This is getting out of hand. After climbing upwards in the polls in consecutive weeks, it seems as if UCF has hit their ceiling at the number 10 spot, as they have been stuck there for two consecutive weeks.
The reason UCF and their fans are so upset is due to the disrespect of not only the pollsters but in particular from the College Gameday crew on Saturday mornings. Both of these combined have finally poked the sleeping giant hard enough to wake it up, UCF is arriving in a fashion nobody saw coming.
To start, the polls are a direct correlation of why Knight Nation is so furious. Not once, but TWICE the Knights have been jumped by teams in the polls on their bye weeks, Oklahoma and then Florida. Not only that, but two weeks ago four top 10 teams lost and the Knights didn’t budge. Count last week’s Purdue upset over Ohio State and the AP ballots still had UCF at 10 with Ohio State dropping right behind the black and gold. The coaches had the audacity to still rank Ohio State above the Knights, dropping UCF to 10 in the coach’s poll. This is a pure example of playoff brand name privilege, as Tim Brando states in a tweet on FOX College Football.
UCF is approaching their bye week, so we’ll see if the Knights can jump a few spots as well. Also worth mentioning is that Florida is only two voting points ahead of UCF for that number nine spot, meaning the bias of some voters is affecting the rankings at an all-time high.
As for the haters who downplay our schedule, listen to this. Since UCF has last lost a game, Ohio State has lost three games by 29 points or more, two of which were to very subpar, unranked teams. UCF hasn’t done that, proving that winning 20 games straight is no easy feat. While some may say going 7-0 with our schedule is “cute,” ask the ACC how their 3-19 record against top 25 opponents this season tastes. Look, we know the opponents in the AAC may not be the most elite teams in the nation, but we do what we can by playing every game and winning it, regardless of our “brand bias.”
College Gameday this week visited Washington State, a team who conveniently just creeped into the number 25 spot just in time to face another ranked team in Oregon. One could assume that with Gameday visiting Washington State for the first time ever, they would keep an open mind to do so once more. But while applauding an up and coming football program in Washington State, the Gameday crew decided to kick and spit on UCF’s name, after seemingly giving them praise last week. This points to only one thing, and unfortunately the bias of college football is showing its ugly head again. I’m sure the crew got a stern talking to from executives above them to beat down UCF. Kirk Herbstreit even said that a zero in the loss column doesn’t even matter…why do we even play games then?
One more point to add on the politics side. Members of the “power five” receive a ton of money compared to “G5” teams. Wake Forest, a power five team that has not won a New Year’s six bowl in their 130 year history is going to receive $27 million from the TV deals related to their conference while UCF will gather only $2.1 million. This same thing happens in the College Football Playoff where if a representative from a conference is selected, that conference rakes in a ton of money. Now you see why the SEC gets upset if they don’t have two teams in it. Unfortunately, it all comes back to the good old American dollar.
What is UCF doing about this? Well the UCF twitter mafia is taking to battle as best they can. Danny White, UCF’s athletic director, sent a message over Twitter late Sunday night directed at the Gameday crew, asking them to help fix a broken system. The system is indeed broken as it seems no group of five team can ever crack the playoff which leaves one of two options. Wait for the playoff to expand, or press the escape button on the conference. But that is for another article some other day.
The once sleeping giant located in Orlando is now fully awake and taking swings at the current college football format. College football’s most important season rolls on, and so far UCF is proving to everyone just how fraudulent the system is.
