free from the grips of the Power Five.