Many people complain that the current college football world is not competitive enough.
Six of the last 10 national champions have been from the SEC, a Power 5 conference. Of the other four champions, the ACC, another Power 5 conference, has accounted for three of those champions with Ohio State being the other winner from the Big Ten, also a Power 5 conference.
Some even say the Power 5 conferences should be considered the Power 2 now.
“The Big Ten and SEC swagger in one tier. Not all of their members are championship contenders, but enough are. And plenty of seats are filled, and the television riches rain down,” Alan Blinder from the New York Times said.
It is understandable that there is much outrage over this as the majority of college football fans cheer for a Power 5 team. After all, these are the teams that get the majority of media attention and are on television most often.
However, there is a highly competitive group of conferences that are still in the FBS level, the level that the Power 5 conferences are in. This is called the Group of 5 which includes the American Athletic Conference, Conference-USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
For context, I am a Ball State football fan. I was raised a Ball State football fan by my family and remember many game days and tailgates at Scheumann Stadium. One of my fondest memories is embracing my grandfather as we watched Ball State end a 24-year conference title drought.
Unfortunately, a Group of 5 team has never won a national title in the modern era, the College Football Playoff. Only one has even been given the chance to compete in the four-team playoff, Cincinnati, this past year. They fell to Alabama in the semifinal 27-6. Many felt that this was justification that Group of 5 teams like Cincinnati have no business in the College Football Playoff. Personally, I find this absurd.
We see Group of 5 teams beating Power 5 teams every year. For example, in week two this season, three Sun Belt teams, Appalachian State, Marshall and Georgia Southern, beat Power 5 opponents. In my opinion, this says more about the Power 5 teams as they have a budget that can be tripled or even quadrupled and higher than their Group of 5 counterparts. For example, Georgia Southern brought in $29 million in 2019-20 while Nebraska, whom they beat, brought in around $135 million in the same year. That is about 4.65 times the revenue.
“SEC schools will soon be making $60 million each in average media rights fees annually. The MAC's current ESPN deal, which expires at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season, is worth $100 million … total,” Dennis Dodd from CBS Sports said.
Further, parity in the Group of 5 conferences is typically higher. Alabama has won seven of the past 10 SEC championships. Ohio State has won five of the past 10 Big Ten titles. Clemson won six straight ACC titles from 2015 to 2020. Oklahoma has won seven of the past 10 Big 12 titles. The Pac-12 conference has been the most competitive of the Power 5 conferences with five different teams winning the title in the past 10 years.
On the other hand, the Group of 5 has been more competitive. The AAC, founded in 2013 has five different champions since its inception. The C-USA has had seven different winners in the past 10 years. The MAC has had six different champions in the past 10 years. The Mountain West has had five different champions in the past 10 years. Lastly, the Sun Belt has had six different winners in the past 10 years.
As you can see, even the least competitive Group of 5 conference is as competitive as the most competitive Power 5 conference.
Yet people still belittle Group of 5 teams while complaining that the top of college football is not competitive enough.
Simply put, if you want to watch more competitive college football, watch teams from the Group of 5 conferences. In many ways, they are no different from Power 5 teams. There are still exciting rivalries, explosive offenses and proud traditions. The biggest difference is facilities and budgets.
