College football’s loudest voices have spent the last few weeks falling over themselves to demand that the College Football Playoff (CFP) limit or outright ban Group of 5 (G5) schools from future consideration. The complaints began before the Tulane Green Wave and James Madison Dukes failed to make their first-round matchups competitive last weekend—and have only intensified since.
The logic behind many of these arguments has been mostly suspect. Some argued that the games are blowouts, conveniently forgetting that there have been blowouts in every CFP, with schools like Oregon, Ohio State, and Notre Dame on the receiving end. Others have claimed that G5 schools haven’t earned the right to play because of their schedules, as part of a broader push to devalue winning in the sport. Another argument is that it’s a safety issue to let G5 athletes compete against Power 5 programs—even though these teams play one another all season and no one bats an eye.
The only honest reason why you’d want to exclude G5 schools from the CFP is because you care about TV ratings first and foremost. Everything else is just a rhetorical trick.
Fox Sports’ Urban Meyer has been among the most vocal critics of G5 schools participating in the CFP, and he shared his latest reason on The Triple Option podcast.
“It’s not the twelve best teams in America. It’s really not even close, to be honest with you,” said Meyer. “And, from what I saw? I guess what’s amazing to me is, what did you expect? You know, maybe there’d be a gigantic upset or something like that, but to throw those guys out there and say, okay, you guys are going to go fly across and play at Oregon? You know, I’m just not a fan of that.
“When I saw it hit, I thought that’s not—it’s really not fair for the players involved, it’s not fair to the coach, and it’s certainly not fair to those two teams that were left out.
“It was kind of embarrassing for college football to have that happen, you know,” Meyer added. “Like I said, what did you think was going to happen? You know, that was going to happen, and it did.”
The deck is incredibly stacked against G5 schools and similar programs when it comes to how the college football media treats them. Meyer’s reasoning here is a perfect example of how their status is weaponized against them.
First, as Meyer alludes to, it is entirely possible that a G5 school could upset a Power 5 school in the CFP. The potential thrill of that is what drives excitement in March Madness and is not without precedent in college football. Not every playoff game has to be a showdown of top-ranked teams—there’s plenty of room for both.
Second, Meyer’s insistence that the CFP slot is “not fair for the players involved” is incredibly infantilizing. James Madison lost to Oregon by 17 points. Yes, the game got out of hand early, but the Dukes proved they didn’t give up and ended up closer than many powerhouse programs have been in their playoff games over the years. (Oregon lost to Ohio State by 20 last year, and no one called for the Ducks to be banned.)
Also, the JMU players had the chance to play in front of a national audience and elevate their program’s status. They might have lost, but they never gave up—something we’re told to appreciate about college football. Several of them will parlay this season’s success into transfer opportunities at bigger schools. Incoming head coach Billy Napier gets to sell a CFP appearance to recruits.
The idea that the CFP appearance and subsequent loss were “not fair” to the players or coaches is infantilizing, disingenuous, and disrespectful.
Third, Meyer said that the outcome of the games was “kind of embarrassing for college football to have that happen.” We assume that he thinks the same of Ohio State’s 28-point loss to Alabama in 2021, Alabama’s 28-point loss to Clemson in 2019, Tennessee’s 25-point loss to Ohio State last year, and TCU’s 58-point loss to Georgia in 2023. All embarrassments to the sport that demand answers, according to Meyer.
The real embarrassment to college football is the way so many media members are handling themselves over this topic.
https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/urban-meyer-excluding-g5-teams-college-football-playoff-not-fair-players.html
