Rece Davis Believes Group of 5 Coaches Poll Could Be Valuable Data for College Football Playoff Committee

Athlon Sports and FootballScoop have teamed up to present the Group of 5 Coaches Poll for its inaugural season. The results from the top G5 teams have been impressive so far this fall, with four of the top five teams in the poll knocking off Power 4 opponents — No. 1 Memphis (Florida State), No. 2 UNLV (Houston, Kansas), No. 4 Northern Illinois (Notre Dame) and No. 5 Toledo (Mississippi State).

College GameDay host Rece Davis believes the most impressive performance, along with NIU’s win at Notre Dame, may have come in Boise State’s three-point loss to Oregon at Autzen Stadium.

“I think the performance that was most eyebrow-raising was Boise State against Oregon,” Davis told FootballScoop . “Now that was a loss, but the way they played, if you watched that game, you saw was a team that was every bit Oregon’s equal on that night. [Ashton] Jeanty was sensational. I had him as a first-team preseason All-American. And I think those are the ones that really got my attention.”

Davis is supportive of the Group of 5 poll, and believes it could have some real utility for the College Football Playoff selection committee.

“I think the most realistic thing, without trying to be overly diplomatic or too politically correct or anything like that, is that it can be viewed or evaluated as a piece of data for the selection committee about who the best teams are outside of the Power 4,” Davis said.

“Now it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t pay attention themselves, I just means they can go, ‘Hmm, the coaches poll among those coaches that play each other, this is how they think.’ Now how does that line up with what the various analytics, metrics that I have at my disposal. How does that line up with what I see on the iPads? … I think the polls would be best used for that.”

Davis downplayed the notion that hosting a separate Group of 5 Coaches Poll creates further stratification between schools in those leagues and the Power 4.

“And I don’t think it creates any further separation,” said Davis. “Because let’s be honest about it, there’s already financial separation, there’s attention separation, there’s historical separation. This is going to bring them into the spotlight in my judgment. Would you rather be No. 1 in something or either be No. 23 or also receiving votes?

“Now there will be exceptions. There will be years when a Boise State, a Cincinnati before they went to the Big 12, UCF before they went to the Big 12, UNLV this year, if they knock off Syracuse and keep going. Than maybe they are ranked in the top 12 of the AP or the Playoff selection committee rankings. Maybe so. But historically, most years, that doesn’t happen, so why not provide an outlet that lets people who are really in tune and locked in on this, we hope — the coaches or the SIDs in some cases, if we go back to the old Coaches Poll — somebody who really pays attention saying, ‘Hey, this is how we evaluate it.’ So I think it is a little bit of a misconception that this would somehow further the gulf between the two.”

The Group of 5 Coaches Poll is released each Monday at 1 p.m. ET here on Athlon Sports and at FootballScoop.

More college football coverage:

• College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat After Week 3
• Yogi Roth Q&A: BTN Analyst Discusses Move From Pac-12, Elite 11, West Coast Football
• College Football Group of 5 Coaches Poll: Week 3