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News UCF Peach Bowl/National Championship Parade
- Thread starter tribbleorlfl
- Start date
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I’m not saying this to be rude at all... but I don’t think you know much about college football and the history of the bowl games, as well as undefeated seasons.
There have been many undefeated teams who did not make it the BCS or the CFP finals. None of said teams were crowned National Champs for no other reason than an undefeated season.
If a W was all that mattered then the history of college football champions would look very different. (And everyone would fill their schedule with the FIUs and FAUs of the NCAA)
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
That’s a 6,400 circulation newspaper. I’m looking for an officially recognized organization or poll, like The Associated Press, to name them the champions. I’m not struggling to recognize anything.
Again, UCF had an awesome season. They should definitely celebrate it. But under the current format, they are not national champions. Heck, they started the playoff format to try and avoid these debates.
Now I definitely agree with you that the system still needs to be tweaked so a non-power 5 school like UCF could get a better shot. Unfortunately, despite being undefeated, they just didn’t have the resume. Their only Top 25 win before the Peach Bowl was the conference title game. Scheduling some tougher non-conference opponents in the future would definitely help the cause.
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
Actually there’s been several questionably claimed national titles over the years. Many claimed by Alabama and even a couple claimed by our beloved Buckeyes.
Not a big fan of this article, but it brings up a few examples:
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/1/3/16842584/ucf-national-championship-claim
Edit: you also might want to look up what FAU accomplished this year haha.
Read that article. That has no relation to the NCAA other then its NCAA teams playing in it. Thats the College Football Playoff National Championship, it is not an NCAA Playoffs or NCAA Final. Its one way in which some people determine a National Champion. According to your same source: "Division I FBS football is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not sanction a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes unofficially referred to as a "mythical national championship"." [...] "Due to the lack of an official NCAA title, determining the nation's top college football team has often engendered controversy.[5] A championship team is independently declared by multiple individuals and organizations, often referred to as "selectors".[6]:107–109 These choices are not always unanimous" [...] "While the NCAA has never officially endorsed a championship team, it has documented the choices of some selectors in its official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication.[6]:107–119 In addition, various analysts have independently published their own choices for each season. These opinions can often diverge with others as well as individual schools' claims to national titles, which may or may not correlate to the selections published elsewhere. "
21stamps
Well-Known Member
They went back and declared victory.. how many have done this in the BCS or CFP era? Maybe someone did and I just didn’t read about it..
The whole point of the flawed BCS and now the less flawed, but still flawed CFP, is to declare a winner.
Re: FAU, they’ve had a solid program.. I still don’t know how they would hold up to an OSU, Oklahoma, Clemson, Georgia.. etc etc.
In addition to beating ranked Memphis, they also beat ranked USF and Navy. They had 3 ranked teams, Alabama had 3 ranked teams, Georgia had 3 ranked teams. While I understand you want UCF to only play ranked teams as its in a difference conference then your favorite team and have a #1 SOS in the country, its hard to predict when scheduling years in advance, especially when teams like Alabama and most of the SEC is only willing to schedule out of conference games at home against the bottom of the FBS.
The 2003 season was in the BCS era where the national title was split between USC and "BCS National Champion" LSU. It will be the same for 2017, they just renamed BCS to CFP. Again, neither is a part of the NCAA.
The idea of the CFP was to make this occurence less common, by increasing the competition from 2 to 4 teams. However, when undefeated champions aren't given a slot for whatever reason, it can still occur, the quotes I gave are from the current article of the current NCAA system.
And if you take humans out of the equation and considered the old "BCS formula", UCF would have been #1 in the country, and Alabama wouldn't have made the playoff:
http://prwolfe.bol.ucla.edu/cfootball/ratings.htm
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
I actually want to see UCF move up into a Power 5 conference. It’s a huge school and has shown with the 2013 Fiesta Bowl win and this year’s success that the program can compete at a higher level. They deserve it.
I just think they should have taken the 2012 Buckeyes route and raised an “undefeated season” banner.
I work with a ton of UCF grads including a few that went to the Bowl game. Definitely happy for them, and you. Great year.
yoda_5729
Well-Known Member
UCF vs Alabama vs Georgia
UCF
UCF defeated Auburn 34-27 on a neutral field
Alabama
Alabama lost to Auburn 26-14 at Auburn
Georgia
Georgia lost to Auburn 40-17 at Auburn
Georgia scored 17
Alabama scored 14
UCF scored 34
Georgia allowed 40
Alabama allowed 26
UCF allowed 27
Ultimately football comes down to matchups and injuries. Injuries can make a team that seemed invincible vulnerable, and matchups can exploit weaknesses that at first wouldn't even be visible in some games. It is true that UCF's schedule might not as been as daunting as others, but that can be said for everyone except the hardest schedule. There are small schools historically that have had legendarily good players, and who's to say UCF doesn't actively have one of those. We don't know. Walter Payton and Jerry Rice came from small schools. We don't know if UCF would beat Alabama or Georiga or any number of other teams. What we do know is UCF is perfect on the season. No one else can say that. If Alabama or Georgia want to be perfect, then they should schedule featherweights.
I've heard all the arguments, and a reality is that the historically weaker school can never win. If they pick a hard schedule and get slaughtered, or even break even, they shouldn't have scheduled anything that hard and in no way will be rewarded for challenging themselves. If they schedule easy teams, and win, they should have scheduled harder teams (never knowing years in advance who would actually be a good team and who wouldn't.) If they go undefeated (the only team in the country to do that, regardless of hardness of schedules), even with impressive wins, they aren't part of the country club like atmosphere of the big conferences, and as such it doesn't matter. National Champ? Maybe not, because the national champion is inferior to what UCF is. There wasn't a single team anywhere, that could defeat the UCF Knights this year in college football. Just like UCF never proved they could defeat Alabama or Georgia, neither of those teams proved they could defeat UCF. UCF is perfect, and defeated a team that defeated both Alabama and Georgia. The cute thing is, you never hear the big conferences offer to put their money where there mouth is and challenge the other. Rather then prove it on the field, they want a popularity contest and eye tests. There are great sports upsets all the time. The only thing factual about college football this year is Georgia and Alabama lost. UCF didn't. College football can name Craig T Nelson's college program the national champions, or anyone else. You are what your record says you are. UCF is perfect, and apparently there is nothing Georiga or Alabama can say about that. UCF took the field all year, and never walked off the field losing. That should mean something.
UCF
UCF defeated Auburn 34-27 on a neutral field
Alabama
Alabama lost to Auburn 26-14 at Auburn
Georgia
Georgia lost to Auburn 40-17 at Auburn
Georgia scored 17
Alabama scored 14
UCF scored 34
Georgia allowed 40
Alabama allowed 26
UCF allowed 27
Ultimately football comes down to matchups and injuries. Injuries can make a team that seemed invincible vulnerable, and matchups can exploit weaknesses that at first wouldn't even be visible in some games. It is true that UCF's schedule might not as been as daunting as others, but that can be said for everyone except the hardest schedule. There are small schools historically that have had legendarily good players, and who's to say UCF doesn't actively have one of those. We don't know. Walter Payton and Jerry Rice came from small schools. We don't know if UCF would beat Alabama or Georiga or any number of other teams. What we do know is UCF is perfect on the season. No one else can say that. If Alabama or Georgia want to be perfect, then they should schedule featherweights.
I've heard all the arguments, and a reality is that the historically weaker school can never win. If they pick a hard schedule and get slaughtered, or even break even, they shouldn't have scheduled anything that hard and in no way will be rewarded for challenging themselves. If they schedule easy teams, and win, they should have scheduled harder teams (never knowing years in advance who would actually be a good team and who wouldn't.) If they go undefeated (the only team in the country to do that, regardless of hardness of schedules), even with impressive wins, they aren't part of the country club like atmosphere of the big conferences, and as such it doesn't matter. National Champ? Maybe not, because the national champion is inferior to what UCF is. There wasn't a single team anywhere, that could defeat the UCF Knights this year in college football. Just like UCF never proved they could defeat Alabama or Georgia, neither of those teams proved they could defeat UCF. UCF is perfect, and defeated a team that defeated both Alabama and Georgia. The cute thing is, you never hear the big conferences offer to put their money where there mouth is and challenge the other. Rather then prove it on the field, they want a popularity contest and eye tests. There are great sports upsets all the time. The only thing factual about college football this year is Georgia and Alabama lost. UCF didn't. College football can name Craig T Nelson's college program the national champions, or anyone else. You are what your record says you are. UCF is perfect, and apparently there is nothing Georiga or Alabama can say about that. UCF took the field all year, and never walked off the field losing. That should mean something.
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I agree wholeheartedly. Still doesn’t change what it is today though.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
It does mean something. They can hang an “undefeated” banner and display multiple trophies.
Here’s an idea.. learn from a great team
Do a “celebration of perfection”https://www.osu.edu/features/2012/undefeated.html
The Buckeyes' undefeated season is a rarity: it's only the sixth time in Ohio State history the football team has been undefeatened and untied. (The other teams: 1916, 1944, 1954, 1968, and 2002.)
It's a victory for the team, the university, and the state: Players were honored at the Statehouse, where they received a proclamation from Gov. John Kasich. (See photos from the Statehouse event). On Dec. 7, they will take part in a "Celebration of Perfection" (now sold out).
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
I went to an FCS school, Youngstown State, and love the big playoff format at that level.
There’s just too much money tied up in bowl games for them to expand the new CFP much further. I can see them maybe going to 6 or 8. I definitely think the highest ranked non-power 5 school deserves an automatic bid or something close to it if they choose to expand.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I’m a woman.
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
Goes to show you, that no matter the topic, rarely does anyone ever agree haha.
Anyway, I hope the Knights and their fans enjoy the parade at WDW. Should be fun!