Group of 6 coaches want their own playoff

Brett McMurphy and Pete Nakos asked every Group of 6 head coach in the country the question nobody in a Power 4 office wants answered out loud. One anonymous coach's answer was blunt.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

NEW: Nearly two-thirds of Group of 6 coaches want their own playoff – w/1 condition. @On3 surveyed all 70 coaches 👀   A G6 coach: “Anyone who says a G6 team can win a national title in today's NIL environment is delusional”   The results will surprise you. t.co/Ya0meeUE8F

That quote is the whole survey in 1 line. "Anyone who says a G6 team can win a national title in today's NIL environment is delusional" isn't some message-board take. It comes from a guy who coaches in the G6, and he's saying the quiet part: the money gap is so big now that a Boise State or a Memphis isn't actually playing for the same trophy as Ohio State and Georgia. So why not play for a trophy you can actually win?

Here's the catch, and McMurphy got out ahead of it a couple hours later. Coaches weren't voting to leave the College Football Playoff. They were told the G6 bracket only happens if the G6 still sends somebody into the big one.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Coaches were told this was only if G6 would still get team(s) into 24-team College Football Playoff

On3

@On3

NEW: Nearly two-thirds of Group of Six head coaches (40 of 61) favor a separate playoff outside the CFP, according to a survey by @Brett_McMurphy and @PeteNakos🏆 "There’s no ability for any of us to realistically win the (CFP) national title. That’s the truth," a G6 coach said. Story: t.co/zX3mUOQ7OL

That condition matters because of where the sport is headed. The CFP is jumping from 12 teams to 24, and On3's reporting has the expanded field set for the 2027 season with 19 at-large bids and 5 automatic bids: the 4 Power 4 champions plus the top G6 champion. That's 1 guaranteed spot for the whole G6. Most years that team is a double-digit seed playing a road game in November weather against a roster that costs 5 times as much. A separate playoff gives the other 9 conferences' best teams something real to play for in December instead of a bowl game nobody remembers.

The athletic directors are paying attention too. Memphis AD Ed Scott, who runs about as aggressive a G6 program as there is, got the question on USA Today's College Football Unfiltered podcast.

Blake Toppmeyer

@btoppmeyer

Memphis AD Ed Scott discussed the possibility of a G6 playoff in our latest College Football Unfiltered pod, via @usatodaysports: t.co/gdGkvyQbmL

Mit Winter

@WinterSportsLaw

Makes sense. Would make more games relevant and increase fan interest. t.co/rUkxCWT2YR

Memphis is a good test case for this idea. Scott has said his job is to keep the Tigers at the front of the G6 and able to compete with the Power 4, and Memphis is reportedly only the second G6 school after South Florida to go to the full revenue-sharing cap of roughly $21.3 million. If the schools spending P4 money still see value in a G6 bracket, this isn't just smaller programs sulking. It's a real business case.

Chris Low

@Clowfb

Very revealing by colleagues @Brett_McMurphy and @PeteNakos. I know that I would watch.

On3

@On3

NEW: Nearly two-thirds of Group of Six head coaches (40 of 61) favor a separate playoff outside the CFP, according to a survey by @Brett_McMurphy and @PeteNakos🏆 "There’s no ability for any of us to realistically win the (CFP) national title. That’s the truth," a G6 coach said. Story: t.co/zX3mUOQ7OL

I'm with Chris Low on this: I would watch. A G6 playoff with home games at Boise, Tulane and Memphis in December beats another round of bowl games in half-empty NFL stadiums. The tricky part is the money and the calendar, since nobody has said who pays for it, who broadcasts it, or how it fits next to a 24-team CFP that already pushes deep into January. Nearly two-thirds of the coaches want it, though. It's up to the commissioners now.