Quote:
Originally Posted by Seph
It's not shameful.
UCF is a great team....but they will get slaughtered by the likes of an Alabama, Clemson, ND etc. They go undefeated because they have a comparatively easy schedule. Any of the teams in the top 10 would go undefeated against their schedule, and probably any of the teams in the top 20 really.
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For "strength of schedule", teams can only play who is in front of them; and games are lined up a couple of years in advance. Also funny how "strength of schedule" only seems to factor keeping unwanted teams out, but not when, say, SEC schools have multiple late season "bye weeks" against Whogivesafuck State.
That they would be "slaughtered" is a huge assumption, and pretty much the reason why games are played on the field. A great anecdote on that is, ironically, the Ohio State national championship. If the BCS were still in the pre-playoff days that season, the game would have most likely been Alabama dismantling the highly suspect Florida State, who was somehow ranked #2 in spite of being absolute ass that year. This whole "just hand X the trophy (currently X = Alabama) is a thing I don't agree with. Teams don't become dominant overnight, nor do they stay on top in perpituity. Even a dynasty as powerful as the one in Tuscaloosa right now won't remain. And even as the Tide rolls ever literally, there could be that one team that is able to step on their neck that they weren't ready for, or, in fact, had an answer for them.
This year's mid major can be a national heavyweight a few seasons from now, or even right now if they have their stars aligned and a special group of guys on the field. However, just prejudging on name brand recognition can cause that shit to be overlooked. When Oregon started getting major Nike money to the point of having more uniform choices a season than games, that started attracting players who wanted to get in on some of that swag (and I mean both swagger AND free clothes interchangably). They got written off before that. Now, it's no surprise to have them periodically jump to the top of the Pac 12.
You get used to hearing about the same handful of teams, and you start buying into other teams never being good enough. However, there is a little more parity now than there ever was, with collegiate football being such a big cash cow and students looking to be standouts are going more for the "lesser" schools to be able to get playtime instead of riding pine for three years at a perennial powerhouse.
But we will never know how any of those will stack up if they never get the shot to. TCU shows flashes every few years. Boise State crawled up from being 1-AA around '98 to being a 1-A school nobody wanted to risk their records against in 2008. Hawaii gets shot in the foot a lot because of geography. Hell, how much of recent history has Notre Dame been an utter
joke? The biggest difference is that ND has some name recognition that Central Florida does not. Who knows: UCF might kick the everliving shit out of Notre Dame if they played... but they'll never play. They won't get the boost. The fact that even my beloved Buckeyes are still in the conversation even after uncharacteristically janky defense, way too many close games and, again, a goddamn loss at Purdue at #10, but UCF is just written off at #11 with a better record is just a shame... because we will never get the chance to even know how good UCF is or isn't. Or any team like them that will come along.
Primary reason why I'm an advocate for a 16 team playoff. Fuck 8, make it 16. Power 5 conference champs, undefeated teams, and any at-large squads who didn't give up halfway through the year because they are only ranked #22... and quite a bit of that is still arbitrary anyway. You're only adding two more Saturdays than currently is in place. The champion plays Four extra games instead of two. About the only thing stopping that is the fact that you wouldn't be able to televise all 8 first round games nationally, unless you also add Friday or something.