04/18/24
January 02, 2018
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
We can only hope that the exclusion of undefeated UCF as well as the Big Ten (which was generally agreed as the strongest conference and backed it up with a 7-1 bowl record, including 3 New Year's 6 wins) increases the pressure for an expanded playoff. Regardless, good on UCF for an incredible turnaround from winless two years ago to undefeated today!
I'm an Ohio State alum I probably would have made the same decision that the CFP committee made a month ago, but it's a shame they could only pick 4 teams. Naturally, there will always be arguments at the cut line, but expanding the field to 8 gets us a lot closer to settling things on the field rather than making subjective decisions of how we thing teams who didn't play each other would fare in hypothetical matchups. Now, my preferred solution would be that we make room for the quarterfinal round by eliminating conference championship games (and particularly their rematch potential), but I feel that's pretty unlikely.
posted by bender at 12:40 PM on January 02, 2018
I had been thinking about UCF - what they accomplished was extra remarkable because of the coaching transition.
I realize that Scott Frost got to coach the team in the bowl game (whish is a bit unusual), but still, they did have to name an interim coach when Frost left for Nebraska, and there is a certain amount of upheaval and loss of continuity no matter what.
If they had beaten Auburn without Frost's presence, that would have been off the charts.
I don't know about the new coaching hire. I think they could have done better, but we shall see.
Good luck to top teams in other parts of the country recruiting Florida talent. There are now six significant programs at Florida schools, including FAU, USF, and UCF, and there might not be a lot of top players heading out of state.
Speaking of recruiting, Saban better beat Georgia while he can. The Dawgs have got a lights out recruiting class lined up for 2018. Any Gator fan going to the Fla-Ga game next fall better bring prayer beads.
posted by beaverboard at 02:13 PM on January 02, 2018
Huge money schools will never schedule lesser known schools with good programs and thus are selected on reputation alone.
It made no difference if UCF went undefeated this year. They could go undefeated again next year but with the current selection algorithms have already been eliminated from any chance of competing for the "CFP Championship". Auburn, who UCF just beat, and Mississippi State both lost 4 games this year but are already in the running and likely a lock next year even if they both lose 2 games.
posted by cixelsyd at 02:39 PM on January 02, 2018
I'm sorry, but the fact that undefeated Mount Union (2017 Division III champions) doesn't get any respect is quite galling to me. UCF isn't the only undefeated team with a direct line of wins over the two teams playing in the "National Championship Game".
Div III Mt Union beat M Hardin-Baylor 12 - 0 Div III M Hardin-Baylor beat Sul Ross 23 - 7 Div III Sul Ross beat Permian Basin 47 - 22 Div II Permian Basin beat W New Mexico 41 - 32 Div II W New Mexico beat Tarleton St 38 - 25 Div II Tarleton St beat Angelo St 30 - 24 Div II Angelo St beat McKendree 42 - 2 Div II McKendree beat Kentucky St 50 - 0 Div II Kentucky St beat Central St OH 34 - 22 Div II Central St OH beat Ark Pine Bluff 40 - 35 Div I - FCS Ark Pine Bluff beat Jackson St 34 - 27 Div I - FCS Jackson St beat Alcorn St 7 - 3 Div I - FCS Alcorn St beat Southern Univ 48 - 31 Div I - FCS Southern Univ beat S Carolina St 14 - 8 Div I - FCS S Carolina St beat Hampton 33 - 15 Div I - FCS Hampton beat Howard 20 - 17 Div I - FCS Howard beat UNLV 43 - 40 Div I - FBS UNLV beat Idaho 44 - 16 Div I - FBS Idaho beat South Alabama 29 - 23 Div I - FBS South Alabama beat Troy 19 - 8 Div I - FBS Troy beat LSU 24 - 21 Div I - FBS LSU beat Auburn 27 - 23 Div I - FBS Auburn beat Georgia 40 - 17 Div I - FBS Auburn beat Alabama 26 - 14
posted by grum@work at 04:50 PM on January 02, 2018
Interesting .. and I get your angle ... BUT
Mount Union actually was allowed to compete for the National Championship of the league they played in based upon their on field performance. Not because of the conference they are in or how much gate or merchandise revenue they haul in.
DivIII has 32 teams playing for the championship. No doubt there are probably a few non-merit based berths each year but the entire format is not bastardized like CFP is.
posted by cixelsyd at 06:34 PM on January 02, 2018
It seems UCF will be raising a title banner and throwing a parade at Disney World. Good for them!
posted by bender at 09:53 PM on January 03, 2018
UCF has completed an undefeated season by beating Auburn. Auburn beat both of the teams that will be playing in the big-money schools championship.
The winner of the money-game will be declared the CFP Champion.
UCF is the clear National Champion.