Time for a new College Football Subdivision!

According to a 1970’s Steely Dan classic song, the gentleman in the song laments about the depth of his sadness.  Feeling like a long-time loser, he uses a sports analogy.  “They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon Blues”. Sadly, Wake Forest University was extremely bad at college football for nearly two decades.  From 1960-1978, Wake Forest had just two winning seasons.  While Alabama was successful at winning in football during that time, the Demon Deacons were just as proficient at losing. That song reminds me of how it must feel today to compete in one of college football’s mid-major conferences. There are five football conferences called mid-majors or, more recently, the “Group of Five”.  They are the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sunbelt. In 2022, the “Group of Five” had 60 football-playing colleges.  They compete in the same top division (called the FBS) as the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and Pac 12.  Those conferences are referred to as the “Power Five” for obvious reasons. Within the current ten conference FBS grouping, the “Power Five” has dominated match-ups with the “Group of Five” much like the Harlem Globetrotters playing against the Washington Generals in basketball.  The Generals might win a few games, but it rarely happens. The mid-major “Group of Five” teams have virtually no chance to win a national championship in the top football division.  The FBS champion has been a member of one of the “Power Five” football conferences in every season since the modern day playoffs began in 1989. Only one team (13-0 Cincinnati of the AAC – ranked #4 in 2021) has been invited to participate in the College Football Playoffs since 1989. There have now been 86 teams (1989-2022) which have competed in a college football playoff game.  Cincinnati’s 2021 team represents a 1.2% (1 of 86) representation rate from the Group of Five mid-major schools in the FBS playoffs. This System does not work for the Mid-Major Conferences.  Why Should they Remain? The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and the Pac-12 Conferences have the largest television contracts and the largest football stadiums in the country.  They have significantly more financial resources available than the mid-major conference teams. With college football teams now playing a 12-game regular season schedule, many teams have up to four games to fill.  The “Power Five” teams will write large checks to smaller football programs (such as the “Group of Five” schools) to play a game at their larger home stadium.  Home games for most “Power Five” programs generate several million dollars in revenue.