Apparently, Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, was one of many people doing not much more than paying lip service to UCF, both last season and this season.
If that were the case, then he would actually be speaking facts when he opened his mouth to speak about the Knights.
“Yes, there is a path (to the playoff),” Hancock said Thursday before attending the North Carolina-Miami game at Hard Rock Stadium, the site of one of this year’s CFP semifinals. “UCF got full consideration from the committee last year. I believe the committee at the end of the season had ranked UCF higher than the sports writers and the coaches had. So they got every consideration and they had a wonderful season.”
Wait, what was that?
“I believe the committee at the end of the season had ranked UCF higher than the sports writers and the coaches had. So they got every consideration and they had a wonderful season.”
Bill, my man.
No.
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| Week | CFP | AP | Coaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 18 | 15 | 14 |
| 11 | 18 | 14 | 12 |
| 12 | 15 | 14 | 12 |
| 13 | 15 | 13 | 12 |
| 14 | 14 | 12 | 11 |
| 15 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
Here we have a table. If you are a living human being, whose eyeballs are still intact, you will notice that it’s not just at the end of the season. At no point last season was UCF ranked higher in the College Football Playoff rankings than they were in either the AP or Coaches’ Poll.
I think Lane Kiffin said it best:
If UCF has a different logo on their shirt, by their name, SEC, ACC or something, you guys are voting them top probably six in the country,” FAU coach Lane Kiffin, who has been a part of a few different national-title runs, told reporters after that game. “Nation’s longest winning streak, two blowouts already this season. That’s a really good team.
He’s not wrong – in a Power Five conference, UCF would be a top-ten team long before they got to even 8-0, let alone 13-0 or 16-0 and beyond. Sure, some of that is the strength of schedule discussion, but it’s proven year after year that getting so much as 10 wins in a row is difficult, even if you play a team like UTEP every single week.
Hancock can talk all he wants about UCF “having a path” to the playoff, but until this year’s rankings come out and we see legitimate respect being given to a team that has more than earned it, this is nothing more than empty babble in the direction of Orlando.
To that end, though, later this morning I’ll take a look at what we might expect from the CFP when it comes to how they might treat the Knights in about a month.
