College Football Playoff: 3 takeaways from final rankings of 2018
By Zach Bigalke
3. UCF’s dominance was once again ignored by CFP selection committee
It was always going to be a longshot for UCF to reach the College Football Playoff itself. No Group of Five team has ever come as close to the four-team field than the Knights, and they entered the final weekend locked into the No. 8 position.
Alabama was rewarded by maintaining the top spot despite needing a late comeback from their backup quarterback. UCF, conversely, remained locked out of the top six despite pulling off a more convincing comeback led by a backup quarterback in their own conference championship game.
Four teams finished undefeated in 2018. Only one was shut out of the top six of the College Football Playoff rankings. The selection committee continues to prove that there is no avenue for a Group of Five team to even come within striking distance of the four-team field.
Next. What an 8-team playoff would look like in 2018. dark
We will never know what exactly went into the decision, as the selection committee is notoriously opaque in revealing its methodology or the logic that led to its decisions. Ultimately, though, they once again altered the weighting of their various metrics and depended heavily on the obfuscatory concept of “Other relevant factors” to justify perpetuating the suppression of one of college football’s best squads based mainly on its conference affiliation.