GROUP OF FIVE SCHOOLS TO UNVEIL ALL-NEW TOP 25

As college football continues to see seismic shifts in its national landscape -- with one high-ranking official saying just last week, "The real question is for other conferences: If you're not in the Big Ten or the SEC, what are you going to do?" -- a coalition is forming among Group of Five personnel to have a dedicated poll for programs in those five leagues.

Preliminary groundwork already is underway for the American, Conference-USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and SunBelt conferences to have an official Group of Five Top 25 national poll, with voting open only to head coaches in those leagues. Independent programs UConn and UMass also will be included in the rankings, pushing the number of teams involved to be approximately 64.

Sources tell FootballScoop that the burgeoning movement already has a title sponsor for the rankings.

Organizers of the prospective poll believe that a proprietary ranking for the G-5 leagues, with every head coach receiving a vote, could spark greater interest in potential broadcasting deals and programmining.

"If the No. 2 team in the Group of Five is playing at the No. 6 Group of Five team, that's going to attract more viewers," as it was told to FootballScoop.

This movement also comes at almost an identical time as Derek Dooley's proposal for a Group of Five playoff. Dooley, the former Tennessee coach whose first-ever collegiate head job was at G-5 program Louisiana Tech, has met with myriad leaders across athletics department through the five conferences.

"It seems very viable and there is a space for this," a senior athletics director from a G-5 program told FootballScoop last week.

While the top conference champion from outside the Power 4 conferences is projected to earn a berth in the all-new, expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, the payout for those teams is less than $2 million and access remains a concern. 

As for the poll, organizers already are outlining preliminary voting dates -- with preseason voting set to begin late-July and the Group of Five Top 25's inaugural rankings tentatively set for release Aug. 1, per sources.

While every G-5 head coach will have a vote in the poll, their full ballots will not be publicly disclosed each week. 

2024-05-06T20:36:45Z dg43tfdfdgfd