Should Group of Five have their own college football national champion?

The newly expanded College Football Playoff will provide greater opportunity for more teams to play for a national championship. But, inevitably, eligible teams will be left out regardless of how big the field is. This season, 12 teams will vie for the national title — a three-fold increase from the original four-team format.

The expansion was mostly a result of teams with playoff-caliber resumes (i.e. undefeated, ACC champion 2023 Florida State) being excluded.



So, with more teams now involved, there should be no complaints about anybody being left out now, right? Well, 11 of the 12 teams in the field will most likely be from the Power Five conferences. At least one team from the Group of Five will be eligible to qualify, and with the toughness of schedules and the quality of wins being naturally lesser in the Group of Five conferences compared to the Power Five, it may only stay at one. This season is already demonstrating how many high-caliber teams could be playoff-worthy (i.

e. Boise State, UNLV, undefeated Army and Navy). The Group of Five commissioners even broached the possibility of such a plan in August but nothing has gone past the discussion phase.

If no further expansion for the Group of Five will be considered in the near future for the College Football Playoff, those conferences should discuss a separate playoff and national championship. In 2023, Chip Kelly proposed that Power Five teams should be independent in football. Fox Sports' Joel Klatt expanded on that specific proposal.

"This idea of football separating, I think is very important and needs to happen." @JoelKlatt discusses Chip Kelly's recent comments about restructuring CFB ⬇️ pic.twitter.

com/wjSVy9V8w2 Kelly and Klatt are on to something in regard to the Power Five but a similar model could work in conjunction if the Group of Five separates. UCF went undefeated in 2017 and won the Peach Bowl, self-declaring the program as the national champion . A one-loss Alabama team won the actual national championship game that season.

Then-AAC member Cincinnati qualified for the four-team playoff in 2021 but fell 27-6 to Alabama in the semi-final. A separate playoff and national championship for the Group of Five would allow for healthy competition between teams that would likely not survive in the current Power Five-dominated format. Economically, it would produce more revenue for schools and conferences that otherwise wouldn't because they did not qualify for the single-berth allotted to them in the 12-team bracket.

More games, more competition, more football. It would be a win-win situation for all involved..