A group of five College Football Playoffs? G5 leaders are reportedly discussing their own postseason

As the realignment of the college football conference continues to change the landscape of the sport, countless ideas have been discussed. One of these, although not new, has surfaced via the Group of Five.

According to multiple reports, G5 decision makers have begun discussing the possibility of a Group of Five-only playoff and a possible split from the Power Four.

Here's more on the possibilities being discussed and what it could mean for the Group of Five conferences – AAC, Sun Belt, MAC, Mountain West and Conference USA.

Group of five conferences discussing playoff possibilities

This isn't the first time a G5-only playoff has been considered.

Northern Illinois athletic director Sean Frazier has reportedly discussed both a G5 playoff in 2017 and an NIT-like tournament for FBS teams that don't make the College Football Playoff.

However, such ideas have never actually been put into practice. For example, outgoing AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco often emphasized that even the use of the term “Group of Five” created greater division in the FBS landscape.

However, new commissioner Tim Pernetti said during his recent introductory press conference that the league is open to “maverick postseason models.”

A G5 playoff could take many forms and would require approval from all five conferences. This means that the leaders of these leagues would have to agree to several points.

If these five conferences were to split off, it would reportedly result in all 62 G5 teams being split into eight-team divisions.

What would be the requirement for these programs to leave their current conferences if this were to occur in the form of a mass exodus? What would that mean for current TV contracts, which were an important factor in the realignment of the conference in the first place? Would it be more profitable for the G5 to host their own playoffs instead of just taking their current share of CFP revenue?

These are all crucial questions that need to be answered.

On the financial side, a G5 playoff would likely involve some private equity. Derek Dooley, a former Tennessee head coach, has reportedly spoken to decision makers from all G5 leagues on behalf of private equity firms.

Dooley is obviously familiar with the G5 world, as he was also the head coach and athletic director at Louisiana Tech.

CBS Sports reported that Group of Five programs were unhappy with their share of College Football Playoff media rights revenue, which helped fuel discussion of the G5 playoffs alone.

What's interesting is that the money each G5 school will receive from the CFP media deal is set to increase from $1.5 million to $1.8 million starting in 2026. The difference, however, is that the percentage of the pot for the Group of Five decreases.

The entire collection of Group of Five conferences will take 9% of the $1.3 billion ESPN pays annually for CFP media rights. That's down from 22% in the previous deal. The Big Ten and SEC, meanwhile, will each receive 29%.

It's not clear how much money a G5 playoff would raise and whether it would ultimately be more lucrative. But it would give those leagues more autonomy as the Power Four conferences continue to consolidate and gain more influence over decision-making at the FBS level.

What would a G5 playoff look like?

We at HERO Sports ran a fan-voted, hypothetical playoff on Twitter/X with seedings based on our Group of Five Top 25 postseason rankings.

The teams in the group were: No. 1 SMU, No. 2 JMU, No. 3 Liberty, No. 4 Memphis, No. 5 Tulane, No. 6 Troy, No. 7 Boise State, No. 8 UTSA, No. 9 App State, No. 10 Air Force, No. 11 Wyoming, No. 12 Miami (Ohio), No. 13 UNLV, No. 14 Toledo, No. 15 Fresno State and No. 16 Ohio.

JMU defeated App State in the championship. Wyoming and Memphis also made it to the final four.

There's no telling what the format would be if a G5 playoff were held, and of course the postseason would be decided on the field. But these are some examples of teams that might have made it if there had been a G5 postseason round in 2023.