Group of Five conferences

This article is about a group of college football conferences. For the emerging economies group, see Group of Five. For other uses, see G5 (disambiguation).
A game between Hawai’i and Boise State in 2010; both teams are members of the Mountain West Conference

In college football, the Group of Five are five athletic conferences whose members are part of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The five conferences are the American Athletic Conference (American or AAC),[a] Conference USA (CUSA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference (MW)[b] and Sun Belt Conference (SBC).[c][1][2][3][4][5]

These conferences and their schools are generally considered less prestigious and generally have less political and financial influence over the sport and generate less overall revenue compared to Power Four conference schools. A 2016 ESPN analysis stating that the Athletic departments of the Group of 5 schools generated $2 billion in total revenue, which was a third of the $6 billion in revenue generated by the power conferences that year.[6] The group of five are also perceived to have lower quality of play compared to the Power Four conferences and their member schools, although numerous Group of Five teams have upset Power Four teams in regular-season and bowl games. In 2021, the Cincinnati Bearcats appeared in the four-team College Football Playoff as a member of the American Athletic Conference.

Beginning in the 2024 season, at least one Group of Five conference champion is guaranteed entry to the College Football Playoff, as the top five ranked conference champions automatically advance to the playoff.[7]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ McMurphy, Brett (August 7, 2014). "Power Five coaches polled on games". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. ^ McMurphy, Brett (December 29, 2016). "Group of 5 officials considering playoff for non-Power 5 teams". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  3. ^ Solomon, Joe (January 2, 2017). "SEC commissioner explains why Group of Five should 'be careful' about playoff idea". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Walder, Seth; Sabin, Paul (October 4, 2019). "Which teams would reach a Group of 5 College Football Playoff?". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  5. ^ Mandel, Stewart (November 12, 2012). "Big East, rest of 'Group of Five' score victory with six-bowl decision". SI.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  6. ^ "OTL: Power 5 schools made $6 billion last year". ESPN.com. 2016-09-02. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  7. ^ Ellison, Maya (February 20, 2024). "How the 12-team College Football Playoff will work: Teams, schedule, bids". NCAA.com. Retrieved May 30, 2024.