Around the Dog Park: UCF stakes its claim on a national championship

General G5

• Here are a few ways that the college football playoff committee can start showing respect to teams like UCF that clearly belong among the top teams in the sport.
• FAU and App State had the two best performances among all bowl teams this year.
• Three C-USA players and one AAC player has been named to the FWAA All-American team.

AAC

• The UCF Knights have declared themselves national champions. It’s actually one of the least dubious claimed titles among college football’s many decades of self-declared championships.
• Here are five questions SMU must address this offseason.
• Quinton Flowers has been ranked as the top player in the state of Florida.
• Yes UCF has a right to feel slighted by the playoff committee’s selection process.

C-USA

• Awful news out of Huntington as a Marshall player was shot and paralyzed on New Year’s Eve.
• USM wide receiver Korey Robertson has declared for the NFL draft after enjoying a breakout season in 2017.
• The Sun Herald ranked C-USA coaches. I think the list is pretty spot on.
• Florida Atlantic’s success this season is just another notch in the belt of Howard Schnellenberger’s legacy.

Sun Belt

• Louisiana-Lafayette continues to build out an incredible G5 coaching staff as they land Louisiana recruiting savant Jabbar Juluke.
• Here’s a cool bit of history to follow up on New Mexico State’s first bowl game in 57 years.

• Damar’ren Mitchell is seeking a full release from Louisiana-Lafayette for personal reasons.
• Lori Paulson’s memory lives on in Las Cruces as the Aggies celebrate their first bowl win in modern history.
• According to Doug Martin, NMSU will need to increase their investment in football if they’d like to keep their current momentum rolling.
• ULM wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Tim Leger has left ULM for UL-Lafayette.