By Rock Westfall
The Group of Five is considering its own playoff in response to bullying by the Big Ten and SEC. Former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley is promoting a plan that could be financed by private equity. But a better idea would be a shift of the Group of Five to the spring.
Partial or Full Separation? That is the Question
As the new TV deals have been finalized and the College Football Playoff distribution format is near completion, the Group of Five programs are being marginalized and cut out more than ever before. Thus, the Group of Five is considering its own playoff.
The proposed G5 plan would involve the 62 teams that comprise the Group of Five at present, with eight divisions that would compete for a G5 national championship.
The new College Football Playoff does involve the potential of an at-large Group of Five bid. But with the increased power of the Big Ten and SEC, along with the Big 12 and ACC having more influence than Group of Five schools, it is conceivable that the Group of Five would potentially be shut out of the CFP.
The risk for the Group of Five is that if they form their playoff, they could eventually be fully separated from the Power Four leagues.
Current but soon-to-be-retired American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco is against the G5 Playoff Plan, warning that it would risk full separation from “the big guys.”
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However, Aresco’s replacement, Tim Pernetti, is said to be more open to the Group of Five going independent and looking after its interests.
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June in Spring
Ten years ago, former SMU and Hawaii head coach June Jones proposed that the now-G5 teams move to spring, forming a separate division.
“I think the have-nots should go ahead and move to the spring just like the USFL did. I think that there’s an opportunity to do a complete other side of that division, and I think that if we don’t think that way as a group of have-nots, we’re going to get left behind,” Jones then told Tampa, Fla., radio station WDAE (via NFL.com). “I can see in five-to-seven years, possibly, the public would demand to have the two leagues play, just like I think the USFL had in mind, originally, of the winner of the USFL playing the winner of the National Football League.”
Jones was a visionary who was ahead of his time, which has now arrived.
Spring football actually worked with the first USFL in the early 1980s because the quality of football and promotion was good. But since 2020, there have been four different attempts at spring football, all of which struggled. The current UFL is the latest iteration after it was created in a merger between the USFL and XFL. The problem the UFL currently has is the same one its recent predecessors had; it is a minor league in quality with unfamiliar brands.
While the Group of Five is not on par with the current Power Four, it still has established brands, history, and respect that the UFL and other minor pro leagues could never hope to reach.
It is a good bet that Group of Five spring football would draw higher TV ratings than most anything else offered at this time of year and that loyal college football fans would get into it. Casual fans may not be as interested, but there are enough college football die-hards who would follow it and perhaps even adopt teams to follow and support. And those fanatics bring more eyeballs than any other sport the spring G5 league would be going up against.
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Dooley’s Deal is Dead on Arrival
Because of the new TV contracts in place, it would probably be several years before a Group of Five playoff format could be realistically implemented.
While the idea and sentiment are understandable, it would struggle against the NFL, Power Four college football, and everything else in the fall.
If the Group of Five is serious about taking control of its future, it should spring into action.
