My take on the top Group of 5 teams in College Football and how the landscape of the Group of 5 is changing:
The Group of 5 is not as good this year as they usually are. Usually there are one or two teams that have 11-12 wins with one of them being against a decent-good Power 5 team. You don’t have any of those this year as Tulane, SMU, Toledo, JMU, Liberty, and Troy have no good non-conference wins.
Starting next year, the top Group of 5 champion will have a bid in the 12-team playoff. If the 12-team playoff started today, Tulane would be playing at Ohio State. An obvious blowout. I don’t care how stoked Tulane would be for that game, Ohio State would obliterate them, simple as that. I hope that whatever team makes the playoffs next year from the Group of 5 is ready, or else the 12-team playoff, would basically be an 11-team playoff.
With all this being said, most of the teams in my top 25 are Power 5 teams, so I thought it would be interesting to see what an entire Top 25 would look like of just Group of 5 teams.
- SMU Mustangs 10-2
- Liberty Flames 12-0
- Tulane Green Wave 11-1
- Toledo Rockets 11-1
- Troy Trojans 10-2
- James Madison Dukes 11-1
- New Mexico State Aggies 10-3
- UTSA Roadrunners 8-4
- Memphis Tigers 9-3
- UNLV Rebels 9-3
- Appalachian State Mountaineers 8-4
- Miami (OH) RedHawks 10-2
- Boise State Broncos 7-5
- Wyoming Cowboys 8-4
- San Jose State Spartans 7-5
- Ohio Bobcats 9-3
- Jacksonville State Gamecocks 8-4
- Bowling Green Falcons 7-5
- Air Force Falcons 8-4
- Fresno State Bulldogs 8-4
- Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 7-5
- Texas State Bobcats 7-5
- Utah State Aggies 6-6
- Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 7-5
- South Alabama Jaguars 6-6
Conference Comparison
Mountain West: 7 (10, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 23)
Sun Belt: 5 (5, 6, 21, 22, 25)
AAC: 4 (1, 3, 8, 9)
C-USA: 4 (2, 7, 17, 24)
MAC: 4 (4, 12, 16, 18)
NY6 Bowl Bid
Right now, Tulane is the highest ranked Group of 5 team in the CFP rankings. If they win, they’re in. If they lose, then that opens the door for Liberty. Liberty will get in if they win and Tulane loses. If Liberty loses, then it would probably go to SMU, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the bid went to NMSU or Troy if they are impressive enough in their championship games. I believe the MW is out because of all of them beating each other throughout the season.
JacobErwin.com 