JMU vs South Florida Who Should Be in the 2025 CFP?
The 2025 College Football Playoff is starting to take shape as we slowly get a clearer picture. Most of the country is already aware that teams like Ohio State, Texas, Texas A&M, Indiana, Alabama, and Georgia, among others, will be in the picture. However, the more interesting debate, according to some, is between the Group of Five.
Last year, we had an easy pick for the Group of Five in Boise State, led by Ashton Jeanty. But the Group of Five this year is slowly going to be between South Florida and JMU at the end of the day. It will be interesting to see how the committee values each team after this week’s games, after putting South Florida in at 24 on Tuesday and having JMU unranked.
Each Team’s Resume So Far
The reason that South Florida is in right at this moment is because of the first two games of the season, where they had wins against Boise State and Florida, and the “strength of the American Conference vs the Sun Belt.” But South Florida’s losses are to Miami, which is No. 15 this week, and a three-point loss to Memphis in October. So South Florida is likely going to be higher ranked unless they lose because they want to keep Miami kind of relevant in this thing, even though they don’t have the best eye test as of late, in my opinion.
Which leads to JMU’s Resume, the only loss that the Dukes have suffered this season was close in Louisville in the second week of the season, where they were running a SILLY two-quarterback system instead of unleashing Alonza Barnett III. James Madison has one of the nation’s top defenses, let me repeat myself, one of the NATION’S BEST DEFENSES! Like I said with the reason is that the Bulls are in right now is JMU’s strength of schedule and conference. The CFP Selection Committee chair, Mack Rhoades, had the following statement, which is viewed in the following tweet.
But the Dukes have a couple of higher metrics over the 19th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, like ESPN strength of record, ESPN SP+, and ESPN FPI. Which begs to question if the committee is looking a the right things when it comes to the strength of these teams in this year’s playoff. But there is a chaos scenario that could see both JMU and South Florida inserted into the playoff. That is the ACC champion being a weaker champion somehow.
What IF Duke Wins the ACC Championship
This is the chaos scenario that both USF and JMU fans should root for in the weak ACC this season. If Duke wins out and wins the ACC, there is no way the CFP should let a four-loss ACC Champion in over both South Florida and James Madison, with not only the records but the finishes that both The Bulls and the Dukes could have especially James Madison with a win over Washington State and a tough Southern Miss team in the SBC Championship, and South Florida having a win over Navy and whoever they play in the American Championship of either Navy, Tulane, or North Texas.
Final Thoughts
I think the Bulls are a good team and could win out and have the CFP spot, but the better team, in my estimation and eye test right now, is the James Madison Dukes because of the way they are playing on both sides of the ball right now, especially on the defensive side of the ball. At some point, you have to see that James Madison will be the better option for the playoff because that defensive unit can keep the game close with anyone in the country if asked to in my opinion.
But if I had to make a prediction today on who gets that spot right now, I would be as disappointed as a JMU alum/fan with my prediction, but my prediction is South Florida will get that Group of Five auto bid. But there is time to make up ground for the Dukes as both teams just have to win and see what happens with the committee at the end of the year.
