Krebs is not on board with idea of separate playoff for Group of Five
Until Thursday, Paul Krebs had not heard of a proposal to establish a separate football playoff for the NCAA’s Group of Five conferences.
Having heard, UNM’s athletic director is not in favor.
“I think (the initiative) is interesting and probably something that will be further studied,” Krebs said in a phone interview. “But on the face of it, I’m not necessarily for it.”
On Thursday, espn.com college football writer Brett McMurphy quoted Northern Illinois athletic director Sean Frazier as among “a growing number of Group of 5 officials who favor adding a playoff specifically for the Group of 5 schools.”
As the College Football Playoff is set up, Frazier told espn.com, it’s virtually impossible for a Group of Five team to compete with the Power Five conference schools for a national title.
“That’s just reality,” Frazier said. “Anyone that says we can, that’s a flat-out lie.”
McMurphy quoted an unidentified TV industry source as saying that NBC, CBS and ESPN had expressed interest in televising such a playoff.
“Why wouldn’t we want to do it?” McMurphy quoted an unidentified Group of Five official as saying. “It would spread the exposure to all five conferences, rather than just the one conference champion (as per CFP rules) that plays in a New Year’s six bowl.”
The Group of Five consists of the Mountain West (of which UNM is a member), Conference USA, American Athletic, Sun Belt and Mid-American conferences.
The Power Five conferences — the Southeastern, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the Atlantic Coast — benefit far more from the CFP both on the field and in the pocketbook, though
all 10 Football Bowl Subdivision leagues get a share of the profits.
As noted in the espn.com story, Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference is one of two FBS schools — Alabama being the other — that went unbeaten this season. Western Michigan as a result will play Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl but, because of strength-of-schedule issues tied to its conference affiliation had no chance at a national title.
Frazier, as quoted by espn.com, sees a separate playoff as a way of addressing that imbalance.
Krebs, though, feels a Group of Five playoff likely would serve to increase and emphasize, not reduce, those disadvantages.
“I just think it would create more and further delineation and further segmentation (between the two groups),” he said.
“Again, not hearing any details or not knowing any more about it, I just at first blush would not necessarily be for it because it creates further separation.”
Other Group of Five officials quoted by espn.com agree with Krebs.
“The answer is an emphatic no,” American Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said. “We compete for national championships like anyone else in FBS, including the Power Five, and have no interest in any kind of separate championship.”
One unidentified Group of Five athletic director was quoted as calling the concept “a junior varsity championship.”
Krebs said he had heard no discussion of a Group of Five playoff before seeing the espn.com story.
“My suspicion is it’s very preliminary and very premature,” he said. “And while certainly thought-provoking and interesting, you’ve got the cart way before the horse.”
Efforts to reach UNM football coach Bob Davie for comment were unsuccessful.