Group of Five conferences

Group of athletic conferences in college football

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 or MWC)[b] and Sun Belt Conference (SBC).[c][1][2][3][4][5]

These conferences are considered less prestigious and are generally perceived to have lower quality of play compared to the Power Five conferences, although numerous Group of Five teams have upset Power Five teams in regular-season and bowl games, and the Cincinnati Bearcats appeared in the four-team College Football Playoff as a member of the American Athletic Conference in 2021.

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.[6]

## Division I football conferences

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The Group of Five conferences are five of the ten conferences in NCAA Division I FBS. The other five FBS conferences are informally known as the Power Five.[1][2][3][5] In addition, a number of schools compete in FBS as independents in football.

The terms Group of Five and Power Five are not formally defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the precise origins of the terms are unknown. However, each of the ten conferences is named in the NCAA's Division I manual.[7][8][9] A notable difference between the Group of Five and Power Five is the level of institutional autonomy granted to member institutions of the Power Five conferences.[10][11][12]

The Group of Five is often considered disadvantaged as compared to the Power Five, as its constituent members do not have similar access to New Year's Six or College Football Playoff bowls. Since the BCS era, this has been an ongoing area of contention among NCAA Division I schools.[3] In November 2012, an agreement was reached to guarantee a spot in one of the New Year's Six bowl games to a team from one of the Group of Five conferences, beginning with the 2014 football season.[5]

On December 5, 2021, Cincinnati became the first Group of Five team to gain entry into the College Football Playoff,[13] and the only team to do so in the original four-team format.

In sports other than football (mainly basketball), conferences outside of the Power Five are known as mid-major conferences.

## Current conferences and teams

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The ten current FBS conferences are listed below. For the Group of Five, the football members of each conference are also listed.[d] Independent NCAA Division I FBS teams are listed in a third table.

Group of Five conferences (as of 2024 season)  American | CUSA | MAC | Mountain West | Sun Belt

|
|
|
|

Football Members | Football Members | Football Members | Football Members | West Division | East Division
Army | Rice | FIU | Middle Tennessee | Akron | Kent State | Air Force | New Mexico | Arkansas State | Appalachian State
Charlotte | South Florida | Jacksonville State | New Mexico State | Ball State | Miami (OH) | Boise State | San Diego State | Louisiana | Coastal Carolina
East Carolina | Temple | Kennesaw State | Sam Houston | Bowling Green | Northern Illinois | Colorado State | San Jose State | Louisiana–Monroe | Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic | Tulane | Liberty | UTEP | Buffalo | Ohio | Fresno State | Utah State | South Alabama | Georgia State
Memphis | Tulsa | Louisiana Tech | Western Kentucky | Central Michigan | Toledo | Hawaiʻi | UNLV | Southern Miss | James Madison
Navy | UAB | [e] | [f] | Eastern Michigan | Western Michigan | Nevada | Wyoming | Texas State | Marshall
North Texas | UTSA |  |  | [g] |  |  |  | Troy | Old Dominion

| Power Four conferences

Atlantic Coast Conference[h]
Big Ten Conference
Big 12 Conference
Southeastern Conference
| Pac-12 Conference

Oregon State
Washington State
| Independent teams

Notre Dame[h]
UConn
UMass[g]

## Map of Group of Five teams

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2024 Map of Group of Five Teams

Army

Charlotte

East Carolina

Florida Atlantic

Memphis

Navy

North Texas

Rice

South Florida

Temple

Tulane

Tulsa

UAB

UTSA

FIU

Jacksonville State

Kennesaw State

Liberty

Louisiana Tech

Middle Tennessee

New Mexico State

Sam Houston

UTEP

Western Kentucky

Akron

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

CMU

Miami (OH)

Toledo

WMU

Ball State

EMU

Ohio

Kent State

Buffalo

Air Force

Boise State

Colorado State

Fresno State

New Mexico

San Diego State

San Jose State

UNLV

Utah State

Wyoming

Nevada

Louisiana

Arkansas State

Appalachian State

Coastal Carolina

Georgia Southern

Georgia State

JMU

Louisiana - Monroe

Marshall

Old Dominion

Southern Miss

South Alabama

Texas State

Troy

UConn

UMass

class=notpageimage|

This map shows Group of Five teams during the 2024 season. Colors indicate conference membership: American (blue), C-USA (red), MAC (green), Mountain West (purple), Sun Belt (yellow) and Group of Five independent (grey). Shown in the botton map is Hawaii, a football-only member of the Mountain West.

Hawaii

Group of Five conferences (Hawaii)

## Notes

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1. ^ The American Athletic Conference does not identify itself with an acronym, preferring "The American". AAC should not be confused with ACC, the abbreviation for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
2. ^ The Mountain West Conference itself uses "MW", as shown in its logo.
3. ^ The Sun Belt Conference is commonly referred to as "Sun Belt", rather than by an initialism.
4. ^ As of the 2024–25 school year, one Group of Five conference has a full member that does not have a football team, namely Wichita State in The American.
5. ^ Delaware will be joining Conference USA starting in the 2025 season.
6. ^ Missouri State will be joining Conference USA starting in the 2025 season.
7. ^ a b UMass will be joining the MAC starting in the 2025 season.
8. ^ a b Notre Dame is the only independent that is not generally grouped with the Group of Five, instead being grouped with the power conferences. Since 2014, it has had a scheduling alliance with the ACC and previously had a unique clause among independent schools to allow for automatic qualification in the BCS playoff system. They normally compete as an independent in football, but for the 2020 season, they competed as an ACC member.

## References

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1. ^ a b McMurphy, Brett (August 7, 2014). "Power Five coaches polled on games". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
2. ^ a b McMurphy, Brett (December 29, 2016). "Group of 5 officials considering playoff for non-Power 5 teams". ESPN. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
3. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ Ellison, Maya (February 20, 2024). "How the 12-team College Football Playoff will work: Teams, schedule, bids". NCAA.com. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
7. ^ "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2019–20 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2019. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
8. ^ "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2018. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
9. ^ "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2017–18 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2017. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
10. ^ "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2019–20 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2019. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
11. ^ "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2018. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
12. ^ "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2017–18 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2017. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
13. ^ "Bama, Michigan, UGA, Cincy to vie for CFP crown". ESPN.com. 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.