Jon Sumrall on including two GO5 teams in College Football Playoff: 'I would question that'

The 2025 College Football Playoff was a weird one.

The ACC, which was extremely disappointing last season, was won by 8-5 Duke following its 27-20 OT win over Virginia in the ACC Championship Game. No matter how hard Manny Diaz campaigned for the Blue Devils’ inclusion in the College Football Playoff with five losses, however, that would not come to fruition.

When the Selection Show rolled around, the College Football Playoff committee decided not to include Duke in the Playoff. It instead chose two Group of Five conference champions, Tulane (AAC) and James Madison (Sun Belt), to participate in the Playoff instead.

Both First Round games that featured Tulane and James Madison were mostly uncompetitive. Ole Miss rolled through Tulane 41-10 in Oxford, and Oregon hung 51 points on the Dukes in Eugene. This led to conversations about whether or not provisions should be put in place, prohibiting multiple GO5 teams from participating in the Playoff.

During the SEC Meetings in Destin on Tuesday, newly hired Florida head coach Jon Sumrall (who was at Tulane last season) questioned including two GO5 teams in the Playoff. “Access is nice to have when you’re at that level. I do think I’ve been on both sides of this now. Are there two deserving G5/G6 teams in a 12-team Playoff? I would question that,” Sumrall said.

Urban Meyer, Danny Kanell share similar sentiment on multiple GO5 teams in Playoff

With the way the 12-Team Playoff was set up, it was set to include five conference champions. That would be the four P4 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC) and one GO5. The ACC was so lackluster last season, however, that the committee chose another GO5 instead. These two GO5 programs made the Playoff over potential at-large programs such as Notre Dame and BYU, which believed they got screwed by the structure of the event as well.

After all, it isn’t surprising that Sumrall would say this now that he is no longer affiliated with the Tulane program. However, he isn’t the only prominent college football figure sharing this sentiment. Last year when the two GO5 teams were placed in the Playoff, Urban Meyer and Danny Kanell were outraged.

“I would mandate that a James Madison, or a non-Power Four, you have to play three programs in the top 50, or you can’t, you know, win your conference and win whatever (else), but you can’t be considered,” Meyer said during an episode of the Triple Option Podcast.

“We’re all arguing about Miami, Alabama, Notre Dame and overlooking that TWO Group of 5 schools are occupying spots when they have zero business playing in it this year,” Kanell wrote on X/Twitter. “Tulane lost 45-10 to Ole Miss. JMU only played ONE P4 school and lost by 14. What a mess.”

In the event that this scenario does happen again down the road, we all now know how the former GO5 coach feels about potentially including multiple GO5 teams in the (as of now) 12-team Playoff.