MAIZEandBLUE09
Well-Known, and Feared, Member
For a G5 school to have a shot, they're going to have to put together 2-3 perfect seasons in a row, or close to it. Houston only would have had a shot because of their standing the previous year. If Western kept Fleck and returned most of their team, then they could have (maybe) gotten a spot with a repeat performance. The problem is, it's just incredibly hard, if not impossible, to do. You have to imagine that every single year there's going to be 4 conference champions from the P5 schools that are either undefeated or with 1 loss. Is a team like Western ever going to jump them, even with an undefeated season? I don't think so. They deserve a championship of their own and should be considered a different division in football.I think if a team like Houston last year would have gone undefeated, a case could have been made for them to be in the CFP. They would have had two top 15 OOC wins(entering bowl season), and would have had wins over +.500 teams in Tulsa, Memphis, Navy and then theoretically the AAC CG. There's probably only a couple of teams where a case can be made. WMU had no shot due to their OOC schedule, beating NW and Illinois doesn't move the needle at all. Looking at the G5 schools this year, the best team is probably USF, but they play a crap OOC schedule(at San Jose State, vs. Stony Brook, vs. Illinois, vs. Umass) that even going undefeated they probably won't end up in the top 10 by the time the final CFP rankings come out.
For a G5 school to ever get a shot, they're going to have to beat one if not to two P5 schools that end the regular season ranked, or pull off a Cincy over Michigan type of win, then run the table.