Every December, the same argument crawls out from under the couch cushions and basements everywhere.
A Group of 5 team gets into the College Football Playoff and the takes start flying: they don’t belong, they have no shot, the committee needs to change the rules, stop letting “those teams” in.
Tulane and James Madison are catching that heat right now. And sure, both lost in the first round. But here’s the part that turns the whole complaint inside out.
This year’s first round was actually closer than last year’s. Let’s put the pitchforks down and look at what happened.
The 2024 CFP first round had bigger gaps than people remember
In the 2024 first round, the higher seed won every game and most of them were over before halftime. The four finals were Texas over Clemson (38-24), Ohio State over Tennessee (42-17), Penn State over SMU (38-10), and Notre Dame over Indiana (27-17).
Add up those margins and you get 77 total points of separation between the winning teams and the losing teams.
That’s not a single bad matchup. That’s a theme.
And nobody used that week to argue Tennessee shouldn’t be allowed in.. Nobody suggested we ban Clemson from the playoff because Texas ran away.
They just called them blowouts and moved on.
Tulane and James Madison did not create a blowout problem in 2025
Now compare it to this year’s first round.
Alabama beat Oklahoma 34-24. Miami beat Texas A&M 10-3. Ole Miss beat Tulane 41-10. Oregon beat James Madison 51-34.
That’s a 65-point combined margin.
So yes, the G5 teams lost. But the full first round, as a set, was nearly two touchdowns tighter than the year everyone conveniently remembers as “more legit.”
Also, one of those “they don’t belong” teams put 34 points on the board in Eugene. They also could have made it closer if not for some first quarter drives coming up empty. James Madison didn’t win, but it wasn’t a 42-17 nap either.
The CFP rules are not a charity program for the Group of 5
Here’s the other piece fans keep missing. The committee isn’t bending the sport to “let in” G5 teams. The 12-team format guarantees bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions. Most years, that means the Power 4 champs plus the highest-ranked champ from outside that group.
It’s not favoritism. It’s the playoff structure rewarding teams that win their leagues and earn a ranking.
If you want to argue about the structure, fine. But don’t pretend the committee woke up and decided to hand out sympathy invites. Those teams got in because the rules say conference champs matter, and because the rankings put them in range.
If anything blame the ACC teams that couldn't figure out a way to beat a non-conference record of 2-3 Duke.
The real issue is that the first round is built for mismatches
If you want a villain, it’s not the Group of 5.
It’s math.
A 5 vs. 12 and a 6 vs. 11 are supposed to lean heavily toward the favorites, especially in a sport where depth is everything and the talent gap can look like a different weight class. Some years you’ll get classics. Many years you’ll get “competitive for a quarter” and then the dam breaks.
That’s not a Tulane problem. That’s a “football has 22 starters and one team recruits like an empire” problem.
And the funniest part is the people yelling loudest about Tulane and James Madison often aren’t calling out the other lopsided games in the same breath. Alabama beat Oklahoma by 10. Miami beat Texas A&M by 7. If you’re mad about uncompetitive football, you should be mad across the board, not only when the logo doesn’t have a Power 4 stamp.
If the numbers are the argument, the numbers say this pretty clearly.
The G5 teams weren’t the issue. The first round is just the first round. Now you can go back to your basements and wait for Selection Sunday.