It’s Actually OK That Tulane and James Madison Made the College Football Playoff

Photo from Tulane Athletics

When the twelve team playoff was created, they threw a bone to the G5 schools by giving the best G5 school an automatic bid into the playoff.

The verbiage states “The five highest ranked conference champions will receive a bid to the playoff.”

That means the four Power 4 champs, and one G5 school.

But this year, thanks to Duke and the ACC’s wacky tiebreakers, we ended up with two G5 schools as the highest ranked conference champions.

And boy, has that caused an uproar in the CFB community among those who I don’t actually think like college football.

So I’d like to take their concerns, and answer them one by one.

Why do they get an autobid? Who thought that was a good idea?

Every sport, actually.

The NFC South this season has their division leader sitting at 7-6. The AFC North is in the same situation. They will have a division champion, and get an automatic spot in the NFL Playoffs.

The same is the case in MLB, as well as college basketball, baseball, and essentially every college sport.

As a matter of fact, FBS college football is the only American sport that doesn’t give an autobid to every conference champion.

They’re taking up space from someone who can win a championship. They have no chance!

The 7-10 Seahawks never had a chance to win the Super Bowl in 2010.

UMBC didn’t in 2018, and FDU didn’t in 2023.

Illinois State, respectfully, doesn’t have a chance to win this years FCS championship.

But we do remember Marshawn Lynch’s incredible run to beat the Saints.

We remember the UMBC and FDU upsets over Virginia and Purdue.

And Illinois State’s upset win over North Dakota State in the Fargodome is an incredible win for the program.

None of them were champions, but do you remember who was that year off the top of your head?

I bet you don’t.

But those are all incredible upsets. These guys are going to get slaughtered in round one.

Apart from the fact that everyone else I mentioned was also supposed to get slaughtered as well, I do actually see your point.

The odds are that Ole Miss and Oregon will win easily. And if they do, the discourse will restart again about why they even belong.

But last season, there were four first round games, all including only power four teams, an not one of them were close.

Notre Dame beat down Indiana. Texas destroyed Clemson and Ohio State rolled Tennessee. And the Penn State vs SMU game was over halfway through the first quarter.

But those didn’t get the treatment these G5 schools are getting for some reason.

Look, there is no perfect answer to this, and I know I’m speaking into the void here.

The playoff is going to expand, and the G5 schools are likely going to end up getting more and more screwed in favor of the rich ADs T the rich universities.

If you’re ok with that, then that’s fine.

But I remember growing up and being excited to watch Boise State, TCU, Hawaii, and UConn in BCS Bowls.

A lot of those ended up as brutal blowouts. But some of them ended up as upset wins.

Removing the possibility of those because they “can’t win the championship” doesn’t make it a playoff.

It makes it an invitational of the CFB Elites.

And that’s not something I’m interested in.