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10 Opponents played, 10 opponents defeated. UCF football has done all they could do by winning every game yet the College Football Playoff Committee refuses to respect their perfect record. Despite one team ranked ahead of them losing, the Knights remain at #15 in the latest rankings.
After Oklahoma State lost to Kansas State, I was certain UCF would climb to at least No. 14, although I think they deserve to be ahead of Washington State as well. Instead of that happening, they put a 3-loss Mississippi State team ahead of the Knights. Their marquee win so far was against LSU in the first half of the season when the Tigers were still struggling to find consistency. I’ll give them quality wins against Texas A&M and Kentucky but I don’t think either of those teams are better than Memphis. They’ve lost to every major opponent they’ve faced (Georgia, Auburn and Alabama). Not to mention they barely beat UMass and Arkansas. Both are 4-7 teams.
Is UCF being penalized for their strength of schedule? Ask No. 8 Notre Dame how easy it was to come out with a win over Navy, a team whose 17-game regular season home winning streak was broken by UCF. Ask UCLA what is was like to lose at home to Memphis, a team UCF beat by 27 points. Ask ESPN why their Power Index has UCF’s strength of record 11th overall.
Is UCF being penalized for their preseason ranking? If the Knights started off No. 19 in the AP Poll like South Florida did, where would the committee have them now? Boise State finished No. 5 in the AP Poll after going undefeated in 2006. That was only after finishing as a top-25 team the previous 3 seasons. If the Knights had consistent success over the past few years, would that change how the committee views them now?
UCF gets a 9-1 South Florida team this week and a No. 20 9-1 Memphis team if they beat the Bulls. If the Knights can win those two games and head into bowl season 12-0, it would be a crime for the committee to rank them lower than the top 10. All Scott Frost and his team can do is keep winning and that includes this Friday against USF in a primetime slot on ABC. It’s time to show the committee what the rest of the world already knows.