G5 Marginalization From National Voices Is Killing Group of Five Excellence
On Saturday, undefeated James Madison hosted it’s most dangerous foe yet – 4-1 Georgia Southern, which featured one of the most prolific passing games in the nation (and a highly ranked defense as well). What Clay Helton and the Eagles have accomplished this season meant nothing to the Dukes, who baffled the Georgia Southern defense all early afternoon on their way to a dominating 41-13 victory.
Still undefeated, and with wins over Troy, Utah State, Virginia, South Alabama and now Georgia Southern, you’d think the JMU resume would be impressive enough to merit attention from AP Top 25 voters. You’d think that attention might have been merited weeks ago when the Dukes went on the road for three consecutive weeks and defeated the Cavaliers, Aggies and Trojans. But nope!
This week’s AP Top 25 lists the usual mediocre but well-funded programs – Missouri, Oregon State, Iowa – plus begrudging nods to Air Force and Tulane. The latter two inclusions are especially frustrating because we’ve been told again and again that the Sun Belt is the best Group of Five conference, yet James Madison (the best the SBC has to offer) is once again excluded.
Why the snub? For starters, the campaign to classify the Group of Five as a P5 minor league is well begun. It’s not official. But the language used by national pundits to discuss the G5 is as condescending and exclusionary as ever. On the nationally broadcast Full Ride show on XM radio, Rick Neuheisel and Chris Childers invented a new “award” that parodies the Heisman and recognizes outstanding players from Group of Five programs. This week, the majority of candidates hailed from Sun Belt programs, which is nice and well meaning, but by casting athletes like Kimani Vidal, Caullin Lacy and TJ Finley as your subjects of parody, you have lessoned their achievements and reduced their teams to a second tier.
Full Ride is just one example. Take the popular Twitter/X account PPF College, which has 353,000 followers. It routinely publishes exclusionary content like this:
The FBS leader in rushing yards is Troy’s Kimani Vidal, followed by Ashton Jeanty from Boise State and Peny Boone from Toledo. Estime is fourth on the list, but according to PPF College, his yards are the only yards that matter. Bear in mind that PPF College is fine aknowleging the FBS stats leader when that player represents a Power Five program:
With programs like Full Ride condescending G5 athletes (intentionally or not), and influential Twitter/X accounts refusing to recognize them, it’s little wonder that AP voters are so quick to dismiss Group of Five programs. This is not just a disservice to Group of Five athletes, programs and fans, but a disservice to college football, which is rapidly spiraling into a boring 20-program monopoly.
Instead of inventing a new Heisman parody for chuckles, why can’t Full Ride seriously advocate for Heisman recognition for these athletes? What prevents PFF College from recognizing the actual stats leaders in college football (besides snobbery)? Why can’t ESPN announcers stop themselves from quantifying a G5 team’s ability as “good at this level?” How many wins over P5 opponents must the G5 tally before “game recognizes game?” It’s insulting as it is ridiculous.
Until then, it doesn’t seem to matter that the Sun Belt is “the best G5 conference” in college football. It’s just lip service so two-loss programs like Notre Dame can remain relevant.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sun Belt Media
Howlraiser 