Did Big Ten's Decision Close the Door on the G5 hopes for the CFP?
Keith Gill, the Commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, decided to watch last Saturday’s games at home in New Orleans.
Gill was set up with his flat screen TV, his laptop and his iPad. Three of his teams had Noon ET starts.
“It was a good setup for me,” said the former running back at Duke. “I can be a little loud.”
Before the day was over Gill got REAL loud:
**--Louisiana-Lafayette, an 11 ½-point underdog at No. 23 Iowa State, not only won, it dominated 31-14. It was the first-ever road win against a Top 25 team for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
**--Arkansas State, a 10 1/2-point underdog at Kansas State, won 35-31.
**--That night Coastal Carolina, a touchdown underdog at Kansas, won 38-23. It was the second straight year that the Chanticleers had beaten the Jayhawks on the road.
When the new Associated Press Top 25 rankings were released on Sunday, the Sun Belt had two ranked teams (No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 24 Appalachian State) for the first time in history.
“The Sun Belt has been playing good football for a long time,” said Gill, who became commissioner in 2019. “But now, given all that has happened, more people have been able to see us.”
With the Big Ten and Pac-12 not playing (to this point) and because of postponed games due to the virus, some television windows have opened up that otherwise would not have been available to the Sun Belt.
Example: After ESPN finished College Gameday at Noon on Saturday, it carried that large audience straight to Louisiana-Lafayette at Iowa State.
After FOX finished with its Big Noon Kickoff pre-game show it was supposed to go to Louisiana Tech at Baylor. But that game had been postponed on Tuesday due to the impact of the COVID virus and Hurricane Laura. It was replaced by Arkansas State at Kansas State, which was originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
“It was tremendous exposure for our conference and then we won the games,” said Gill.
Louisiana-Lafayette coach Billy Napier said you could not put a dollar figure on the benefits of last Saturday’s exposure for the Sun Belt.
“It’s priceless,” said Napier, in his third season as head coach. “I hope we’re going to get more of these opportunities. I’m very excited for our league.”
On their weekly teleconference on Monday, several Sun Belt coaches were not surprised at Saturday’s results.
“When you watch our teams on a week-in and week-out basis it’s not surprising,” said Shawn Clark, the head coach at Appalachian State. “We have really good coaches and players in this league.”
Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell, whose team played Kansas late Saturday night, said he told his team before the game that after what Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State had done, they had to go out and beat Kansas.
“We knew all eyes would be on us. We (Sun Belt) were 2-0 (against the Big 12) and we didn’t want to be the one to lose,” he said.
All of this begs the question: As of today, there are five Group of Five teams in the Top 25: No. 13 Cincinnati, No. 14 UCF, and No. 16 Memphis from the American Athletic Conference and No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 24 Appalachian State from the Sun Belt.
If any of those teams go undefeated, will they at least get into the discussion for a spot in the College Football Playoffs?
It would appear that the G5 took a significant hit Wednesday morning when the Big Ten announced it would return to play on Oct. 23-24.
So now the conventional wisdom would have those four spots going to the champions of the ACC, SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten.
But in this season, anything is possible.
"If we have a team in that position we absolutely deserve to be a part of the discussion," said Mike Aresco, the commissioner of the American. UCF has a big game Saturday at Georgia Tech while USF plays at Notre Dame and Houston plays at Baylor.
Napier, who spent five seasons at Alabama (2013-2017) as wide receivers coach, has seen football at the highest level. He’s skeptical if a Group of Five team can get in without two wins over the Power Five.
Last season Appalachian State beat North Carolina and South Carolina from the Power Five but were knocked out of the CFP discussion by a 24-21 loss to Georgia Southern at home. The Mountaineers finished 13-1 after winning the Sun Belt Conference championship game and beating UAB in the New Orleans Bowl.
“Look, it’s hard to win in college football and if your resume at the end of the season is up there you should get some consideration,” said Clark, who took over as Appalachian State’s head coach for this season when Eli Drinkwitz went to Missouri.
While Napier wonders if a Group of Five team can actually get into the CFP, he welcomes the discussion.
“Maybe this year there will be a lot more of them,” he said.
FIVE TO WATCH FROM THE GROUP OF FIVE
Group of Five teams that are currently ranked. Key remaining games included.
No. 13 Cincinnati: Sept. 26 vs. Army; Oct. 31 vs. Memphis; Nov. 21 at UCF
No. 14 UCF: Saturday at Georgia Tech; Oct. 17 at Memphis; Nov. 21 vs. Cincinnati
No. 16 Memphis: Oct. 17 vs. UCF; Oct. 31 vs. Cincinnati
No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette: Oct. 7 at Appalachian State
Nov. 24 Appalachian State: Oct. 7 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette