Booger McFarland: ‘No one in America’ thinks James Madison or Tulane can win CFP

The College Football Playoff selection show handed us the same Group of Five debate we get every year, except this time, Booger McFarland didn’t bother dressing it up. The former LSU defensive tackle opined that nobody in America thinks James Madison or Tulane can win a national championship, and that they’re in the playoff only because the rules force them there, not because they belong.

McFarland is right that James Madison and Tulane probably aren’t winning the title. He’s right that Notre Dame and Texas have better cases for being playoff teams. He’s right that the automatic bid for the highest-ranked Group of Five champion creates some weird outcomes where teams with objectively worse résumés get in over teams that played tougher schedules.

But he’s also feeding into the same tired narrative that’s been used to dismiss half of college football for decades. The one Paul Finebaum was pushing when he called South Florida “Triple-A baseball” on First Take. The one that says winning doesn’t matter as much as who you played, and who you played doesn’t matter as much as what conference you’re in.

“We tried to create an exception to include the Group of Five,” McFarland explained. “We have teams on the sideline that absolutely could win a championship right now. No one, no one in America aside from JMU or Tulane thinks that JMU or Tulane can win a championship this year. Like, that’s the matter of fact, but they’re in it because we had to include them based on the parameters we were given, and I think that’s going to rub a lot of people the wrong way.”

Booger McFarland on College Football Playoff, James Madison and Tulane, and the Group of Five: “We’re trying to include teams to make them a part of this, when I think everyone knows that, yeah, they’re good, but can they play with the big boys?…” 🏈🎙️ #CFB #CFP pic.twitter.com/OtV3I9VZnB

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 7, 2025

Notre Dame has already been rubbed the wrong way, but the Irish’s issue doesn’t seem to be with the Group of Five schools, and more so, Alabama’s inclusion. Alabama lost 28-7 in its conference championship game while JMU and Tulane won theirs. It’s not an apples-to-oranges comparison, but James Madison and Tulane at least did what they were supposed to do.

James Madison went 12-1 and ran roughshod over the Sun Belt. Tulane went 11-2 with wins over Northwestern and Duke. But because they’re Group of Five, it doesn’t count the same way.

Maybe James Madison and Tulane won’t win the national championship. But they’re in the playoff because they earned it under the same parameters everyone agreed to. If those parameters create outcomes that make people uncomfortable, then change them. Don’t act like the problem is with the teams that followed the rules.