College Football Playoff committee must stop ignoring UCF

By Dean Mullen | Nov 25, 2017

(Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /

UCF checked in at No. 15 in the College Football Playoff rankings following Week 13. After another win on Friday it’s time for the committee to take notice of the Knights.

College football is winding down, but there sure is a definite disfavor for UCF football. At 11-0, the Golden Knights were shamelessly put at No.15 last week in the College Football Playoff Rankings following Week 13.

First and foremost, investigate the rankings before UCF’s win over USF on Friday. 14 other teams were ranked before 10-0 UCF at the time. One team, Mississippi St. was 8-3 and got the blessing of the committee to be put before UCF.

But let’s go back for a second to August. USF ranked 19th in the AP Poll and 21st in the Coaches Poll. The experts and pollsters thought high enough to put the Bulls ranked in the top 20, way before the USF vs. UCF game played out. USF’s had one loss, to Houston, entering their game with UCF, yet somehow they disappeared from the College Football Playoff Rankings entirely.

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USF had risen up to 18th at one time. However, one loss wiped them off the face of the map. Why? That’s a question that none of us can probably answer. On the other hand, the committee loves Memphis. Currently, the Tigers sit at No. 20 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings.

Regardless, this is about UCF. While Mississippi St. has a tougher schedule no doubt. The Bulldogs lost to Georgia 31-3 and 49-10 against Auburn. Of course, the third loss came against Alabama 31-24 in a toughly contested game.

Is the committee saying just schedule tougher opponents and get thumped? That in itself will make you a better quality team. Really? Ok forget about Mississippi State for a second. Take the Oklahoma Sooners. The fourth ranked team in the College Football Playoff Rankings. Their one loss was to the Iowa State Cyclones. Iowa who you might ask. Yes, the Iowa St. Cyclones were ranked 60th by Athlon Sports.

No disrespect to the Cyclones, they are having an excellent season at 7-4. But come on. The last time Iowa St. finished in the Top 20 was when Jimmy Carter was stumping for president. Sure, Oklahoma has had three huge wins over Ohio State, TCU, and Oklahoma St. But shouldn’t that loss bring them down lower?

And really, aren’t we tired of seeing Oklahoma get thrashed every single time they get into a big time. In 2015, Clemson beat them in the Semi-Final 37-17. Furthermore, in 2005 the supposed “Game of the Century” turned out to be “demolition of the century” by USC 55-19.

The fact of the matter is, there is a huge bias against teams that just don’t have the prestige like Notre Dame or Oklahoma. Teams that have prestige will get the nod over less prominent teams. Personally, I believe it’s a disservice to any college football fan. No one thought Boise State would ever beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Utah beating Alabama give me a break. Yep that happened in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

There’s plenty of more like the 1978 Orange Bowl when a guy named Lou Holtz pulled a huge upset over No. 2 ranked Oklahoma 31-6 with his Arkansas Razorbacks. Arkansas was a 24-point underdog at kickoff.

Next: What would it take for UCF to reach the CFB Playoff?

In my opinion, the right thing to do at the very least is to look at UCF. It doesn’t make sense to have them behind teams that have two losses let alone three. Fans want to see these types of David vs. Goliath matchups. Please don’t give us the same old teams that bow out to Alabama. Many thought Clemson would never beat Alabama. Clemson did the unthinkable. It’s possible. Just give UCF a chance.

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