

But with the pending departure of Cincinnati, UCF and Houston, the Mustangs leaped Boise State and Marshall to No. Last year, prior to realignment, SMU came in sixth. What will be the best job in the G5 after realignment? Houston received less than 0.3 percent of the vote last year and nearly won the spot. Despite the loss of major star power, the Bearcats are still the plurality favorite.

Who will get the Group of 5 New Year’s Six spot this year?Īll others received less than 1 percent eachĬincinnati received more than 50 percent of the vote last year and went on to reach the CFP. (Jerome Miron / USA Today) Best of the G5 Has the one-time transfer rule helped or hurt the P5/G5 divide?Ĭincinnati became the first Group of 5 team to make the Playoff. That’s down to just 3.8 percent one year after the rules went into effect. Last year, 20.7 percent of respondents thought NIL would help the G5. Unsurprisingly, G5 fans see NIL widening the gap between the P5 and the G5. One year in, has NIL been a positive or negative for college sports? You’ll see later that the geographic-focused conferences have the strongest approval of their membership. Perhaps that’s why 65 percent don’t want a G5 superconference, because it might not make a difference. Nearly 80 percent of respondents believe we’re heading toward a consolidation of conferences at some point. Should the top 12-16 Group of 5 schools form their own football conference? How confident are you that college football is heading to one or two superconferences? Conference realignmentĭoes conference realignment make you more or less interested in college sports? So let’s get into the results on realignment, the Playoff and more. We take a lot of pride in our G5 coverage and the fans that want to read it. I posted the survey last Monday and it got more than 1,900 responses, the most ever in three years. Spoiler alert: Sun Belt fans are very, very happy. It’s about rivalries and geographic identity. It’s not about the money as much anymore because everyone realizes the money will never match the Power 5. Conference realignment over the past year has brought into focus what fans of Group of 5 programs care about the most. Get offseason and recruiting intel on your favorite college team for $1 for first month.This year? It’s a mix of pride and acceptance.

However, college football’s premier league faces stiff competition from a healthy Big Ten that features three preseason top-10 teams and several intimidating squads from the ACC and Pac-12. The SEC is the only conference to have a team make all nine playoffs thus far and looks to claim its seventh College Football Playoff title in 10 years. The Big 12’s plucking of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF takes effect this fall as the conference temporarily expands to 14 teams before Texas and Oklahoma depart for the SEC in 2024.
Group of 5 conference realignment mac#
Three Group of Five members have been affected by conference realignment, with the MAC and Mountain West the lone leagues that remain intact heading into the 2023 campaign. With so much shuffling, it’s time to re-evaluate how each conference stacks up heading into the fall. The 2023 college football season is poised to be among the most compelling in years as conference realignment reshapes the ten FBS leagues.
