With the portal closed and spring football upon us, it’s a good time for a Group of 5 — er, 6 — mailbag. You have a lot of structural and long-term concerns, unsurprisingly, but also some questions about the 2026 season, so let’s get into it.
A lot of us fans of G6 teams are cynically asking why bother anymore. The handwriting is on the wall. There won’t be another round of invitations to the big boys’ table. We’ll get a chance to play in a midweek bowl against some mediocre “Power 4” team, and then get to put up with the litany of excuses when our teams win. As a Naval Academy alum, for me that’s wins over Oklahoma and Cincinnati the last two years. So my question is, why bother? — Kevin B.
I’ve heard this feeling from a lot of fans in recent years, especially once the offseason arrives and rosters get raided. It’s fair to question the investment as a fan. On the realignment front, getting invited to a Power 4 conference shouldn’t be the bar for most fans. Instead, is your team in a situation where you play opponents that you care about? The Sun Belt figured this out, leaning into its regionality and prioritizing the ability for fans to drive to home and away games. That has strengthened rivalries and created new ones, leading to Conference USA’s Louisiana Tech wanting in. That’s really what sports are about, and many conference realignment moves have chipped away at it.
Besides, if you look at the schools that got a P4 invite, many were getting back to a level where they used to be. TCU, Houston and SMU were in the Southwest Conference until the 1990s. Louisville and Cincinnati were in the old Big East. Only a few schools, such as Utah and UCF, really climbed up from lower levels. It’s no secret Memphis and USF want in, but the landscape could look dramatically different for everyone in five years.
When it comes to “Why bother?” I’ll repeat what I’ve said the last few seasons: Just take it all one year at a time. It’s harder to get attached to a player or coach you know might be out the door. But we’re also coming off the second season in the history of college football where a team from outside the power conferences was guaranteed a spot in the national championship tournament. That’s not going away anytime soon. It’s not all bad.
My alma mater, James Madison, lost a chance to play Virginia Tech this year because of the ACC moving to a nine game in-conference schedule. Beyond that, ACC teams are required that one of their three nonconference opponents must be Power 4 schools. Obviously, this is reducing the number of opportunities for G6 teams to get P4 games. Are we trending to G6 being a completely different level than P4 — kind of the old 1-AA versus their 1-A? Do you think we get to a place where there are no games between the two entities? — Kyle H.
Miami (Ohio) basketball has pushed back against the weak schedule arguments by saying they tried to schedule many power conference programs, but those programs only want to schedule Quad 1 (competitive) or Quad 4 (easy win) games. And they never want it on the road. They don’t want the risk of losing to a mid-major. Does this happen in football too? Is this at more risk of happening, and would P4 teams really want to avoid playing a G6 team like Boise State, Tulane, or Memphis that could actually beat them? — Bart R.
Two similar questions about P4-G6 scheduling with the same answer. Yes, there are fewer games between the P4 and G6, and the number will continue to drop now that both the SEC and (most of) the ACC are moving to nine conference games with a requirement to play a total of 10 P4 opponents. Several G6 schools have lost games in recent months because of the change.
I don’t believe they’ll fully go away, because many P4 teams still want to schedule some easy victories, especially teams that are just hoping to reach a bowl game. The Big Ten still has no requirement for 10 P4 opponents — Indiana continues to fill out its nonconference schedule without them — but we definitely will see fewer P4 road trips to G6 stadiums. The ACC in particular has told its schools in recent years to stop playing those road games, which are viewed as high-risk and low-reward. It will only get harder for the good G6 teams to land those P4 games. I’d love to see G6 conference challenges like we get in basketball. I’ve talked to some conference officials who want it. Some G6 people recently told me the idea of fewer-to-no bowl matchups pitting P4 teams against G6 teams has been discussed, too. Speaking of that…
Do you have any info or predictions about which bowl games the Pac-12 will be tied to in the future? — Brad B.
All of the bowls are up in the air right now. The bowl tie-in contracts ended after the 2025 season, a timeline which was meant to coincide with the end of the initial 12-year College Football Playoff contract. But as you’re probably aware, the Big Ten and SEC haven’t come to an agreement on more Playoff expansion, punting it for at least another year. That leaves the bowls in limbo right now, and conferences are still working on that.
The most likely outcome is that the bowl tie-ins roll over another year. Because of conference realignment, former Pac-12 schools now in the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC have stayed tied to former Pac-12 bowls. That’s why Big 12 members Colorado and BYU played each other in the Alamo Bowl two years ago. Will the new Pac-12 schools similarly play in former Mountain West bowls? Possibly. But the end of some bowls like the LA Bowl and what was most recently known as the GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit make for some other challenges.
The bowl picture after an eventual CFP decision is also murky, with the talk of fewer P4 vs. G6 bowls. Or fewer bowls in total. Or a new set of bowls.
Which league is stronger top to bottom, the American or the Pac-12? — Brad B.
If this was 2025, it clearly would’ve been the American, with what Tulane, North Texas, USF, Navy and even East Carolina accomplished. But in 2026, it’s much closer. Those first three American teams I listed had to replace their head coach and top players, as did Memphis. It’s a rebuilding year for the conference.
In the Pac-12, Boise State sits atop the group, while Oregon State, Washington State and Colorado State have their own coaching changes. San Diego State, Fresno State, Texas State and Utah State are all solid bowl teams but need a step up to be CFP contenders.
The bottom of the American is absolutely a drag, but if you cut out the bottom four to compare eight teams in each league, I’ll go with the American based on the upside. USF, Memphis and Tulane are among the biggest Group of 6 spenders on rosters, and their floor is high. But I also like Navy, ECU, UTSA and Army for 2026.
During the next round of conference media deals and realignment, what are the odds the top, most-resourced G6 schools form a “best of” football-only conference to maximize playoff chances and TV money? — Reggie C.
This is basically what the new Pac-12 tried in 2024, adding the top teams from the Mountain West and then trying to convince the top programs from the American to follow. One reason it didn’t work was that the American already has a good TV deal with ESPN, while the Pac-12 was pitching hypotheticals.
Talks of a G6 super league have gone around among administrators for years. But the biggest hurdle is the schools that believe they might get a Power 4 invite one day, like Memphis or USF. There’s not much interest to pay millions for a lateral move if you think you’ll have to pay for a more significant move in the near future.
The new Pac-12 TV deal runs into 2031; the American’s ends a year later. But we don’t know what the SEC and Big Ten will do when their deals come up, along with the CFP. Again, still a lot of unknowns to trickle down.
Does anyone have any information regarding Louisiana Tech’s ongoing lawsuit with CUSA? Are they any closer to reaching an agreement to exit for 2026? — John W.
Terrific timing on this question, which was posed right before Louisiana Tech sued CUSA in state court to advance its move to the Sun Belt for fall 2026, just as Old Dominion, Marshall and Southern Miss did four years ago. There will be a hearing on the case on March 19. Based on realignment history, I would expect the sides to eventually find a middle ground and Louisiana Tech to be in the Sun Belt on July 1.
With everything happening in Las Vegas regarding sports (Raiders, VGK, Athletics, F1, NFL Draft, Super Bowl, and future NCAA Final Four & National Championship, etc.), is Dan Mullen the coach who finally sticks around at UNLV for a bit and helps get them some recognition? — Brian D.
Why all the love for UNLV Dan Mullen? He stepped into a winning program and in the 2025 season didn’t defeat a team with a winning record. — Jackson S.
Two sides of the Mullen coin here. I’m of the belief he did a really good job last season, finishing 10-4 with a Mountain West championship game appearance (including a win over 9-4 Hawaii, to fact-check Jackson). The Rebels had two lopsided losses to Boise State, but I think Mullen should’ve gotten even more credit and only didn’t because of what Barry Odom did before him.
It was Odom who took UNLV from decades of irrelevance to one win away from the CFP in 2024. But although Mullen did take over a winning team, he had to rebuild most of its roster, adding dozens of transfers on top of a high school signing class. That included more than 20 transfers from Power 4 schools, like quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who won Mountain West offensive player of the year.
Will Mullen stick around? He has already been getting calls. I talked to him before the Frisco Bowl about why he was so public last fall about returning in 2026. He admitted that it helps to have the Florida buyout, which still pays him $1 million annually through 2027, but he likes that UNLV has a path to the Playoff. He has coached at the highest level and doesn’t need to check it off a list. He’ll keep getting calls if he keeps winning, but he’s also not looking to get out at the first opportunity.
Is the Toledo hire of Mike Jacobs secretly going under the radar? He’s a proven winner at the FCS level and with the resources at Toledo, it feels like he can get the program over that hump that Candle couldn’t over the last few recent years. — Jake D.
If people are looking for another Curt Cignetti, it might be Mike Jacobs. Across 10 years at Mercer, Lenoir-Rhyne and Notre Dame College (Ohio), he has won seven conference championships and never won fewer than 70 percent of games in a season. I gave it an A- grade in December. Toledo has the most resources in the MAC. I love the fit.
