The idea of the Group of 6 conferences seceding from the Power 4 in order to stage their own playoff—and, by extension, crown their own national champion—is a durable fringe school of thought in college football.

Its logic goes something like this: No mid-major-equivalent team has won a national championship since BYU in 1984. The gulf between major-conference schools and mid-majors seems to grow every year, thanks in part to bigger leagues’ capture of mid-major powers like TCU and Utah. Why not simply create a middle division between the Power 4 and FCS, in order to inject new meaning into (say) UTEP’s existence?

According to a Thursday report from Brett McMurphy of On3 , coaches are growing more receptive to this idea as long as continued Group of 6 access to the CFP is guaranteed. But what if we took this idea a step further?…