In college football, the Group of Five are five athletic conferences whose members are part of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The five conferences are the American Athletic Conference (American or AAC),[a] Conference USA (CUSA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference (MW or MWC),[b] and Sun Belt Conference (SBC).[c][1][2][3][4][5]

These conferences are considered less prestigious and are generally perceived to have lower quality of play compared to the power five conferences though a number of group of five teams have upset power five teams in regular season and bowl games, and the Cincinnati Bearcats appeared in the 4-team College Football Playoff once when it was a member of The American.

Beginning in the 2024 season, at least one group of five conference champion is guaranteed entry to the College Football Playoff as the top six ranked conference champions automatically advance to the playoff.[6]

Division I football conferences

The Group of Five conferences are five of the ten conferences in NCAA Division I FBS. The other five FBS conferences are informally known as the Power Five.[1][2][3][5] In addition, a number of schools compete in FBS as independents in football.

The terms Group of Five and Power Five are not formally defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the precise origins of the terms are unknown. However, each of the ten conferences are named in the NCAA's Division I manual.[7][8][9] A notable difference between the Group of Five and Power Five are designated areas of institutional autonomy granted to member institutions of the Power Five conferences.[10][11][12]

The Group of Five is often considered disadvantaged as to the Power Five, as its constituent members do not have similar access to New Year's Six or College Football Playoff bowls. Since the BCS era, this has been an ongoing area of contention among NCAA Division I schools.[3] In November 2012, agreement was reached to guarantee a spot in one of the New Year's Six bowl games to a team from one of the Group of Five conferences, beginning with the 2014 football season.[5]

On December 5, 2021, Cincinnati became the first Group of Five team to make the College Football Playoff.[13]

In sports other than football (mainly basketball), conferences outside of the Power Five are known as mid-major conferences.

Current conferences and teams

The ten current FBS conferences are listed below. For the Group of Five, the football members of each conference are also listed.[d] Independent NCAA Division I FBS teams are listed in a third table. Tables reflect conference memberships as of the 2023 football season.

Group of Five conferences
Divisions
Teams
American CUSA MAC Mountain West Sun Belt
Football Members Football Members West Division East Division Football Members West Division East Division
Charlotte SMU [e] FIU New Mexico State Ball State Akron Air Force New Mexico Arkansas State Appalachian State
East Carolina South Florida Jacksonville State Sam Houston Central Michigan Bowling Green Boise State San Diego State Louisiana Coastal Carolina
Florida Atlantic Temple Liberty UTEP Eastern Michigan Buffalo Colorado State San Jose State Louisiana–Monroe Georgia Southern
Memphis Tulane Louisiana Tech Western Kentucky Northern Illinois Kent State Fresno State Utah State South Alabama Georgia State
Navy Tulsa Middle Tennessee [f] Toledo Miami (OH) Hawaiʻi UNLV Southern Miss James Madison
North Texas UAB [g] Western Michigan Ohio Nevada Wyoming Texas State Marshall
Rice UTSA Troy Old Dominion

Map of Group of Five teams

2023 Map of Group of Five Teams
This map shows Group of Five teams during the 2023 season.
Colors indicate conference membership: American (blue), C-USA (green), MAC (pink), Mountain West (orange), Sun Belt (red), and Group of Five independent (grey).
Not shown is Hawaii, a football-only member of the Mountain West.

 

Notes

  1. ^ The American Athletic Conference itself does not use an initialism, preferring "The American". AAC should not be confused with ACC, the abbreviation for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  2. ^ The Mountain West Conference itself uses "MW", as shown in its logo.
  3. ^ The Sun Belt Conference is commonly referred to as "Sun Belt", rather than by an initialism.
  4. ^ As of the 2023–24 school year, one Group of Five conference has a full member that does not have a football team, namely Wichita State in The American.
  5. ^ SMU will be joining the ACC starting in the 2024 season.
  6. ^ Kennesaw State will be joining Conference USA starting in the 2024 season.
  7. ^ Delaware will be joining Conference USA starting in the 2025 season.
  8. ^ Notre Dame normally competes as an independent in football; for the 2020 season, it competed as an ACC member.
  9. ^ Oregon State and Washington State will be the only two remaining members of the Pac-12 Conference starting in Fall of 2024, and therefore will become Group of Five teams.
  10. ^ Army will join the American Athletic Conference as a football-only member starting in the 2024 season.
  11. ^ Notre Dame is the only independent that is not generally grouped with the Group of Five, instead being grouped with the power conferences. Since 2014, it has had a scheduling alliance with the ACC and previously had a unique clause among independent schools to allow for automatic qualification in the BCS playoff system.

References

  1. ^ a b McMurphy, Brett (August 7, 2014). "Power Five coaches polled on games". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. ^ a b McMurphy, Brett (December 29, 2016). "Group of 5 officials considering playoff for non-Power 5 teams". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Solomon, Joe (January 2, 2017). "SEC commissioner explains why Group of Five should 'be careful' about playoff idea". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Walder, Seth; Sabin, Paul (October 4, 2019). "Which teams would reach a Group of 5 College Football Playoff?". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Mandel, Stewart (November 12, 2012). "Big East, rest of 'Group of Five' score victory with six-bowl decision". SI.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  6. ^ "College Football Playoff: What expanded 12-team format will look like". Yahoo Sports. 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  7. ^ "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2019–20 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2019. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  8. ^ "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2018. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  9. ^ "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2017–18 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2017. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  10. ^ "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2019–20 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2019. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  11. ^ "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2018. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  12. ^ "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2017–18 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2017. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  13. ^ "Bama, Michigan, UGA, Cincy to vie for CFP crown". ESPN.com. 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
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