Tag: Group of Five

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:

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.

Five ways to improve the College Football Playoff

After this season, it’s obvious that the College Football Playoff system needs a fix. Here are five ways the power conferences can do so.

Alabama‘s national championship in 2011 over LSU was the moment that everyone knew the BCS was a broken system. This year’s College Football Playoff is similar in the fact that the sport needs a change for the better.

There are many different opinions as to what improvements need to be made. Ultimately, the FBS conferences will follow whatever gives them the opportunity to make the most money. That may be a sad reality, but it will always be what drives commissioners and the sport’s biggest influencers.

The current College Football Playoff contract runs through the 2025 season. However, we have seen how quickly things can change. For the betterment of college football, the playoff system needs a fix.

Here are five ways they can do that.

FBS coaches sound off on which programs are best equipped to handle a season with COVID-19

The bottom line is, if you recruit at a high level, you will be less severely impacted by the necessity of young players getting action.

We’re less than a week away from Power Five teams beginning play in the 2020 college football season, and despite uncertainty during the offseason and a number of outbreaks within programs across the country, the teams planning to play continue to push full steam ahead.

ESPN talked to FBS coaches and assistants anonymously to gauge which programs they think are best equipped to handle a season with the cloud of COVID-19 hanging over.

The primary takeaway from these conversations is that differences between the haves and have-nots will be even more pronounced this season. Coaches said that programs which recruit at a high level have a massive advantage over programs that don’t, because they have the depth and talent to contend with opt-outs and illness mid-season.

The bottom line is, if you recruit at a high level, you will be less severely impacted by the necessity of young players getting action.

Because of this, coaches expect teams like Alabama and Clemson to navigate the challenges this season relatively gracefully.

Unsurprisingly, coaches also expect experienced and successful coaches to have a better time maintaining team morale. One said that Dabo Swinney’s positivity and Nick Saban’s ability to adjust will help both keep their teams on track.

Another coach mentioned that experienced coaches have dealt with uncertain situations before and would be more prepared for this season than others.

One thing coaches agreed upon was that due to primarily conference-only scheduling, it will not be a good year for any potential Cinderellas looking to make it to the College Football Playoff.

Without non-conference games, the odds of a Group of Five team earning enough quality wins to land in the playoff seem to be slim to none.

However, coaches do think that an expanded conference schedule could give good teams in power conferences a chance to have breakthrough seasons.

One such team coaches are keeping an eye on is the Gators. Here’s what one Power Five coach said about Dan Mullen’s squad this year.

“Dan is really good the more he’s been with a quarterback, and [Kyle Trask] understands that system,” a Power Five head coach said. “I think Florida has a big-time shot to get there this year, although their third game at Texas A&M will tell us a lot about them.”

Mullen has also kept veteran defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, a finalist for the Mississippi State head-coaching job this past offseason. Grantham turned down the Cincinnati Bengals‘ defensive coordinator job two years ago.

“The teams who have continuity from last year to this year in regards to their coaching staffs and not having to learn a lot of new schemes and things like that, those are the teams best equipped to handle this year,” a Power Five offensive coordinator told ESPN. “That’s Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, all of the usual suspects; but Florida’s in that group too.”

It remains to be seen how the 2020 football season will play out (if it does at all), but there seems to be a general consensus among FBS coaches: Talented teams with resources should be alright, while less wealthy programs that don’t recruit at as high a level will struggle.

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USF Does Not Have Financial Guarantee for Games at Notre Dame

Simply getting invited to play a high-profile school at its stadium is an honor for Group of Five programs.

Simply getting invited to play a high-profile school at its stadium is an honor for Group of Five programs. In addition to getting greater exposure, you get a nice paycheck just for showing up. Those incentives make it easier to absorb a likely loss, which probably will be a big one. However, USF might not get that luxury for playing Notre Dame over the next three years.

According to the series contract, obtained by the Tampa Bay Times after a public-records request, there is no financial guarantee for the Bulls. In fact, if this year’s contest, scheduled for Sept. 19 in South Bend, doesn’t get played, the remaining two games in this series will not be scheduled. If it goes on as scheduled, those games must have dates by Aug. 1, 2021. And to no one’s surprise, the cancelation provisions include the phrase “epidemic or pandemic”.

Despite this unusual arrangement, USF won’t be completely deprived of money for playing the Irish. It can purchase 300 tickets for this season’s game if it so chooses. And with the teams keeping their respective home ticket revenue, the Bulls should benefit nicely when this series has its lone game in Tampa.

Hey, in the times we’re living in, you can’t afford to be picky.

Big Ten conference led the Power Five in total revenue in 2019 according to USA Today

There has become a constant debate around the college football world over the past few years about which conference truly holds the title…

There has become a constant debate around the college football world over the past few years about which conference truly holds the title of the best conference in college football.

You go to SEC Network and hear Paul Finebaum rave about the SEC and argue that they’ve always held the title.

You go to FOX Sports and hear Joel Klatt and others explain that with Ohio State’s recent success, the gap between the conferences isn’t as large as many think.

Well, in at least one category the Big Ten can say they reign supreme and that is the total revenue from the 2019 season.

USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz did a deep dive on each conference’s revenue from last season and, according to his numbers, the Big Ten took first place by more than $60 million.

Here are some of the interesting revenue stats noted by Berkowitz (don’t mind his cover photo of one of Chase Young’s countless trips to the Badgers’ backfield).

  • “The Big Ten brought in $781.5 million, which resulted in payouts of about $55.6 million to each of the 14-team conference’s 12 longest-standing members. Maryland and Rutgers received smaller revenue-share amounts, but both schools also received loans from the conference against future revenue shares.”
  • “The Pac-12 reported $530.4 million (payouts of about $32.2 million per school). That figure that does not take into account the equity value of the Pac-12 Networks, the conference’s fully self-owned television and video content provider whose expenses help result in the conference passing less money to its member schools than the other conferences.”
  • “The Atlantic Coast reported $455.4 million (payouts from $27.6 million to $34 million across 14 schools, plus $6.8 million to Notre Dame).”

First, cue the “Notre Dame should be in the ACC” chatter as you can see they received a sizable payout from the conference.

Second, through these numbers it’s clear that the Power Five conferences are doing more-than-well financially and maybe could withstand this upcoming season of no fans and no out-of-conference contests.

Who will be in trouble are programs from Group of Five conferences that rely on their Power Five contests to stay afloat financially.

Take this nugget from Bowling Green losing their chance to play Ohio State and Illinois.

Teams like Bowling Green (literally) bank on playing games against Power Five schools and without those contests their athletic departments will struggle financially in future years.

Yes, the Big Ten led the major conferences in revenue. But the big story here isn’t that, it’s the financial stability of schools in Power Five conferences and the upcoming struggle for smaller Group of Five schools.

The financial bloodbath for Group of 5 schools will be overwhelming

This will get much, much worse

The Big Ten’s decision to move to a conference-only schedule will send dominoes tumbling throughout college sports. There are many stories to focus on. In this specific article, we will deal with the fallout for Group of Five schools, especially the schools from the three smallest Group of Five conferences: Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, and the Sun Belt.

Of the three conferences, none will be affected more by the Big Ten’s move than the MAC.

ESPN noted that as a result of the Big Ten’s conference-only schedule adjustment, 36 different schools will not be able to play nonconference games against Big Ten teams. Of those 36 schools, 28 are from the FBS. Most of them are from the MAC, the Group of Five conference which shares the same basic geographical footprint as the Big Ten. The B1G and the MAC have frequently played nonconference games against each other over the larger run of time. This severely cuts into MAC schools’ athletic budgets, which were already crippled by the pandemic due to losses from basketball season and other sports seasons.

What’s worse is that four MAC schools were scheduled to play two nonconference games — not merely one — against Big Ten opponents this fall: Northern Illinois, Ball State, Central Michigan, and Bowling Green. That is simply devastating.

Now realize what will happen if the ACC, Big 12, and SEC move to a conference-game-only schedule… or if merely two of the three adopt a conference-game-only plan.

If a Big Ten schedule adjustment affected 36 schools — with many of them coming from the MAC — this means the C-USA and Sun Belt schools which schedule games against Power Five opponents will be left in the cold as well. The ACC and SEC are natural scheduling partners for C-USA and the Sun Belt, since they also share geographic areas in the United States.

We all know that football revenues keep smaller athletic programs going. We are seeing, in real time, football revenues vanish for Group of Five schools at the bottom of the FBS food chain.

This is an overwhelming bloodbath, and it’s hard to easily grasp how severe a problem this is.

The most responsible thing to tell you right now: It’s only going to get worse, at least in the short run. How much this will reshape the college sports industry is impossible to measure, but changes — forced changes, not desired ones — are coming.