The College Football Playoff selection committee is nothing if not prepared. They’re always prepared to ambiguously justify erroneous rankings. And they are certainly always prepared to defend SEC teams over the rest of the College Football Playoff field. And give them credit: The one scenario they’ve clearly been prepared for all along? The ACC upending the entire playoff picture.
James Madison made its College Football Playoff debut on Tuesday night, coming in at No. 25. With Tulane and North Texas ranked ahead of them, the CFP selection committee is accepting the reality that an ACC team might not make the CFP. Virginia (17) and Duke will rematch for the ACC title this weekend. Virginia won the first game, but if Duke beats Virginia in the ACC championship game, they are not guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field. And that leaves the ACC out of the CFP race altogether.
James Madison enters the CFP picture, and the ACC’s margin for error disappears
I truly didn’t think the CFP selection committee would be bold enough to seriously consider two Group of 5 teams to get into the CFP. The American has pretty much sealed its spot in the CFP with North Texas or Tulane, but the final spot will come down to the ACC or James Madison of the Sun Belt. Ironically, James Madison’s only loss this year is to Louisville, which plays in the ACC.
The ACC’s chaotic season created this mess
Truthfully, the ACC has been so wonky since the CFP field expanded that I wouldn’t be surprised to see Duke upset Virginia; after all, Clemson stunned SMU in last year’s title game to force the selection committee to spurn Alabama and Ole Miss for SMU. The Dukes deserve to get in over any ACC team at this point.
The conference put themselves in this position as the worst of the Power 4 conferences this year. Miami lost to SMU and Louisville; the Cardinals fell apart after being the favorite to win the ACC at one point and now Duke is playing in the title game. This conference doesn’t deserve to have a team in the CFP, truthfully.
James Madison deserves CFP consideration
James Madison on the other hand has had a strong season and deserves to be rewarded with a CFP appearance. If I’m being honest, the CFP was established as a way to reward more teams for good seasons.
Sure it has turned into an SEC and Big Ten invitational, but the committee has a chance to do the right thing even if Duke wins the ACC.
Multiple Group of Five teams in the CFP is good for college football
Just like multiple ACC teams and Big 12 teams can get into the CFP, multiple G5 teams should have that same benefit. It doesn’t make sense for the G5 schools to get treated less than when they’ve proven they can be P4 teams throughout the year. The CFP always should feature the best teams.
Not the teams that play in the best conferences, the best teams that year. What if the NCAA Tournament littered the entire 68-team field with teams from the top conferences each season? There wouldn’t be a need to play games. There wouldn't be Cinderella stories. The whole point of the Playoff is to make the regular season matter, make good wins matter and bad losses matter too. Teams like Texas shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt as a three-loss team just because they had a good win at the end of the year and play in the SEC.
At the end of the day, Texas lost to a 4-8 Florida team, struggled against a 5-7 Kentucky team that just fired their coach and went toe to toe against a 5-7 Mississippi State team. If you can make an argument for a three-loss Texas team to get in, you have to make that same argument that G5 teams shouldn’t always get the short end of the stick.
The CFP was built to reward seasons like James Madison’s
The committee allowing multiple G5 teams into the CFP would prove to the smaller schools that their regular seasons matter. They’re already at a disadvantage and now that the bigger schools have less of an incentive to schedule them so they’re fighting a losing battle. James Madison deserves to get in even if Duke wins the ACC, and if they do, it would be the one thing the selection committee got right this year.