5 modern era teams that would've been dangerous 12-seeds in expanded College Football Playoff

2. 2017 UCF Knights (12-0/AAC champion)

In 2017, only one program in FBS football ended the regular season with an unblemished record. Despite their winning streak, the College Football Playoff selection committee saw fit to rank UCF only 12th in their final rankings. Their subsequent toppling of Auburn in the Peach Bowl showed that the Knights were deserving of far more respect, which they received from official NCAA national champion selector Wes Colley in his final rankings for 2017.

But what if the Knights hadn't had to rely on a computer algorithm to give their team a claim to the national title in 2017? What if they had the chance to play Alabama for the crown instead of being denied a chance to show their mettle on the field? McKenzie Milton led the nation's highest-scoring offense that year, and there is no telling how far they might have advanced.

A date against the Crimson Tide would loom right out of the gate in the first round, and the Knights would have to travel to Tuscaloosa to square off against Nick Saban's charges. The transitive property is interesting in this case, given Auburn toppled Alabama in the Iron Bowl to prevent the Crimson Tide from playing for the SEC title—and then UCF subsequently defeated the Tigers on neutral turf in Atlanta.