Group of Five conferences

In college football, the term Group of Five is an informal term which refers to five athletic conferences whose members are part of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The five conferences are the American Athletic Conference (American), Conference USA (C-USA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference (MW), and Sun Belt Conference (Sun Belt).[1][2][3][4][5]

This article is about an informal term used in American college football since 2014. For the emerging economies group, see Group of Five. For other uses, see G5 (disambiguation).
The Appalachian State Mountaineers (in white, facing Michigan) compete in the Sun Belt Conference, one of the Group of Five conferences.

Division I football conferences

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; all except BYU and Notre Dame are considered part of the Group of Five.

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 are named in the NCAA's Division I manual.[6][7][8] A notable difference between the Group of Five and Power Five are designated areas of institutional autonomy granted to member institutions of the Power Five conferences.[9][10][11]

The Group of Five is often considered disadvantaged as 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, 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]

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

Current conferences and teams

The ten current FBS conferences are listed below. For the Group of Five, the football members of each conference are also listed.[lower-alpha 1] Independent NCAA Division I FBS teams are listed in a third table. Tables reflect conference memberships as of the 2020 football season.

Group of Five conferences
Divisions
Teams
American C-USA MAC MW Sun Belt
Football Members West DivisionEast Division West DivisionEast Division West DivisionMountain Division West DivisionEast Division
CincinnatiSouth Florida Louisiana TechCharlotte Ball StateAkron Fresno StateAir Force Arkansas StateAppalachian State
East CarolinaTemple North TexasFlorida Atlantic Central MichiganBowling Green HawaiʻiBoise State LouisianaCoastal Carolina
HoustonTulane RiceFIU Eastern MichiganBuffalo NevadaColorado State Louisiana-MonroeGeorgia Southern
MemphisTulsa Southern MissMarshall Northern IllinoisKent State UNLVNew Mexico South AlabamaGeorgia State
NavyUCF UABMiddle Tennessee ToledoMiami San Diego StateUtah State Texas StateTroy
SMU UTEPOld Dominion Western MichiganOhio San Jose StateWyoming
UTSAWestern Kentucky
  1. Two Group of Five conferences have full members that do not have football teams; Wichita State is a member of The American, while Little Rock and UT Arlington are Sun Belt members.
  2. Notre Dame normally competes as an independent in football; for the 2020 season, they are competing as an ACC member.

Map of Group of Five teams
2020 Map of Group of Five Teams
This map shows Group of Five teams during the 2020 season.
Colors indicate conference membership: American (blue), C-USA (green), MAC (pink), Mountain West (orange), and Sun Belt (red).
Not shown is Hawaii, a member of Mountain West.

 

References
  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. "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2019–20 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2019. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  7. "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2018. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  8. "4.2.1(a) Division I Board of Directors" (PDF). 2017–18 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2017. p. 21. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  9. "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2019–20 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2019. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  10. "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2018. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  11. "5.3.2.1 Process for Areas of Autonomy" (PDF). 2017–18 NCAA Division I Manual. July 2017. p. 33. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
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