The Future of College Football

The Marsh
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This is strictly IMO, but I also want your feed back.

The writing is on the wall. A major split is upon us. With the unfortunate showings of both Tulane and JMU, it gives more than enough ammunition to the CFP committee to eliminate the G6 spot altogether, which I believe it will. Here’s how I see the future of college football playing out.

The CFP moves to 16 teams, with NO automatic bids. Getting rid of auto bids eliminates a weak conference champion (Duke, ACC) and the top G6 school from making the field. For a G6 school to make the field, they will have to have a strong overall record, a strong SOS, and finish the regular season in the CFP Top 16.

#1 plays #16, #2 plays #15, and so on. There are NO BYES. The higher seed is the home team, and the first two rounds are played on college campuses. The semifinal and championship are to be played at neutral sites.

With no auto bids, where will that leave the G6 schools going forward?
I’ll say this… as a fan of the Cajuns, I believe we all need something greater to play for. As it stands, winning the conference championship is the top (realistic) goal for G6 schools.

In 2021, the #23 (12-1) Sun Belt Champion Ragin’ Cajuns were rewarded with… a NOLA Bowl appearance… against a 7-5 Marshall. Two years later, with a 6-6 record, the Cajuns would go back to that same bowl game. So a 12-1 season gets you the same bowl bid as 6-6? C’mon man.

The G6 needs a FOUR team playoff, and here’s how it would work. The American, CUSA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, and PAC champions would all qualify for this playoff. WINNING YOUR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP IS AN ENTRY REQUIREMENT. From there, the Top 4 G6 Champions make the field, with the bottom 2 being left out.

Let’s use this season as an example:
Tulane was the AAC champion with an 11-2 record
Kennesaw State was the CUSA champion with an 10-3 record
W. Michigan was the MAC champion with a 9-4 record
Boise State was the MWC champion with a 9-4 record
JMU was the Sunbelt champion with a 12-1 record
*No PAC champion

In this scenario, seeding would be determined by overall records, using SOS as a tiebreaker. Thus: #1 JMU, #2 Tulane, #3 Kennesaw State

As you will notice, there are two 9-4 teams gunning for the final spot. This is where SOS comes into play. Boise State SOS #64, W. Michigan SOS #112. The #4 seed would be awarded to Boise State.

#1 JMU would host #4 Boise State, on campus.
#2 Tulane would host #3 Kennesaw State, on campus.
Winners would play in the LIBERTY BOWL (January 2nd) for the G6 Championship.

Now, Tulane was ranked #20 in the CFP rankings this season, and JMU was ranked #24. But what if Tulane was ranked in the top 16, and wanted to participate in the CFP championships instead? Simple. Every G6 seed would slide up one spot, and the same seeding rules would apply to backfill the final seed.

This is my vision for the future, giving teams like us something to play for. I believe this would be exciting for G6 fans, would offer great exposure for G6 schools, and could also be a legit money-maker.

Alright, degenerates… Thoughts?

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Agree with pretty much all of this. I would go with 8 teams and just scrap all of the useless 6-6 vs 6-6 bowl games that hemorrhage money every year.

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The NCAA should just sponsor an NCAA 1-A/FBS Tourney just like they do a basketball tourney. The CFP is the NIT. ALL conference champions get invite to the NCAA tourney, plus some at-larges, just like the basketball tourney. If the rich snobs turn down an invite to the NCAA tourney to go to their NIT/CFP, that is their choice, but that conference invite will then be offered to the 2nd place school from their conference, and so on and so forth.

It’s time to draw a line. Not by “creating a G6 playoff”, but by the NCAA just doing what they do for all other sports. Sponsor a National Championship Tournament. I couldn’t care less if the snobs want to have a private ball washing party.

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Wish our interim President would have stepped in and turned down our bowl game. No reason to lose money playing an additional game in a 6-6 season. 90% of bowl games mean absolutely nothing these days. They are nothing to be celebrated and are boring to watch.

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We can’t afford to decline a bowl game unfortunately. The Sun Belt would’ve fined us for doing so.

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The fine might be less than how much loss going to the game. Someone please correct me but I hear that we lost upwards around $1M going to Mobile.

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I don’t see how that’s possible, if we got zero offsetting revenue that’s around $7k a person to go to mobile on a bus.

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I think that if universities want to opt-in to any non-NCAA sanctioned championships/playoffs then they can do so but lose their tax-exempt status. That will let the cash cows actually generating revenue peel away if they want. Athletes for these schools would then be treated as professional athletes, and not “student athletes.” If kids coming out of high school want to commit to these P2/professional teams, they lose their amateur status and won’t be able to return back to true collegiate sports/programs.

Same thing with transfers from non P2 programs. Transfer to a P2 professional program, you lose your amateur status and cannot return.

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I think I’m good with the whole thing collapsing on itself at this point.

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I have always and still do oppose a split. But at this point I am so done with all of it. I’m so tired of hearing the big time programs and talking heads complain about every damn thing. I myself am waiting for a collapse. Just split them. And if I’m the G5, I go with a full split. Don’t call us for your money games anymore…Complete split.

My worry with a complete split is that it won’t stop there. They’ll come for March Madness next and then baseball. Am I wearing a tin foil hat? Maybe. But I don’t think its too far-fetched.

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I dont disagree. But lets be honest, what are the chances that a G5 makes the Final 4? I count (2) in the past 10 years and one of those teams being Houston who made it twice

When it comes to baseball, its probably the best chance that a G5 team makes it to Omaha. Even then I only count (3) teams in the past 10 years that made it to Omaha. Coastal is one of the three and they made it twice.

The way NIL and transfer portal is being used these days, its only going to get harder for us G5 schools.

Below is a list of teams that made it to Omaha over the last 10 years. Guess its really 9 years considering the covid year.

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Not accurate.

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Football is a completely different monster compared to baseball and basketball. Its basically impossible to compete with top level P4 when both DL and OL will be stronger and bigger than the G5s of the world. Baseball and basketball has a lot more chance built into the game that can allow the smaller schools to compete.

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NIL and the portal makes it almost as hard for baseball and softball. Only saving grace in those sports is that they seem to attract more high-character humans.

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What is the number? I honestly would like to know. $1M seemed like a lot but I have no idea on the financials other than a reported payout that is published but also don’t know if that is actually wha we get at the end of the day.

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@NattyDaddy this makes a ton of sense. Unfortunately, I don’t think some of the schools in the G6 are ready to accept their lot in College Football. They’re sitting outside of the P4 Country Club waiting for someone to hand them a membership card.

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That’s perfect. 6 auto qualifiers and 6 at-large.

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Maggard had to go cry to the new President to go to the bowl. They lost close to 1.2 million going to it. Ramesh wanted them to opt out. Hotel, food, activities, and equipment for over 200 people for a week.

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I’ve always wondered how much the 2023 year got us in a hole..

Softball full regional at LSU and then travel the whole team to Washington (thanks McNeese)

Baseball full tournament in Montgomery and full regional in Miami

Basketball full conference tournament plus tournament berth in Orlando

Football team travel to New Orleans Bowl

I bet Maggard was looking at that budget and thinking “oh come onnnn! we can’t all make the freakin postseason, right!?”

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I agree, ideally the NCAA should step in and reclaim power of its major sport… but the NCAA is spineless, and I unfortunately see a split before the NCAA ever steps up.

I also believe the NCAA wants the CFP/NIL format to collapse independently, so it can say “I told you so”

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