Making the case for Central Florida

Sometimes you have to take up for the little guy.

In college football terms, you have Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Pac 12, SEC,
Big 12, ACC) and Group of 5 (everyone else). For years, Power 5 conferences
had the advantage of having virtually unlimited scholarships they could give to
student-athletes. In the eyes of many, those competitive advantages made for an
unlevel playing field. Until 2014, college football national championship matchups
were decided by a mixture of media, coaches and computer polls.

The problem was that with the Pac 10 and Big 10 champions directly tied to the
Rose Bowl, it led to split National Champions, 1991 (Miami and Washington) and
1997 (Michigan and Nebraska). In 1994, both Nebraska and Penn State were
unbeaten but did not play. Nebraska took first place in both polls on the strength
of two wins over Top 5 teams (Colorado and Miami).

From 1998-2014, the Bowl Championship Series was formed. The good news was
that unbeaten Pac 10 and Big 10 teams were playing in the title game. This format,
however, was not without its controversies. Too many to list. Among the many were
averaging results from media, coaches and computer polls.

In 2014, the BCS was succeeded by the College Football Playoff. The system
maintains the existing bowl games but has four teams playing two semifinal games
with the winner of those contests playing each other one week later. A 13-member
committee selects and seeds the four teams to take part in the CFP. This system
differs from the use of polls or computer rankings that had previously been used to
select the participants for the BCS. The current format is a Plus-One system, an idea
which became popular as an alternative to the BCS after the 2003 and 2004
seasons ended in controversy.

With Central Florida, which has gone 25-0 the last two seasons, not being selected,
most people continue to clamour for the field to be expanded to eight teams. While
I am pro Central Florida, I believe a six-team format with the top two teams getting
first round byes would be a better solution but that’s another discussion for another
day.

Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma comprise this year’s college football
playoff. Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and UCF are unbeaten while Oklahoma
has one loss.

Being a Nebraska alum and given that current Cornhuskers head coach Scott Frost
coached UCF for two years, I admit that I have a rooting interest in the Golden
Knights. However, I can think of plenty of salient reasons why Power 5 schools
deserve their chance in the college football playoffs.

I say this knowing I'm going to get ridiculed by some but so be it. For the life of me
I do not get why some people are so resistant towards the idea of putting Central
Florida football in the college football playoffs. I hear the stock lines already: a)
Group of 5 not Power 5, b) They don't play anyone, c) They'd lose by 75
touchdowns. They were given a damn schedule the last two years and won every
game. Period.

The NCAA years ago came after Power 5 schools and made their scholarship limit
85 to create competitive equity for the Group of 5 schools. Yet when it comes time
to putting an unbeaten Group of 5 into the playoffs, the selection committee looks
for reasons to keep them out. You can't have it both ways.

The biggest argument against Group of 5 schools is that while an unbeaten season
in those conferences lead to a title, it might translate into a third place finish in a
Power 5 conference. I cannot disagree with that notion but football is an any given
day sport where one team can rise up to beat another in bowl games or any other
for that matter.

I am looking at the last decade and a half. There were isolated scenarios where the
Group of 5 team did not show well against Power 5 teams. In 2007, Georgia blasted
Hawaii 41-10 in the Sugar Bowl. In 2012, Florida State hammered Northern Illinois
31-10 in the Orange Bowl.

In most every other season, however, the Group of 5 school has acquitted itself
very well. In 2017, UCF defeated Auburn 38-31 in the Peach Bowl. Yes, the same
Auburn team that beat eventual National Champion Alabama, yet UCF garnered a
No. 6 ranking in the final polls.

In 2011, Boise State, which went 12-1, annihilated Arizona State 56-24 in the Las
Vegas Bowl, yet finished No. 7 in the final poll. That same season, 12-1 Houston
beat Penn State 30-14 in the Ticket City Bowl, yet finished No. 19 in the final polls.

The 2010 season screamed for a Group of 5 team to have their chance. TCU, which
was a member of the Mountain West Conference, has since joined the Power 5
(Big 12). The 12-0 Horned Frogs beat Wisconsin 21-19 in the Rose Bowl and
finished No. 3.

The 2009 season featured a real head scratcher. No. 4 Boise State (14-0) and No.
5 TCU (12-1) ended up meeting each other in the Fiesta Bowl with Boise State
winning 17-10. So let me get this straight, they are good enough to meet each
other in a New Years Six Bowl Game but not good enough to meet a Power 5
school? Makes sense to me (insert eyeroll).

In 2008, No. 2 Utah and No. 7 Boise State were each 12-0 entering their bowl
game. Utah beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl. Yes, that Alabama. Boise State
lost to TCU 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl.

In 2006, No. 5 Boise State beat Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime of an epic Fiesta Bowl.
In 2004, No. 4 Utah (13-0) blasted Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl. Utah later
became a Pac 12 school.

The proof is in the pudding. Power 5 schools belong in the college football playoffs
if they go undefeated. The cases of Group of 5 schools being overwhelmed in bowl
games by Power 5 schools are the exception, not the norm.

Memo to NCAA and selection committee, if you are not going to give undefeated
Group of 5 teams their chance in the playoffs, then stop pretending to care about
competitive equity and let’s go back to the days where Power 5 conferences had
unlimited scholarships and Group of 5 schools were an afterthought.