It's really now or never for NDSU to FBS. If they miss out now they will be stuck in division 3 for ever. There's no reason not to be pushing all the chips in at this point. Get your ass in gear Matt!
You missed the top 6 conference champions get an auto-bid part. At that point, your basically the defacto G5 national champ with a chance to showcase yourself on the Big stage. It's not perfect but it's a step in the right direction and gives all of the G5 something to play for every year.
One team will, by design. More than that is unlikely, also by design. Maybe 2 can make it in a great year for the G5.
Absolutely none of those will be CUSA teams. The SOS will prevent that for anyone playing in that conference.
MAC has maybe a very long outside shot.
Most years, you are going to see one of MWC, SBC, or AAC take that one G5 bid.
If the 12 team playoff would have been in place last season, Utah State would have been the 6th seed. USU had an excellent season but they were not the best G5 team. They probably weren't even the best team in the MW. They beat SDSU in the championship game.
No G5 conference is "screwed" It still comes down to winning games. Instead of 4 nearly impossible slots to get, G5 gets a guaranteed spot. That is not the worst outcome. However, there are 131 FBS football schools. That means 119 will not be in the playoffs. Does that make them worthless afterthoughts?