By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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It goes without saying that the evaluation process is one that Charlie Cobb is going to get more directly involved with.

A new member of the College Football Playoff Committee, Georgia State Director of Athletics Charlie Cobb will have an expanded perspective this fall.

“The great joy is I’ve been told I get to watch a lot of football and call it work, so pretty excited about that,” he laughed.

Cobb, a former All-ACC player and student at North Carolina State, has seen college sports grow and change. As athletic director at Appalachian State, he saw the Mountaineers win three consecutive national championships, earning the first-ever three-peat in FCS history. At Georgia State, Cobb watched the Panthers make their inaugural bowl appearance, win their first postseason game, have their first FBS winning season, settle into a new home and now emerge as a consistent contender.

Furthermore, Cobb has been instrumental as schools have made history. He knows what it takes for programs to take the next step and knows what the benefits of such progress can be.

“I look at my own history, I was fortunate enough to be the athletics director at Appalachian when we beat Michigan and then two years ago, with Georgia State, we went into Knoxville and beat Tennessee,” he reflected. “It’s not necessarily being the best team in the country that day but being the best team in the stadium that day. That’s a mantra that I think every team looks towards.”

Moving forward, Cobb will add his input as the best teams in college football are ranked and, ultimately, four are picked to play for a national championship. The opportunity is one Cobb is humbled for and one he looks forward to learning more about from those who have been and already are part of the process. For Cobb, orientation is on the upcoming calendar. Though there is plenty of work ahead, he jumped at the chance to participate alongside his peers when approached by Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill.

Replacing former Arkansas State Athletics Director Terry Mohajir, now with UCF, Cobb will join the College Football Playoff Committee as a voice for Sun Belt teams and those like them.

“Specifically for the Sun Belt, we are pretty excited about our season this past fall. Certainly, first and foremost, fortunate to be able to play and stay healthy and play. We had a heck of a year across our league in terms of the competitiveness and success of our teams,” he reflected. “Obviously Coastal was a big national story. And we are all trying to get there.”

The rise of the Group of Five has been a prominent storyline in college football over the past decade. Last season, five G5 teams, plus BYU, finished ranked in the College Football Playoff Top 25 and seven teams, in addition to the Cougars, ended the year ranked in the Coaches Poll. One-loss Cincinnati, which very nearly beat Georgia in the Peach Bowl, spent much of the season slotted in the national top ten. Sun Belt powers Coastal Carolina and Louisiana went a went a combined 21-2.

In terms of both national success and a national profile, the Group of Five is at an all-time high. Cobb points out that social media coverage has helped raise the general knowledge of such programs and leagues. How G5 teams are compared and contrasted to more traditional Power Five sides is one of the more interesting questions facing college football as the sport moves forward.

“Whether it’s a Coastal Carolina, whether it’s a Central Florida, whether it’s a Boise State, there are some really, really good teams at the Group of Five level,” Cobb offered. “Certainly look forward to evaluating everybody. And every year is different. The greatest thing I can say is to have my own school, or have another Sun Belt school in the conversation, being able to advocate for them would be something that would be awesome.”

With firsthand experience, Cobb is obviously well-aware of just how much depth there is in the game today.

“It’s quality football and that is what I’m excited to help offer and comment on, if you will, throughout the season,” he added.

Georgia State, boasting a bowl win over Western Kentucky and victories over Army and Tennessee the last two years, has one of the most challenging upcoming slates in the entire country. The Panthers will play the Black Knights, at North Carolina, at Auburn and Appalachian State in four of their first five outings. Later, Georgia State will round out the regular season schedule at Georgia Southern, at Louisiana, at Coastal Carolina, vs Arkansas State and Troy.

In addition to the critical league pairings, many fans and pundits are extra aware of non-conference results.

“We all have our opportunities each week to make a name for our school, but also an opportunity for our league,” Cobb nodded.

There are a number of high-profile matchups on the Sun Belt calendar, Cobb also mentions Louisiana’s opener at Texas, which have the potential to boost the national resume of the team, the league and the entire Group of Five all together. Winning, with every game you play, is the key to unlocking future opportunities.

“The easy answer: if you win the games on your schedule you give yourself a chance for people to consider where you are,” Cobb detailed. “We know the challenge in front of us from our schedule. I look around the league and the one thing about our schools is we’re going to play teams. We’re going to play teams in the non-conference to try to better what we have. We had a heck of a 2020 season for the Sun Belt and certainly think as a league we are going to continue that for 2021.”

College football is an interesting place. All of the leagues are, in some ways, part of a giant puzzle. How is it all put together? Can the picture change?

For the most part, national championship contenders have come from the same small group in the playoff era. College football has, in fact, been led by a handful of prominent names for quite some time. That consistency has been impressive and is the standard so many are chasing. If there is rising parity, much of it, as currently constituted, may be centered somewhere in the middle. That dynamic can make interpreting game results and judging conference strength unique.

“I think if you look at it, and this is one person’s opinion, roughly 130 schools play FBS football now. I think 10-15 at the top are just, from a resource standpoint, tradition and history, they are elite. They are who everybody is chasing. But that middle quadrant, let’s say from, I don’t know, 35 to maybe 70, there are a lot of interchangeable pieces,” Cobb continued. “The elite at the Power Five level, again, just resources, tradition, history, it’s tough for their peers to catch them.”

It goes without saying that the evaluation process is one that Cobb is going to get more directly involved with. Such is the role of individuals on the playoff committee. All that Cobb has seen in college sports will help shape his input as conversations turn into considerations. Clearly, Cobb knows the game well. He has long been part of it. Soon, Cobb will get to help process it. The first playoff poll will come out in November. Cobb is excited to be involved in the discussions.

“Personally, when teams win, to me they are better than the teams that they beat. I think it is a pretty simple evaluation,” Cobb stated. “But as I understand, it gets pretty competitive and there are a lot of data points, plenty of analysis to go through this, and I’m looking forward to understanding all of the parameters and all of the dynamics that go into it.”

Every program, even those at the very top, is still looking to improve. There is another level for all, the best included. That progress should get college football’s attention. Whether a Power Five powerhouse or a Group of Five newcomer, all teams have goals and then hope to go from there.

That may be the modern status quo.

“I think, for all of us, what we aspire is to be the best at where we are. That puts us in that next range. You have that one year where you hit lightening in a bottle and see what you can do. Teams have done that historically and they give themselves a chance to be in the national conversation and in that final mix. That’s what it’s about,” Cobb concluded. “It’s what makes college football what it is, the excitement around it, the passion, the energy and all of the things we all love about it.”