Because this is college football, there’s no such thing as a controversy-free postseason, and this year, a lot of focus has settled on the inclusion of two Group of 5 teams — Tulane and James Madison — in the Playoff. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Nick Saban and Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt were among those taking aim at the current 12-team Playoff criteria, with Klatt going a step further and criticizing the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the very concept of “Cinderella teams.”
Their main arguments — from teams left out like Notre Dame, to watchability concerns, to the average caliber of Group of 5 teams, are all deeply flawed, Stewart Mandel argues:
✍️ From 2014-24, the average ranking of the Group of 5’s New Year’s Six or CFP rep was 13.6. And four of those 11 teams won their bowl games, including Tulane itself, which beat Heisman winner Caleb Williams’ USC team in the Jan. 2, 2023, Cotton Bowl.
Did everyone suddenly develop collective amnesia? Remember way back in 2024, when Boise State, led by Heisman runner-up/No. 6 NFL draft pick Ashton Jeanty, finished No. 9 in the rankings? I don’t recall similar indignation over the 12-1 Broncos’ presence in the field.
Will Tulane (against Ole Miss) and JMU (against Oregon) get blown out in their first-round games Saturday? Quite possibly. That happens sometimes in CFP games. Like last year, when the No. 1 team in the country, Big Ten champion Oregon, fell behind 34-0 in the second quarter to Ohio State at the Rose Bowl.