AAC Commissioner Calls for ‘Additional Playoff’ Beyond CFP for Group of 5 Teams

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVJuly 23, 2024

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It is very possible that conference champions from the Group of Five conferences—comprised of the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference and Sun Belt Conference—could still be left out of the 12-team expanded College Football Playoff depending on how the rankings shake out.

So new AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti believes the Group of Five should consider it’s own postseason tournament, as he told reporters on Tuesday:

“We believe in more postseason football opportunities. To be clear, more. More means additive. The CFP is a paramount relationship to the American, providing the opportunity for all of our coaches and student-athletes every year to compete for a national championship. … What has been established in this postseason is so meaningful, and there’s room for more, in addition to, not in place of.”Think about it. There could be conference champions left out of the CFP, and the prospect of an additional playoff for these champions that creates more opportunity and a greater experience for our student-athletes. We’re still waiting to hear what the downside is of more meaningful postseason football.”Most college fans probably aren’t going to argue with another playoff system to watch, though it could also be seen as moving one step closer to creating two separate divisions within college football altogether—the top tier comprised of the Power Four conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC) and the secondary tier made up of the Group of Five.

Think the NCAA college basketball tournament compared to the NIT.

That gulf in the sport has always technically and spiritually existed—it was very rare to see schools from outside the biggest conferences worm their way into the premier bowl games, BCS or CFP picture—but it was never formally instituted.

And the Group of Five schools do have at least one ticket to the new dance. In the 12-team College Football Playoff, at least one Group of Five school is guaranteed a berth. Whether a second team from that mix ever manages to get in is another question entirely.

And it’s that uncertainty that lends credence to the idea of a separate Group of Five playoff.

“I think it’s something we need to strongly consider,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell told The Athletic’s Chris Vannini. “I agree with whoever the G5 rep is, let them go (to the CFP), and the other four conference champions, put them in the current bowl system and let them play a semifinal and final within the bowls.”

Vannini added that “some athletic directors have privately discussed the idea of a G5-only postseason event, perhaps funded by private equity, or even larger geographic realignment for non-football sports.”

There’s also the question of whether the traditional bowl system fits into any of this. The relationship between the playoff structure and the traditional bowls has never been a seamless one—adding a secondary playoff wouldn’t make things less complicated.

Stewart Mandel @slmandelAn interesting potential wrinkle in the future of the CFP:

The Rose Bowl has asked not to be included in the semifinal rotation, preferring to host a Jan. 1 quarterfinal every year.https://t.co/Xuh4jtGuWV

Ross Dellenger @RossDellengerSpoke to Rose Bowl management committee chair Laura Farber at Big Ten media days.

The Rose Bowl has proposed to CFP that it keep its time & date – 5 pm ET, Jan. 1 – in future playoffs. Could mean it being a permanent quarterfinal game.

“We’re optimistic,” she told @YahooSports

Few sports have changed more in the past decade or so than college football, between NIL rights, the transfer portal, the introduction and expansion of the playoff system and dramatic conference realignment. So more changes—like a secondary playoff system for the Group of Five conferences—aren’t hard to envision.