If you ever want to know how ridiculous FBS is

[Citronauts_Knights]

try explaining it to someone in another country.

Her: So, do you have any plans for New Years?

Me: Yes, I'm going to watch a football game.

Her: American football? Your school, UCF?

Me: Yes

Her: Is it a high stakes game?

Me: Yes, it's the final game of the season. If we win, we will have won every game we played this season, which is a big accomplishment.

Her: So you are the best team in all of America?

Me: Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to explain how college football works. There are about 130 teams in the top division, but within that division there is an unofficial splitting of roughly half of the teams. Even though they play in the same division, about half of the teams don't really get to play for the championship. So, UCF is the only team that hasn't lost, but we aren't in the championship playoffs, because UCF is in the lower of these two unofficial divisions. What happens is a committee of people gets together and votes on which 4 teams get to play for the championship. Even though we are the only team without a loss, we are ranked #12.

Her: That only only sucks, but is unfair too. What are the criteria for placement in the lower or upper unofficial divisions?

Me: So, there are groups of teams called conferences. There are 5 in the upper group and 5 in the lower group. If a conference in the upper group invites you to join, you're now in the upper group.

Her: That's not meritorious.

Me: That's because its more about money than sport.

[Muck FcDisney]

2008 Utah would wreck 2017 UCF. Win your bowl game, then we can talk. Until then, you're like 2007 Hawaii.

[Citronauts_Knights]

2008 Utah would wreck 2017 UCF.

[ img ]

[Muck FcDisney]

2008 Utah would wreck 2017 UCF.

[ img ]

Don't worry, if you guys annihilate Auburn, my opinion will change.

[failureofafriend]

What is interesting to me about it all is that the Big East was a BCS Conference with an autobid. When it split, the football playing schools became the American.

It is true that the Big East of 1998 looks nothing like the American of today (except Temple who left and came back). They were the only BCS Conference relegated to Group of 5 status though, despite there really being a clear drop-off from the American to the other Group of 5 conferences.

Then there is Notre Dame, and Independent, which is considered Power 5, but other Independent schools, like BYU, are not (except that some conferences may consider BYU Power 5 for scheduling purposes).

The system is fucked up, but if you asked me if I would rather play Alabama (the 4th seed) or UCF in the playoff, I would pick UCF every day of the week and twice on Sunday. They may beat Auburn, but watching the UCF/Memphis game, I kept thinking how small they looked. I don't see them capable of winning consecutive games in a 7 day period against physical, top 4 Power 5 teams. Honestly, one of the biggest differences between UGA @ AU and the SEC Championship (other than venue), was the Auburn played Alabama the week before while we played a middle of the road ACC Coastal team.

For a Group of 5 team to get in, they need to schedule super aggressively (like when Houston and Boise have been in the discussion in years past). If UCF played Bama and Auburn like Mercer did, and ran the table in the AAC, they would be in. UCF played no power 5 opponents (GT was cancelled not due to their own fault), but we hold it against Power 5 schools when they don't schedule any Power 5 in the non-conference. They need to schedule at least one perennial playoff contender, a middle of the road Power 5 team (like GT or Tennessee), and either a top Group of 5 team (like Boise) or a bottom feeder Power 5 school (like Wake Forest or Vanderbilt) in the OOC.