Calhoun would take the field to eight and break it down like this:
1. ACC champ
2. Big Ten champ
3. Big 12 champ
4. Pac-12 champ
5. SEC champ
6. Wild card
7. Wild card
8. Group of Five playoff winner
That Group of Five playoff would consist of four entrants. He didn’t specify how those four would be determined. Maybe it would be the top-rated champions among the Group of Five. Maybe the top rated regardless of conference.
That is such BS. Just make 6-8 wildcards and be done with it. They’re going to pit 1 vs. 8 anyways and who do you think they’ll always put at 8?
P5’s will never allow it though. Undermines being in a major conference and getting beat up. Why be in the SEC and face that murders row when you can just as easily be in the ACC or PAC or big 12 or even the American and face an easier path to the playoffs? … er, money aside that is.
That means the G5 team would have to play 14 games before making the playoff. If it is a 8 team playoff then make #6 the highest ranked G5 and 7 and 8 wildcards.
It would be a terrible scenario if a G5 team had an undefeated season beating two top 25 teams, was ranked in the top 5 in both the AP and Coaches Poll yet had to beat two more G5 opponents (possibly ranked) just to play the number 1 seed in an 8 team playoff.
If no one in the G5 is ranked in the top 12, there is no reason to include them in the playoffs anyway and if they are ranked in the top 8, they shouldn’t have to play extra games just to make the playoffs. If a school from the MWC or the AAC goes undefeated and isn’t ranked in the top 8, conversation of a 2 team play-in game can be brought up.
The play-in game I would consider is the highest ranked G5 conference champion (if they aren’t in the top 8) versus the 8th seeded P5 team at a pre-approved neutral site. If the 8th seeded P5 team beats the top ranked G5 champion the first three years, then the play in game would be dropped.
What bugs me is that it’s been going on so long, people have bought into the idea that the G5 is inferior and a sub-class of division I and that they only deserve a sliver.
If you do a survey on Coogfans of UH’s 5 biggest wins over the last 10 years, how many do you think will be G5 teams? How many of UH’s top 5 TV ratings over the last 10 years have been against G5 opponents? Why do UH fans want so badly for UH to be a P5 team? The value of the P5 is related to how valuable the G5 teams and their fans make it.
The $60 million dollar payout per team vs $2.5 million per team per year. Plus a G5 can’t ever have a realistic shot at a national championship. Also a G5 can’t ever lose ever, while a P5 can lose. A G5 is penalized simply for the conference they are in with SoS. The G5 creates a coaches farm system for P5. Top recruits want a Natty. It’s a profoundly un-level playing field (pun intended). G5s are technically D1 but have to do way more with much less and can’t get the same reward at the end. It’s a discriminatory “system”.
Jimmy, did I read this right? "Why do UH fans want so badly for UH to be a P5 team?"
I am dumbfounded. Am I missing something here? Please explain because I read your post a few times and I still can’t understand why you posted this. Number one we can agree to disagree but are you a UH alum, fan or other?
Every UH alum, UH fan aspire for U of H to get back to a P5 level. This is where we belong. We have nothing to do with the G5’s. We are just stuck there. Have been stuck since late 1996. The G5 is a creation of the P5’s to keep us down and keep us from earning the money we deserve. I keep repeating myself but every day that passes/being excluded from being in a P5 is an insult to every one of us. This especially true for our “golden years” Alum, fans. We all know why we are not in a P5. This has nothing to do with our fans or facility but it has everything to do with the threat that we represent to many P5 teams.
This asinine scenario of G5 against P5 is like adding salt to injury. An undefeated Div I team belongs in a playoff system regardless of the league they are in.
Have we lost any sense of what sports is all about? I understand the money angle but who is to say that an Eastern Illinois or U of H can’t beat an Alabama? Remember what Boise State did a few years ago?
What espn and others wants us to think is accept the crumbs that we throw at you and go pack sand.
I will never accept that and I surely hope that all of you friends do not accept it either. We are so lucky to have a Tillman and a Mrs Khator by our side. That I can believe in. Their drive to get us back to where we belong is an inspiration to us all.
I prefer to bang the drum for amateurism again: it’s not about us not getting money we deserve, it’s about anybody getting that kind of money to run non profit amateur sports as a supplement to the education system. Put everyone at our level or below, with equal access to championships under the rules, and see what shakes out.
That’s fine Trent but I get insulted everyday when I hear that a G5 does not belong. The hard truth is that without the money the gap will widen and programs will shut down.
To even accept that a G5 get one tenth of what a P5 in a bowl money prize says it all. On what basis should a G5 get $2M while a P5 gets $14 or even higher for the same bowl game?
EXACTLY!!! This would be absolutely ridiculous. In my opinion you have more to lose with your program, most specifically injuries. The extended season could cause you to lose players to injury not just the following year but indefinitely.
I would rather take the guaranteed new years bowl game against a marquee team and have the possibility of an impressive win ie. Peach Bowl versus Florida State.
The best G5 team should, and probably would, be included in an 8-team playoff. This suggestion does more harm than good to the G5 schools and even provides ammo against G5. Sit down and shut up Calhoun.
I just can’t help seeing the cliff that everyone is racing toward like lemmings. Those who shut down or drop division will really be those escaping with their lives while the others continue toward the edge. Long term, the money doesn’t exist for this system, and that long term is shortening quickly. I’d rather rein it all in than be desperate to be the first off the cliff, just for a shot at some mythical temporary glory.
Maybe you didn’t read the post I was replying to for context? If you did and still didn’t understand, they were rhetorical questions to the comment “people have bought into the idea that the G5 is inferior” as if it’s not a true statement.