Danny Kanell rips CFP system for ‘wasting’ bids on Group of 5 teams
By David Wasson
Published:
CBS Sports college football analyst Danny Kanell pulled no punches Sunday when breaking down the 2025 College Football Playoff field – saying that Group of 5 conference champions Tulane and James Madison have no place in the field and that the sport is just “wasting” bids on them.
“I hope we blow this whole thing up and start from scratch,” Kanell said. “I don’t have much faith we will do that because of this high-leverage game of poker taking place between the Big Ten and SEC.
“The teams I feel bad for are Vanderbilt, Texas, Notre Dame – teams that are very clearly better than any one of these Group of 5 teams. They’re sitting at home and would have to think their conference commissioners will be pounding the table to say ‘What are we doing with these teams that really don’t have any chance of winning a game, zero chance to win the national championship? Why are we wasting spots for the College Football Playoff with those teams?’”
Tulane (11-2) defeated North Texas 34-21 to win the American Conference title, and James Madison (12-1) downed Troy 31-14 to win the Sun Belt crown. Both the Green Wave and Dukes ranked above 5-loss ACC champion Duke in the final polls and thus were included in the CFP bracket.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
