Author: Chris Townsend

Kennesaw State and Tulsa. 

In college football, those are two schools that you do not want to be mentioned in the same sentence as. They were Southern Miss’s neighbors on ESPN’s end of season FPI rankings in 2024. USM was ranked 132nd out of 134 eligible teams.

In the span of five years, Southern Miss has gone from being a respectable G5 college football program to a laughingstock. After fielding only seven teams with losing records in a 40+ year span from 1978 to 2019, the Golden Eagles have had just one winning season since 2020.  

Enter Charles Huff.  

Huff, a former walk on O-Lineman at Hampton university turned big time head coach, is no stranger to adversity. He is taking over as USM’s head coach fresh off coaching Sun Belt rival Marshall to a blowout conference championship victory. He reportedly left Marshall after the two sides could not agree on a contract extension.  

Outside of coaching the Thundering Herd to a 32-20 record in four seasons, he brings an impressive recruiting resume to the table. While coaching at Alabama, 247 Sports dubbed Huff the nations top recruiter prior to the 2020 season. Heard of Saquan Barkley? Huff was a huge reason why #26 spent his college years in Happy Valley. 

Huff’s “aura” as a recruiter has already helped bolster Southern Miss’s roster on paper – 2024 Sun Belt newcomer of the year QB Braylon Braxton decided to follow Huff from Huntington to Hattiesburg, along with 18 of his teammates. According to 247 Sports, USM has the #2 recruiting class in the Sun Belt (including transfers). 

Recruiting is not everything, though. USM had the #2 ranked recruiting class in the Sun Belt in 2024 but finished the season with only one win to show for it. That’s where Huff’s presence will make a difference.

Football teams, more than any other sport, need good coaching for success. As a kid I watched Al Golden take a true cellar dweller in my Temple Owls and turn them into winners. 

I have suffered through 5 seasons of bad coaching as a Temple fan and know what the program, or any program is capable of under competent leadership. 

But like Charles Huff stated in his press conference, he’s only a small piece of this rebuild. Moving out of a house where Tulsa and Kennesaw State are your neighbors is going to take an all in effort from all of the staff, the community, and the especially the administration, as CFB transitions into an unprecedented time with payers being paid directly and the transfer portal leaving no team unscathed. 

But if there’s anyone who can right the ship in Hattiesburg, it’s Charles Huff. Expect a bounce back year from the Golden Eagles in 2025.

Recently it was announced that the College Football Playoff would be shifting its format yet again. The CFP Management Committee clearly did not read my article on what the best version would look like, so they went ahead and proposed their own format.  

The new format, which is effective this upcoming season, will still feature twelve teams. Although the top five conference winners will still get automatic bids, the teams will be seeded as they’re ranked in the final CFP rankings. If the format was effective last season, the byes awarded to Boise St. and Arizona St. would have instead been given to Penn St. and Texas. 

From the CFP Management Committee’s perspective, this move makes a ton of sense. They gave in to the pressure of their financial backbone to reward the higher overall seeded teams with byes. Despite rumors of another expansion of the field to sixteen teams in 2026, this tweak is a bad sign for G5 CFB hopefuls in the long run. 

As a part of the College Football Playoff new TV contract made with ESPN in 2024, the “Power two” (Big Ten and SEC) will combine to earn about 58% of the CFP’s base distribution. This comes out to an annual payout increase of up to $16-17m per school compared to the previous contract.  

The ACC and Big XII will get 17.1% and 14.7% respectively, while Notre Dame and all 64 G5 teams will get the remaining 10%. Despite the total dollar G5 teams will be receiving in the new deal being slightly higher, it’s drops in the bucket compared to the increase of college football’s titans. Under the previous contract, G5 schools received almost 20% of the base distribution in the previous structure. 

Although G5 teams cannot be pushed out completely from the CFB deal, I think the SEC and Big Ten will threaten to secede from the CFB to start their own playoff and/or use their leverage to dwindle the G5’s revenue share. 

If and when that happens, what options do G5 programs have?

Leaving the CFP voluntarily would be a huge mistake – they would be losing their financial lifeline. What they could do instead is create their own playoff, akin to college basketball’s NIT, while still being tethered to the “main” CFP. This would create buzz around G5 teams and make bowl season more interesting.  

There aren’t too many G5 fanboys like myself, in fact I don’t know any others personally. 

But people love betting on football games, and statistics show more bets are placed during bowl season when there aren’t as many games on. A potential G5 playoff could present conferences and schools with opportunities to broaden their revenue stream by forming advertising and sponsorship partnerships with sportsbooks. The idea has also already been brought up amongst G5 commissioners.

An end of season tournament may also inspire more players to not opt out of their team’s bowl games, although for a knock-off tournament there’s no guarantee. 

As far as how the tournament could look, I think an eight team, straight seeded bracket would fit best. Every non-CFP qualifying conference tournament winner would earn a berth, with the next four teams being selected at-large by a committee. If this tournament was in place for the 2024 season, it would have featured Ohio, Marshall, UNLV, Army, etc.  

G5 teams will never get the attention that power conference schools do, but a post season tournament between them would draw excitement and open doors for diversified revenue streams for mid-majors in this unpredictable era of college football.

In early 2025, the news of Northern Illinois’ departure from the MAC sent shockwaves through the group of five universe. The MAC has been the rocky outcrop in the Drake passage of today’s college football realignment era, as it is one of the only conferences that has retained all its core members. NIU has won the MAC championship 5 of the last 15 years, and clearly the decision makers in Dekalb see a bright future ahead for the Huskies – one which doesn’t involve the MAC. 

The Director of Athletics at NIU, Sean Frazier, said that the move was influenced by USC and UCLA deciding to leave the Pac-12 Conference for the Big Ten in 2022. Frazier said “There’s no such thing as standing still” when talking about today’s college football environment. He’s got a point, but Northern Illinois is not UCLA or USC. Although NIU wants to weather the NIL/Transfer portal/Super conference storm with this move, they have just left their mountain hut bolted to the top of Mount Washington (the MAC) and have ventured out into windchills a hundred below zero wearing only ankle socks.

NIU’s administration wants to reach the college football playoff just like every other program. They believe that joining the Mountain West, who this past season produced a college football playoff team in Boise State, will help them reach their goal. But the Mountain West is losing five of its most competitive members – of the five teams leaving the conference in 2026, four of them have won the conference championship within the past decade. 

Boise State is also an anomaly when speaking about the MWC’s success and should not be used as a measuring stick for other programs. Of the 2 appearances made in NY6 bowls by MWC schools since the end of the BCS era (post 2013), Boise State accounts for both.

Supporters of this decision argue that even though the MWC will lose some of its key members before NIU joins, it has always cultivated a tradition of success, and that bodes well for the Huskies’ future. Programs like TCU, Utah, and BYU used the conference as a stepping stone to the P5. While it is true that those programs saw success as members of the MWC, the common denominator between them all is that they were all historically strong programs that established themselves (for the most part) while they were a part of the ill-fated WAC. In fact, almost every member of the current MWC is a former WAC member.

In 2024, NIU averaged just over 12,000 fans per game, which was the 8th lowest attendance out of the 12 teams in the MAC, and would have been dead last in the MWC. Some say that the move to the MWC could help put more fans in the seats by freeing up games to schedule in state rivals like Illinois and Northwestern. That may work for the four non-conference games a year that they play. But what about the other eight? Do you really think that when teams like Hawaii and Air Force come to town the buzz will be any greater than when any of the MAC’s three Michigan affiliates or Ball State visit Dekalb?

This isn’t the first time NIU has defected from the MAC, either. Their first MAC stint began in 1975 and ended after a decade, partially due a scheduling conflict that arose when the MAC decided to kick EMU out in 1984 to improve the conference’s attendance numbers after the NCAA threatened to demote the conference to I-AA for this same reason. They left the MAC before the 1986 season, and returned a decade later in 1997. Since NIU rejoined in 97’, the MAC has been made up of the same twelve teams, apart from Temple and UMass tagging in for a few seasons. The 2025 CFB landscape, from NIL and super conferences to the transfer portal, is way different than the way it was 39 years ago when NIU left the MAC the first time. The current administration thinks the grass will be greener this time around, but I’m not sure that I agree.

Life (and more importantly #MACTION) will still go on in the MAC without NIU. UMass is slated to rejoin in 2025, and they will at least replace the vacancy caused by the departure of NIU. From a competitive standpoint though, UMass leaves much to be desired, as they have not had a winning season since 2010. During their four season stretch in the MAC from 2012 to 2015, the Minutemen complied a conference record of 7-25.

Although I remain a critic of NIU’s decision, I understand why the administration has chosen to take this route. I am interested to see how they will fare in their new home, and I wish them the best of luck.

The 2025 NFL draft has come and gone, forever changing the lives of the 257 young men that were selected. The first round of the draft saw only one player from a G5 school be selected, which, to nobody’s surprise, was Ashton Jeanty.  17 more players from G5 teams were selected after him – these are the three that will make the biggest impact in their rookie season.

Harold Fannin Jr. (Bowling Green) TE Browns 

Fannin Jr., who was born in Canton, OH and went to school in state at Bowling Green, has all the makings of a hometown hero. The only player on this list who attended the same school for his entire college career, Fannin Jr. is a multi-level receiving threat at the tight end position whose versatility to line up in the backfield, as a traditional tight end, or in the slot will create mismatches. He is sure handed, having dropped only 2 of 171 balls thrown his way at BGSU, and is difficult to bring down once he gets the ball in his hands. He also had the best season ever statically for a TE in the FBS, breaking records forreceiving yards by a Tight End in a season (1,555) and most receptions by a Tight End in a season (117). Although I enjoyed watching him toy with MAC defenses on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, he also had huge outings against Texas A&M and Penn State, the latter of which had four defensive players taken in this year’s draft. His arrival gives Cleveland extra offensive weapon in and will provide depth behind starter David Njoku. Given Njoku’s history with injuries, we may even see Fannin Jr. make a few starts in 2025. 

Jalen Royals (Utah State) WR Chiefs

This past fall, I had the privilege of watching Jalen play in person when Utah State came to Philly to play a game against my Temple Owls. Royals had 110 yards on 10 catches in the contest, one of which was a 26-yard touchdown on a wide receiver screen in which Royals flashed his 4.42 40 speed. A big play threat, he had 7 touchdowns of 50 yards or more in 2023and scored 15 Touchdowns total that season. Although limited a bit by injuries in 2024, he still netted over 800 receiving yards.Royals joins a receiving core that includes veteran Juju Smith-Schuster, Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown, and Xavier Worthy. If he can stay healthy, look for Royals add another dimension toa Chiefs offense that was tied for 2nd to last in passing plays of over 40+ yards in 2024. 

Shavon Revel (East Carolina) CB Cowboys

As an Eagles fan, it is not often I find myself cheering for anyone who has a star on their helmet. Shavon Revel is an exception. Revel went from playing JUCO ball to working at an Amazon warehouse where, in 2021 after an overnight shift, he attended an ECU prospect camp and ran a 4.4 40-yard dash. He was offered a scholarship to play for the Pirates on the spot.Physically, he compares with Richard Sherman, as they are similar in height, weight, and arm length. Revel plays a physical style of football – he isn’t afraid to stick his nose in the action when the ball is kept on the ground, and he disrupts the timing of receiver’s routes by using his length and physicality to jam receivers. Despite tearing his ACL in September 2024, Revel is expected to be fully healthy by week 1, and with Trevon Diggs expected to be sidelined for the first few weeks of the season, Revel will be a front runner for one of the starting CB spots.

As the sun was setting on another Sunday, I decided to see “A Minecraft Movie” to see what the buzz was about. The combination of social media being flooded with memes from this movie for a good month now and a lust for some childhood nostalgia beckoned me to my local AMC. In between laughing at many of the movies cliché one-liners, I couldn’t help but think of similarities I saw between Group of 5 teams and characters from the movie. I guess you could say the idea for this blog hit me like an enchanted diamond sword! 

Steve – Charlotte

Jack Black plays “Steve” – who is named after the default player name in Minecraft. In the movie we’re introduced to a young Steve who “yearned for the mines” but was discouraged from entering by a grumpy old miner. Steve grows up to live a comfortable, but boring lifestyle. One day after growing tired of his day to day, he decides to pursue his childhood dream by returning to the mines where he encounters the same grumpy old man, and manages to avoid him to enter the mines. He goes on to save the overworld by defeating the ruler of the Netherworld, Malgosha. 

Charlotte is the perfect embodiment of Steve. The program was started in the late 1940’s but existed for only three seasons before the team folded. With the help of the Charlotte 49er Football Initiative (CFI), the program was restored after more than sixty years in 2013. Just like Steve, Charlotte lost their dreams for so many years, only to find the fire and pursue them once more. Their mascot – Norm the Niner, also knows a thing or two about mining – you will never catch him without his pick-axe!

Garrett – Wyoming 

Garrett, played by Jason Momoa, is a tough guy has-been who is clad in a pink Western fringe jacket, and is the brawn of the protagonist group. He constantly mentions his ‘89 World Video Game Championship, even though nowadays he is a bit down on his luck; early in the movie he receives a foreclosure notice for his arcade. 

Wyoming University’s football team has not won a conference championship since 1993, and before that they won in 1989, which was the same year that Garrett won his championship. Upon seeing the Minecraft overworld for the first time, Garrett responds to Henry’s line of “We’re not in Idaho anymore” with“I think this is Wyoming.”  We can deduce that his association of the immense beauty of the Minecraft world with that of Wyoming’s makes the comparison to the State’s only FBS football program, along with the fact that both of them had some success decades ago which they are still hung up on, this was an easy conclusion to come to. 

Henry – Boise State

Henry’s story is one of redemption and fulfillment, just like Boise State’s. In the beginning of the movie, he is the new kid at school who, in an attempt to impress his classmates, builds a jetpack which ends up crashing into the towns most well known building. When he ventures into the mysterious dimension of Minecraft, he puts his smarts to use by building a fort that saves his sister and Dawn. He also crafts a unique weapon that is quite effective at warding off Pig Zombies when they invade. At the end of the movie, we see Henry fix his jetpack and fly it around school to the amazement of his peers. 

Just like Henry, Boise State was doubted, and time and time again the Broncos have proved critics wrong. Prior to their 2007 Fiesta Bowl upset against Oklahoma, they were 8-pointunderdogs despite finishing the regular season undefeated. Boise State also boasts a 12-5 record against power conference teams since 2000. The Broncos and Henry were both the new kids on the block at one point, but they earned their stripes, and proved to the world that they are among the best.

Every Saturday afternoon from late August to early December, hundreds of mascots take the field with their college football teams. Although every fan base adores their mascot, the truth is that there is there is one that stands head and shoulders over the rest. Or in this case, sits on a hill overlooking the rest. And its name is Big Red. 

Since its humble beginnings in the rolling hills of southern Kentucky, Big Red has touched many in its relatively short existence. Big Red embodies WKU’s school spirit as well as the schools geographic setting, as it sits atop a hill. Mark Greer, the second person to portray Big Red, said this about the mascot: “It can make expressions where most mascots have one stupid expression on their face at all times. Big Red can show emotion like no other mascot.” It is the only FBS mascot inspired by a geographic feature. This lovable red blob’s physical attributes aren’t the only thing that distinguish it, because it has lore as deep as the Mariana Trench. 

In 2002, Western Kentucky filed a lawsuit against Mediaset, an Italian television company accused of copying Big Red’s mascot for one of its shows. The character that plagiarized Big Red, known as Gabibbo, debuted in 1990, which ironically was the year that Big Red was snubbed of the collegiate Mascot of the Year 1st place ranking. In 2012, Big Red became the first mascot inducted into the Capital One Mascot Challenge Hall of Fame. He is also friends with Grimace, something your mascot can’t say.

In a world of Knights, Bulldogs, and Wildcats, always be a Hilltopper. 

When you think of popular Philadelphia sports teams, who comes to mind? The reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles? The Phillies? The 76ers? Heck, what about the Villanova Wildcats men’s basketball team. And isn’t Penn State close to Philly anyway?

I bet you did not think about the “other” football team that plays at Lincoln Financial Field, the Temple University Owls. I love the Eagles as much as the next guy. But their greedy ownership not only does not care about the success of their roommate, who just so happens to be one of the largest employers in the city of Philadelphia, they want to keep Temple football in the cellar.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen. Your beloved Philadelphia Eagles are the bad guys. But not like the funny ones who thew snow balls at Santa or the drunken ones who heckle Cowboys fans at the tailgate. They are bona fide criminals who have gotten away with swindling Temple University out of tens of millions of dollars over the past two decades. The motto popularized by Eagles legend Jason Kelce of “No one likes us, we don’t care,” refers to the bad rap that the Eagles and their fans get around the NFL. Unfortunately, Temples own city, for which they provide hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue per year, doesn’t like them, and care as Temple might, they seem to keep getting screwed over regardless. 

I’m not saying that Temple would have Alabama level success if they didn’t have to shell out all this cash to the Eagles, but their football team, and their athletics as a whole would be in a better spot.

When Temple cut seven sports programs in 2013 to shave $3M off their athletic budget, many were quick to criticize them. Why would they sacrifice all these sports for a team that wins two games a year? Well, if the Eagles didn’t charge the city’s only public university out the ass to play a few football games there per year it wouldn’t have gotten to that point.

Temple, like many other universities, understands that a strong football program can be a beneficial asset to their school. It means more exposure for the university. That’s part of the reason why their board voted to keep the football program in a 2005 meeting. Temples footballs historical run of success in the 2010s proved that under competent leadership, the program can be successful. 

But surely the Eagles outrageously high rent for Temple must be justifiable right? There has to be a catch. Wrong. Francis Bacon once said, “Opportunity makes a thief,” and the Eagles have a great opportunity to extort Temple through their deal with the city of Philadelphia made when constructing the Linc.

Lincoln Financial field was completed in 2003 with a total cost of $518.0M. $330M of the funding was private, and $188M (36%) of the funding was from the city of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania. The Eagles also receive a stadium operating subsidy, which is not included in the public funding contribution, and do not actually own the stadium, they lease the land from the city. The Eagles sublease the stadium to Temple, which gives them negotiating power, a power which they have abused terribly. Temple also gives parking revenue to the Eagles, and keeps only 10% of concession revenue from their football games, with the rest going to big brother. Although Temple paid just under $1M to play at the Linc in 2023 compared the over $4.5M they paid in 2022, they paid $3M in 2024, and will pay $4.5M in 2025. 

While Temple football is struggling to break even, the Eagles are swimming in cash. As of the 2024 season, the Eagles were valued at $6.6B, the 8th most valuable franchise in the NFL. Thanks to financial records released by the publicly owned Green Bay Packers following the COVID affected 2020 season, we know NFL teams are profitable without even selling tickets, parking spots, and concessions.

So, what, if anything, can be done about Temple’s predicament? And who should be held accountable?

Although the Philadelphia Eagles ownership are the ones who should rightfully shoulder most of the blame and ultimately decide how much they charge Temple, an effort can, and must be made by Temple’s administration to re-negotiate this contract. New university president John Fry claims he is committed to keeping the football program following rumors this past fall that the program would be cut. He needs to put his money where his mouth is by getting to work on a new deal. Though not the fault of the current administration, previous Temple leadership made decisions that took the program in a direction that placed them in their current predicament.

Once upon a time, the Temple Owls had their own football stadium, named Temple Stadium. It opened in 1928 at Mount Pleasant Avenue and Michener Street in North Philadelphia and had a capacity of 30,000 fans. It served as the proud home of the Owls for a half century before Temple moved to Veterans stadium due their own stadium falling into a state of disrepair. Temple Stadium was demolished in 1997, and the university sold the 32-acre property to Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church for $4.5M, which is the same price Temple will pay just to play the 2025 season at the Linc. Although the programs outlook seemed bleak at the time the property was sold, in hindsight it was a rash decision as finding real estate in North Philly to build a 35,000-seat football stadium without displacing homes or businesses is impossible. This was proved by Temples failed attempt around a decade ago to build a stadium in the Northwestern corner of their campus. The administration owes it to the program to at least try to renegotiate this deal. 

So, what leverage does Temple have?

They are the largest college in Philadelphia, the 6th largest employer in the city of Philadelphia, and they support over 40,000 jobs statewide. Temple also generates $200M+ in tax revenue annually for the state of Pennsylvania. By cutting down this deal to under $1M a year, Temple athletics would have an extra $3.5M per year to spend. In the short term, they could re-invest the money saved into their bread and butter: the football program (NIL deals, facility upgrades, etc.) to get fans back into the seats. More fans in the seats would be beneficial to the local economy, it would generate more revenue through taxes paid as a part of the ticket purchases, more memorabilia and food would purchased at stadium, more folks would go out to Xfinity live after the game is over, etc. Once the football programs success becomes more sustained and revenue increases, they can use the funds saved as a part of the new deal to bring back sports that were cut in 2013.

Despite all that, Temple is still going to have a tough time convincing the Eagles to give them a discount. After all, we’re talking about a franchise that sold cups of snow from their playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams for $50 each for crying out loud. Temple needs bring in to perspective the relationship between fellow Keystone State college Pitt’s relationship with the Steelers. Pitt and the Steelers share Acrisure stadium, which was funded similarly to Lincoln Financial field. Pitt and the Steelers each paid a large sum up front when they signed the lease for the stadium, and Pitt now only pays a portion of their ticket sales to the Steelers, nothing more. Although the portion of the sum that Pitt paid was not made public, we can assume that the Steelers probably paid for most of it, being the larger entity. Temple has paid at least $27M to the Eagles since they began playing at the Linc in 2003, not including parking or concessions.

The Owls took a good step forward in fixing up their program by hiring legendary coach K.C. Keeler following the end of the 2024 season to replace a glorified running backs coach who was a nepo hire – Stan Drayton. Drayton’s rushing offense was consistently one of the worst in the country, ironically enough.

In the short term, improvement on the field will give Temple a little bit of leverage in the push to re-negotiate. But they already have all the tools they need to get a deal done, and it’s up to Temple’s administration to convince the Eagles and the city of Philadelphia that while lowering Temples rent is ethically the bare minimum, it is also an investment in the city’s economy. 

Since college football changed how it crowned its champions from one game played between two arbitrarily selected teams, to a four-team playoff in 2014, teams and fans alike have pushed for an expanded playoff field. And in 2024-25, those who wanted the larger field were granted their wish. But despite the expanded field this past season, there was still plenty of controversy surrounding the selection of teams. SEC schools like Ole Miss and Alabama pleaded their cases in vain to the committee over SMU and Indiana, who to the disdain of many, ultimately earned berths over the aforementioned SEC hopefuls. While I think the committee made the right picks, the product said teams put out of the field was not exactly entertaining. That’s why its time to shake up the college football playoff format yet again, but we’ll be expanding it, not shrinking it.

In thermodynamics, the law of entropy dictates that things naturally tend to become more disorderly over time. Such is also the case when it comes to college football conference realignment.

What started out as a trickle in the early 2010s with programs like Mizzou and Texas A&M jumping ship from the Big 12 to the SEC has turned into a full-on flood. In 2024 alone, we saw blue-bloods Texas & Oklahoma leave the Big 12 for the SEC, and Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington leave the PAC-12 for the Big 10. This has caused a chain reaction of conferences to poach schools from each other all throughout college football. If G6 programs were fighting an uphill battle just to sniff the playoff before, they need to climb K2 now. This is all the more the reason why we need a bigger playoff format. 

Critics of the selection of this past years playoff teams argue that SMU and Indiana should not have made the playoff just because of their record alone, and that Ole Miss and Alabama, despite having three regular season losses, deserved a playoff berth more due to a tougher strength of schedule. The plight of Bama and Ole Miss can be partially chalked up to the new superconference that they are a part of. Critics argue that if SMU or Indiana had played an SEC strength of schedule, their record would have more blemishes. A counter argument to that is those teams could schedule non-conference opponents to bolster their strength of schedule. In 2024, Tennessee’s non-conferenceschedule consisted of  FCS Chattanooga, Kent State (who went on to be winless), NC State, and UTEP (non P4), while Ole Miss’s was Furman (FCS), Middle Tennessee (non P4), Wake Forest and Georgia Southern. Furthermore, although Indiana’sschedule was one of the weakest in the Big 10, they still won eleven games against the teams put against them in one of the toughest conferences, and if I am the committee, given the format, I have no choice but to respect that. 

There are valid cases on both sides, but a new playoff format would eliminate the need for such arguments by being more inclusive of fringe P4 schools while giving the Davids of college football a chance in a world of Goliaths. It would also provide a more level playing field for said fringe teams by not immediately pitting them against college footballs powerhouses, thus creating more exciting matchups.

The football championship subdivision (FCS) has already given us the perfect blueprint for what the playoff should look like, but we can make it better. In the FCS, twenty-four teams make the playoffs. Eight teams receive a first-round bye, and the higher seed hosts every game until the championship, which is played at a neutral site. Although home field advantage is important no matter where you play, playing at a stadium with a capacity of 20,000 versus 100,000 clad in white in Happy Valley is not the same. So, that’s where I would make my first change. Anything after the first round should be played at a neutral site. Although some teams should still be rewarded with a bye, I would limit home field advantage to the play in round, which brings me to my next point.

In my new format for the FBS playoff there would be a total of six rounds. My pitch: Each winner of the Power 4 conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big XII) get an automatic berth and a byeto the 3rd round. Then, the next highest ranked P4 teams to not win their conference earn a bye to the 3rd round. The next twelve berths would be at large. Six bids would also go to the highest ranked G6 conference winners, who would earn a bye to the second round. The final two bids would be decided by play-in games similar to the First Four in March Madness, this would be between the four lowest seeds as determined by the committee. 

In this scenario, there are no losers. What separates this format from the newest iteration isn’t just the number of teams playing. Fans get what they want by seeing fringe teams pitted against one another, putting to bed any arguments on who should have made it, while weeding out obvious mismatches. The reason why teams shouldn’t have home field advantage past the first round is because this isn’t the NFL where all teams are on the same level in terms of resources, college football is the complete opposite. Teams should not be awarded home field advantage essentially because they have more money than another school, which, like it or not, is how it works. Finally, more games means more revenue for everyone involved.

Welcome to my blog! I’m glad you could make it. My goal for this page is to bring much deserved attention to college footballs lesser known teams. As I am new to blogging, any feedback, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!