I was foolishly putting too much trust in McMurphy, who is considered a very reputable reporter on these things. A few other analysts were all predicting the same outcome.
He prematurely announced that SMU was in, and turned out to be wrong. I should have verified before posting in response to his tweet.
Having said that:
1) Congratulations to Liberty. This will be a great experience for them.
2) It's beyond baffling what the committee did with FSU and Liberty. The logic they applied showed this is completely subjective. Penalized FSU because they were winning with a backup QB instead of a starter, while rewarding Liberty for winning the weakest schedule (#133 SOS) in all of FBS.
3) It took every other top G5 conference champion losing 2 games, and JMU being ineligible to produce this result. Tulane gets the spot with a win over SMU.
4) Sagarin ratings: #2 Oregon, #21 SMU, #47 Liberty.
I expect the Ducks to win in a landslide. Hope Liberty keeps things close.
Charlie Baker proposing a new subdivision for "high resource" teams/conferences.
This is the split between P4 and G5 that has been rumored coming to fruition.
https://x.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/...350242747?s=20
It's coming straight from the NCAA, which is a little different, no? Almost has a preemptive feel. Hate to lose those cash cows after all.
Plus this split - if indeed it were to happen - would likely occur within the P4 imo
Is he giving any specific monetary metrics for division?
It's what TAILG8R said above, essentially unlimited spending on pay to play.
Minimum is around $6m/year, on top of all other FBS costs and requirements.
What I suspect we will see is largely a split by conference, with nearly all the P4 members joining, and the G5 left behind.
This is the split between those schools with $50-100m budgets and those that don't have it.
I have the honor to be Your Obedient Servant - B.Aud
We all live in stories... It seems to me that a definition of any living vibrant society is that you constantly question those stories... The argument itself is freedom. It's not that you come to a conclusion about it. Through that argument you change your mind sometimes... That's how societies grow. When you can't retell for yourself the stories of your life then you live in a prison... Somebody else controls the story. - S. Rushdie
Keep the big $$ schools from leaving the NCAA banner (which would knock the NCAA down a few pegs for sure, eh?). Paying the athletes is already here and the NCAA has accepted that
Seems to be targeting most of the P4 (~70 schools), but hard to say without details
So P4 finally get a playoff and the G5 get to keep the bowls ... lol