VK's G5 Playoff Team Pick

With this new and better version of the College Football Playoff, we will see one of the twelve teams be a G5 team. I’m a fan of this automatic spot reserved for the G5 schools as I think it adds another element of excitement and a potential Cinderella story into the playoff. Seeing one of these teams take down a blue blood in the first round of the playoff, on the road, would be incredible, I’m here for it. Now which G5 team does the committee send off to live there happily ever after? 

This will be an important decision as nobody will want to see a Group of 5 team make the playoff and get run out of the stadium before it’s even halftime. This school must have talent and a respectable schedule during the season to better prepare them for those power conference programs. There are some good options for the committee to select from. When it comes to their talent, their schedule, and their accomplishments from last year, my pick for the G5 playoff team is Boise State. 

The Broncos are already coming off a 2023 Mountain West title and have even more to be excited about coming into the 2024 season. Starting at head coach, Boise State made a change in the latter part of last season. Spencer Danielson took over the reins for the Broncos at head coach as former head coach Andy Avalos was let go with minimal season left to play. Danielson was able to lead his newly acquired team to the conference title game and win it. Since then he has gained the official Head Coach title and has had an entire off-season to prepare for his 2024 campaign.

Another great reason to pick Boise State to make the CFP is their schedule. There will be some G5 teams that have good records, but the talent in their schedule is lacking. This raises the question, are they legitimate? Boise State won’t have that issue as they have Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State on their schedule which is already a better resume than a good amount of their G5 counterparts. In addition to those tough non-conference games (with the Mountain West partnership Oregon State and Washington State made, you could kind of consider those conference gamesish) they will still have some impressive conference matchups with teams like UNLV who they played for the conference title last December and Hawaii who are no strangers to putting up points. 

The schedule is there for the Broncos. How do they make sure to win the majority of these games to have the record to get selected by the committee? Starting at quarterback the question is still in the air between Maddux Madsen and USC transfer Malachi Nelson. Madsen had the starting job last year but suffered a season-ending injury in week eleven. Madsen will be battling Malachi Nelson who was the number one recruit in the class of 2023. Nelson was in the USC QB room last year and decided to leave the Trojans for the Broncos. Madsen and Nelson will battle it out in fall camp and potentially finish that battle in Statesboro against Georgia Southern in week one to see who will be the solidified QB one for the Broncos. 

Ashton Jeanty will be the lead RB for Boise State. He is coming off a great year where he finished top seven in the nation in rushing yards per game. Jeanty wasn’t only a top-ten leader in yards per game, but he led the nation in scrimmage yards per game as well. No matter who is starting at QB, sharing the field with Ashton Jeanty will make them even better. At WR the Broncos gained former five-star Chris Marshall who was previously on teams such as Ole Miss and Texas A&M. His tenure at those SEC programs didn’t last due to disciplinary issues. Marshall is looking to turn that behavior around and is ready to launch his career at Boise State. 

This offense is already seeming very high-powered. Now would be a great time to solidify them as the best G5 team even more so by mentioning that four of their five starting offensive lineman from last year will be returning. The line that led their RB to major accomplishments will have most of their members back indeed. One of those returning members will be former Freshman All-American, Kage Casey. Casey will be leading this line to even more success in 2024. 

The defense for the Broncos will have work to do if they want that Group of 5 spot in the CFP. Eight starters will return from last year, ready to defend their conference title. Starting up front, DE Ahmed Hassanein will be back for the Broncos. Hassanein finished second in sacks in the Mountain West in 2023 and will be trying to get to that number-one spot in 2024. While Hassanein led the team in sacks, Andrew Simpson finished second in sacks for the defense and will be back. The Boise State secondary will have multiple returners and this secondary knows how to tackle with several members being the team leaders in tackles. The secondary will be joined by Jeremai Erby, a transfer from Cal looking to make an immediate impact. 

I think this team can compete with the other Group of 5 leaders. Along with that, they do have the talent and strength of schedule to make a great case to the committee. If Danielson can figure out how to use all of these pieces to get wins, the Broncos should get into that CFP with a 2024 Mountain West title. I have that September 7th game against Oregon circled as that will be a great scale on where this Broncos team is. This team contains some of the best players in all of college football. While I’m not a fan of the blue field, I’m a fan of this Boise State team. Don’t be surprised when we’re in December and see this team competing in round one of the College Football Playoff looking to prove to the country that G5 football can compete with the power conference talent. Boise State, does the shoe fit?