A Level Playing Field: Why Group of 6 Programs Deserve Their Own College Football Playoff
After spending most of my career covering Group of 6 programs, one reality has become impossible to ignore: there is a clear and widening gap between the top Group of 6 teams and the top Power 4 programs.
That divide has been on full display again, and honestly, that part doesn’t bother me. It’s simply the reality of modern college football.
What does bother me is pretending that this gap doesn’t exist — or worse, forcing programs on one side of it to compete in a system that was never built for them to truly succeed.
College football is the only level of the sport that still refuses to offer a fair championship path to all of its participants. High school football does it. Division II does it. Division III does it. Even the FCS does it. Yet at the FBS level, more than half the teams enter every season knowing they have no realistic path to a national title.
That needs to change.
The solution isn’t complicated. Let the best Power 4 teams compete in the expanded “big boy” playoff. If a program can recruit at that level, fund at that level, and perform at that level, they deserve that opportunity.
No one should be arguing against that.
But for the remaining Group of 6 programs, it’s time to create a separate, legitimate playoff — one that crowns an actual champion rather than a “best of the rest” bowl participant. Give those teams something tangible to play for beyond exposure, moral victories, or hoping a Power 4 opponent takes them seriously.
Right now, Group of 6 programs are stuck in limbo. They’re told to schedule tougher games, yet punished when they lose them. They’re celebrated for upsets, yet quickly dismissed when championship conversations begin. They exist in a system that demands Power 4 results without providing Power 4 resources.
A separate playoff wouldn’t diminish the sport — it would strengthen it. It would create meaningful postseason stakes for dozens of programs and fan bases that currently get shut out of the title discussion by October. It would fuel regional rivalries, reward sustained success, and give players something every athlete deserves: a realistic chance to win a championship.
This isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about acknowledging reality.
College football has already created separation through money, media rights, recruiting and conference realignment. All a Group of 6 playoff would do is formalize what already exists — and make the sport more honest, more competitive and more fair.
The gap isn’t going away. The question is whether college football is finally willing to admit it and build a system that works for everyone.