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DIFFERENCES IN FBS CONFERENCES

Since the inception of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), no Group of Five team has been in consideration for the national championship playoff. While the strength and weakness of the various conferences are undeniable, a methodology to reconcile these differences creates a great challenge for Bowl Subdivision teams in college football. Weighted Wins (WW) offers such a methodology.

In examining the weights of each conference, the average weighted win for some of the Power Five conferences range from 1.05 to 1.10, while the range for the average Group of Five teams may be as low as .85 to .95. The question arises how to fairly treat the teams to be all-inclusive for playoff consideration. With the current 4-team playoff system, most Group of Five teams have difficulty being recognized for their season's achievements. In the last seven years, five Group of Five teams have been undefeated, finishing in the Weighted Wins top four, but have not been considered for the college football playoff.

One approach to be all-inclusive would be to have a play-in game much like is being utilized by NCAA Division I men's basketball, where four bubble teams are given the opportunity to advance to the 64-team bracket. This model was also recently adopted by women's basketball.

Sticking with the 4-team playoff model, it would only take one additional game to address the fairness criticism of the current system. The five undefeated Group of Five teams in the last seven years all finished in the Weighted Wins top four. The other three teams in the Weighted Wins top four all qualified for the playoff.

A play-in game could match an undefeated Group of Five team against the next highest WW Power Five school. For example, in 2019, undefeated Memphis could have played Oklahoma in the play-in game. This would create the fairness desired by providing an opportunity for all FBS teams to win a national championship. Without this opportunity, it becomes, as Michael Aresco commissioner of the American Athletic Conference calls it, "a Power Five Invitational".