ORLANDO, FL – With the start of college football almost two weeks away, one thing is still very clear, that the UCF Knights have become the official “knight-mare” of AP voters.
If you’re a fan of the Knights, the lack of respect shown to UCF, and the American Athletic Conference as a whole, is ridiculous. Last year, coming off of an undefeated season there were six—yes six out of 61 voters—who didn’t even include them in their top 25.
This year, with UCF being 25-1 over their last 26 games, two AP voters have left UCF off their top 25 again, with some even ranking Appalachian State over the Knights. Appalachian State, who lost two games last year, including one to Georgia Southern.
How can you explain saying that UCF who just went undefeated and beat a very good Auburn team in the Peach Bowl was not one of the top 25 teams in the nation? If UCF was any other team, they would not have been disrespected.
The reason they get disrespected is because athletic director, Danny White is outspoken and has given them a voice.
Why Danny White became the Spokesperson for change
During the 2017 season when UCF went on this run, the good ol’ boys that run college football, would not give UCF any respect. They could not fathom another Boise State or TCU crashing their exclusive P5 party because it would disturb something that is so precious to them. UCF threatened their “power” and they didn’t like it.
Just like the Masters where women are not allowed to play because of tradition, this is what keeps teams like UCF and other “Group of 5” teams out of the playoff picture.
Why Change is Needed
All throughout collegiate sports, there are process in place to make sure there are fair chances to everyone for a chance to win a National Title. For instance, in college basketball there is a system in place where every conference has a shot to send at least one team to the big dance.
If this system wasn’t in place, we would have never got UMBC beating the number 1 overall seed Virginia.
In college basketball, there are no “claimed national titles” because there is an undisputed champ. Even college baseball has a system in place. If not for that, would a little school known as Coastal Carolina ever have been able to win a national title. The College Football system is broken and while it may be better than it was it is still far from fixed. I don’t know the solution, but I can tell you the current system is not it.
I understand you can’t give every conference a spot in the playoffs, but currently the highest Group of 5 school gets a New Years 6 Bowl bid. So turn that into a playoff spot instead. What you can do is make it an eight-team playoff each of the “Power 5” conference would get one spot then the one “group of 5” school, then two wild-cards (non conference winners). It may not be the 100% fix but it would make it a lot better than it currently stands.
Coming off an undefeated season? Didn’t they lost to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day? They can only fix this by continuing to beat Power 5 opponents and schedule one or two early in the year. Overall, I would like to see an eight team playoff.
Yes last year it should read last preseason when UCF came off of an undefeated season, and as far as beating power 5 teams what about the demolishing of Pitt who played in the acc conference championship? Did they not count as a “power” 5 you can’t pick and choose who is a power 5 and who isn’t. Teams like Vanderbilt Kentucky pitt and Syracuse those teams haven’t done nothing for years and they’re “power five”
Also in addition to Pitt they beat the brakes off of Maryland and Auburn so that’s 3 power 5 wins right there. Can’t fault them for playing the teams that are on their schedule. Watch when Stanford gets run this year too.