What are your thoughts on UCF and not making the playoffs?

This confirms what I've thought all along that 4 teams is not enough.

UCF finishes the regular season 12-0 and then beats Auburn in the bowl game. It's a shame that they aren't getting a chance to prove themselves against the top teams. 13-0 and they don't have the opportunity at a national championship.

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UCF proved today that they can play with anybody. Beating a team that beat 2 of the 4 playoff teams is quite an accomplishment. Obviously, their weak schedule kept them out of the top 4.

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The playoff system is a joke to begin with. It's a glorified big board ranking.

Have all the power 5 conference winners get in and then a wild card. Take the damn committee out of it.

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IT WAS ALWAYS THE JAGS

They should've been given a shot.

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The playoff system is a joke to begin with. It's a glorified big board ranking.

Have all the power 5 conference winners get in and then a wild card. Take the damn committee out of it.

That doesn't help UCF this year though because Alabama would have gotten the wildcard.  It needs to be 8 teams and no more with the 5 power conference champions getting automatic bids and then have 3 wildcards.  There will always be that 9th team that gets screwed, but with 8 everyone has a path to playoff if they take care of their own business.  Right now, smaller conference teams don't have a path to the playoff as was evidenced this year with UCF.  

I'd further stipulate that an undefeated smaller conference team automatically gets one of the wildcard bids as long as they've played at least 2 power conference teams during the regular season.  UCF had two power conference teams scheduled this year but one of the games (Georgia Tech) was cancelled due to the hurricane and was never able to be rescheduled.  The system I've outlined wouldn't have protected UCF this year either, but it was extenuating circumstances that cancelled that GT game and that's not going to happen every year.  And had they known ahead of time they would need that 2nd power conference team on their schedule to qualify for an automatic bid, I'm sure they would have tried to move heaven and earth to get one scheduled on a bye week to meet the requirement.

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This is why CFB is a joke.

They have a selection committee who basically chooses who they want and they change their criteria every year to put in who they want. UCF shouldn't even play football I guess. They will never have a chance to play for a national championship. They were ranked behind teams who had 3 losses....

CFB is a joke and so biased towards to SEC.

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I'm a UCF fan and I'm fine with it. I was pretty sure UCF would beat Auburn. Turns out Auburn didn't even play UCF as tough as Memphis did.
I've always known College Football doesn't and can't produce a clear champion if you look at it with an unbiased perspective. The games are entertaining, most of the kids are extremely talented, and the kids all try their hardest. It irks me when people are so "sure" that their team is better when their team and my team have never played against each other, but, until their fans realize, "hey, maybe we're not the best, maybe we need to prove it every year against non-power five teams" there's nothing I can do but sit back, enjoy the games they give me, and laugh at them.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

The playoff system is a joke to begin with. It's a glorified big board ranking.

Have all the power 5 conference winners get in and then a wild card. Take the damn committee out of it.

That doesn't help UCF this year though because Alabama would have gotten the wildcard.  It needs to be 8 teams and no more with the 5 power conference champions getting automatic bids and then have 3 wildcards.  There will always be that 9th team that gets screwed, but with 8 everyone has a path to playoff if they take care of their own business.  Right now, smaller conference teams don't have a path to the playoff as was evidenced this year with UCF.  

I'd further stipulate that an undefeated smaller conference team automatically gets one of the wildcard bids as long as they've played at least 2 power conference teams during the regular season.  UCF had two power conference teams scheduled this year but one of the games (Georgia Tech) was cancelled due to the hurricane and was never able to be rescheduled.  The system I've outlined wouldn't have protected UCF this year either, but it was extenuating circumstances that cancelled that GT game and that's not going to happen every year.  And had they known ahead of time they would need that 2nd power conference team on their schedule to qualify for an automatic bid, I'm sure they would have tried to move heaven and earth to get one scheduled on a bye week to meet the requirement.

I see it a little differently.  I think the Power Five teams see themselves as a closed club, and they only want to play non Power Five teams to get an easy win.  If a smaller team is required to get two power conference games on its schedule, suddenly the power conference teams will clam up and getting them to schedule you, if there is any chance you might be good, will become mission impossible.  The Power Five will never schedule the required games unless the fans and sports networks hold their feet to the fire and make them.
Also, I don't think undefeated-ness should be the be-all and end-all for smaller conference teams.  The 2015 Houston Cougars played two Power Five teams in the regular season, and beat both of them, but had one in-conference loss.  Yet they showed they should have been in the playoffs by demolishing FSU in the Peach Bowl that year.  So that "one loss" should have been viewed as a "quality loss" to the extent that such things even exist.
The fans need to understand that since all teams will play a majority of their games against opponents in their conference, talking about "strength of schedule" relies mostly on unprovable assumptions.  In other words, they shouldn't be sure that any one conference is better than any other conference.
Once they understand that, the fans will demand not only an 8 team playoff (at a minimum) but also a rigorous requirement for the top teams in one conference to schedule one or two games with the top teams in other conferences, based only on the previous year's result, like the NFL.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

When you only play one decent team all year you can't expect to be in the playoff. They play a cream puff schedule. Does anyone really believe they would have been undefeated playing an SEC schedule?

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That doesn't help UCF this year though because Alabama would have gotten the wildcard.  It needs to be 8 teams and no more with the 5 power conference champions getting automatic bids and then have 3 wildcards.  There will always be that 9th team that gets screwed, but with 8 everyone has a path to playoff if they take care of their own business.  Right now, smaller conference teams don't have a path to the playoff as was evidenced this year with UCF.  

I'd further stipulate that an undefeated smaller conference team automatically gets one of the wildcard bids as long as they've played at least 2 power conference teams during the regular season.  UCF had two power conference teams scheduled this year but one of the games (Georgia Tech) was cancelled due to the hurricane and was never able to be rescheduled.  The system I've outlined wouldn't have protected UCF this year either, but it was extenuating circumstances that cancelled that GT game and that's not going to happen every year.  And had they known ahead of time they would need that 2nd power conference team on their schedule to qualify for an automatic bid, I'm sure they would have tried to move heaven and earth to get one scheduled on a bye week to meet the requirement.

I see it a little differently.  I think the Power Five teams see themselves as a closed club, and they only want to play non Power Five teams to get an easy win.  If a smaller team is required to get two power conference games on its schedule, suddenly the power conference teams will clam up and getting them to schedule you, if there is any chance you might be good, will become mission impossible.  The Power Five will never schedule the required games unless the fans and sports networks hold their feet to the fire and make them.
Also, I don't think undefeated-ness should be the be-all and end-all for smaller conference teams.  The 2015 Houston Cougars played two Power Five teams in the regular season, and beat both of them, but had one in-conference loss.  Yet they showed they should have been in the playoffs by demolishing FSU in the Peach Bowl that year.  So that "one loss" should have been viewed as a "quality loss" to the extent that such things even exist.
The fans need to understand that since all teams will play a majority of their games against opponents in their conference, talking about "strength of schedule" relies mostly on unprovable assumptions.  In other words, they shouldn't be sure that any one conference is better than any other conference.
Once they understand that, the fans will demand not only an 8 team playoff (at a minimum) but also a rigorous requirement for the top teams in one conference to schedule one or two games with the top teams in other conferences, based only on the previous year's result, like the NFL.

The power 5 teams absolutely see themselves as a private club and you would too if you were spending the amount of money on your football program that most of them do that smaller conference schools generally couldn't dream of doing.  However, I never said one loss would exclude a smaller conference team, they just wouldn't get the automatic bid.  They'd be evaluated against all other potential wildcard candidates.  It would obviously be harder for them to be included with one loss because they likely wouldn't be in the top 10, but if they're not a top 10 team already (I'm being generous here by not saying top 8 team) even with the one loss they don't deserve to be in the playoff.  You're never going to get the power 5 conferences to agree to sharing the prestige and money that goes along with their current status by keeping the door open for and granting equal opportunity to small conference teams.  But the system I've outlined does allow a small conference team to open the door for themselves if they take care of their business.  And the power 5 can rest assured that undefeated small conference teams don't happen all that regularly.  

Secondly, most power 5 teams already schedule 2 or 3 small conference teams per year.  You can't tell me Duke or some other power 5 school where football isn't the main focus is going to look at a potential small conference opponent and say "ah, nope... can't have you making the playoff off our backs, sorry sucka."  It isn't and wouldn't be hard for a small conference school to get two power 5 teams on their schedule.  I haven't looked at everyone's schedule, but I'd venture a guess that any respectable small conference program already does.  I mean, who are the power 5 going to schedule in place of the small conferences they have on their schedule now if they decided to blackball the smaller conferences?  More power 5 teams?  That would likely result in more losses and less likelihood of them making the playoffs as well.

At any rate, UCF deserved to play in a hypothetical expanded playoff this year.  I would have liked to see them get that GT game under their belt though. Maybe they would have been creamed by another playoff team that actually was playing for something instead of playing in a meaningless exhibition game, but they earned the right to be properly tested and the fans deserved to see it as well.

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When you only play one decent team all year you can't expect to be in the playoff.     They play a cream puff schedule.  Does anyone really believe they would have been undefeated playing an SEC schedule?

UCF schedule:
FIU
Maryland
Maine
20th ranked Memphis
Cincinnati
Navy
Austin Peay
SMU
UCONN
Temple
USF
20th ranked Memphis

Then defeated the SEC number 7 ranked Auburn Tigers in their bowl game.

USF was ranked in the coaches and AP polls.  UCF can't help that the Georgia Tech came couldn't happen.  

Alabama's schedule:
A down year FSU
Fresno State
Colorado State
Vanderbilt
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Tennessee
17 LSU
23 Mississippi State
Mercer
7 Auburn

Alabama finishes the year with a loss to Auburn...who lost to UCF.

The SEC stuff is nonsense.  Alabama did not play a daunting schedule to get to the playoffs.  They lost their toughest game of the year and still got in.  Their furthest road game for travel was what, Texas A&M?

How can you say these schedules are that much different that UCF shouldn't have been given a shot?  No they don't play in the SEC but I find it hard to believe this UCF team wouldn't have done well with Alabama's schedule too.

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I see it a little differently.  I think the Power Five teams see themselves as a closed club, and they only want to play non Power Five teams to get an easy win.  If a smaller team is required to get two power conference games on its schedule, suddenly the power conference teams will clam up and getting them to schedule you, if there is any chance you might be good, will become mission impossible.  The Power Five will never schedule the required games unless the fans and sports networks hold their feet to the fire and make them.
Also, I don't think undefeated-ness should be the be-all and end-all for smaller conference teams.  The 2015 Houston Cougars played two Power Five teams in the regular season, and beat both of them, but had one in-conference loss.  Yet they showed they should have been in the playoffs by demolishing FSU in the Peach Bowl that year.  So that "one loss" should have been viewed as a "quality loss" to the extent that such things even exist.
The fans need to understand that since all teams will play a majority of their games against opponents in their conference, talking about "strength of schedule" relies mostly on unprovable assumptions.  In other words, they shouldn't be sure that any one conference is better than any other conference.
Once they understand that, the fans will demand not only an 8 team playoff (at a minimum) but also a rigorous requirement for the top teams in one conference to schedule one or two games with the top teams in other conferences, based only on the previous year's result, like the NFL.

The power 5 teams absolutely see themselves as a private club and you would too if you were spending the amount of money on your football program that most of them do that smaller conference schools generally couldn't dream of doing.  However, I never said one loss would exclude a smaller conference team, they just wouldn't get the automatic bid.  They'd be evaluated against all other potential wildcard candidates.  It would obviously be harder for them to be included with one loss because they likely wouldn't be in the top 10, but if they're not a top 10 team already (I'm being generous here by not saying top 8 team) even with the one loss they don't deserve to be in the playoff.  You're never going to get the power 5 conferences to agree to sharing the prestige and money that goes along with their current status by keeping the door open for and granting equal opportunity to small conference teams.  But the system I've outlined does allow a small conference team to open the door for themselves if they take care of their business.  And the power 5 can rest assured that undefeated small conference teams don't happen all that regularly.  

Secondly, most power 5 teams already schedule 2 or 3 small conference teams per year.  You can't tell me Duke or some other power 5 school where football isn't the main focus is going to look at a potential small conference opponent and say "ah, nope... can't have you making the playoff off our backs, sorry sucka."  It isn't and wouldn't be hard for a small conference school to get two power 5 teams on their schedule.  I haven't looked at everyone's schedule, but I'd venture a guess that any respectable small conference program already does.  I mean, who are the power 5 going to schedule in place of the small conferences they have on their schedule now if they decided to blackball the smaller conferences?  More power 5 teams?  That would likely result in more losses and less likelihood of them making the playoffs as well.

At any rate, UCF deserved to play in a hypothetical expanded playoff this year.  I would have liked to see them get that GT game under their belt though.  Maybe they would have been creamed by another playoff team that actually was playing for something instead of playing in a meaningless exhibition game, but they earned the right to be properly tested and the fans deserved to see it as well.

The human mind can be made into quite a remarkable fountain of excuses.  Now you're going to say Auburn wasn't trying.  I don't know.  The fans leaving the stadium looked pretty upset to lose.  I didn't get close enough to the players to see.  But I have to think that the players and coaches strongly wanted to end their season with a win and preserve the reputation of the SEC.

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When you only play one decent team all year you can't expect to be in the playoff.     They play a cream puff schedule.  Does anyone really believe they would have been undefeated playing an SEC schedule?

That's not the right question to ask.  None of the SEC teams were undefeated.  The better question to ask is if they could have ended up with one loss in the SEC, as Georgia and Alabama did.  And, based on the Auburn game result, the answer is clearly, "Yes, probably."

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

How can you say these schedules are that much different that UCF shouldn't have been given a shot?  No they don't play in the SEC but I find it hard to believe this UCF team wouldn't have done well with Alabama's schedule too.

Per ESPN The Average FPI ranking for each schools 2017 schedule (not including bowl games)

Alabama 45.81
Georgia 39.42
Clemson 35.75
Oklahoma 47.62

UCF 69.83

Don't get me wrong, I live near Oviedo and am happy for UCF, but their schedule is what it is and simply didn't stack up.

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When you only play one decent team all year you can't expect to be in the playoff.     They play a cream puff schedule.  Does anyone really believe they would have been undefeated playing an SEC schedule?

With the exception of Georgia, the SEC East totally sucked this year (mostly due to their horrible QBs)

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How can you say these schedules are that much different that UCF shouldn't have been given a shot?  No they don't play in the SEC but I find it hard to believe this UCF team wouldn't have done well with Alabama's schedule too.

Per ESPN   The Average FPI ranking for each schools 2017 schedule (not including bowl games)

Alabama    45.81
Georgia      39.42
Clemson    35.75
Oklahoma  47.62

UCF             69.83

Don't get me wrong, I live near Oviedo and am happy for UCF, but their schedule is what it is and simply didn't stack up.

What's FPI? Is it like QBR? Another ESPN made up stat?

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Per ESPN   The Average FPI ranking for each schools 2017 schedule (not including bowl games)

Alabama    45.81
Georgia      39.42
Clemson    35.75
Oklahoma  47.62

UCF             69.83

Don't get me wrong, I live near Oviedo and am happy for UCF, but their schedule is what it is and simply didn't stack up.

What's FPI? Is it like QBR? Another ESPN made up stat?

LOL I could provide more strength of schedule info but your mind is made up. UCF played a tough schedule and no facts to the contrary will matter. Go with that.

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How can you say these schedules are that much different that UCF shouldn't have been given a shot?  No they don't play in the SEC but I find it hard to believe this UCF team wouldn't have done well with Alabama's schedule too.

Per ESPN   The Average FPI ranking for each schools 2017 schedule (not including bowl games)

Alabama    45.81
Georgia      39.42
Clemson    35.75
Oklahoma  47.62

UCF             69.83

Don't get me wrong, I live near Oviedo and am happy for UCF, but their schedule is what it is and simply didn't stack up.

Even if I take this computation at face value, it says right there that it excludes the bowl games. What's the FPI of each team now, I wonder?
If one stat like this can change a lot week to week, is it a useful stat?

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Per ESPN   The Average FPI ranking for each schools 2017 schedule (not including bowl games)

Alabama    45.81
Georgia      39.42
Clemson    35.75
Oklahoma  47.62

UCF             69.83

Don't get me wrong, I live near Oviedo and am happy for UCF, but their schedule is what it is and simply didn't stack up.

Even if I take this computation at face value, it says right there that it excludes the bowl games. What's the FPI of each team now, I wonder?
If one stat like this can change a lot week to week, is it a useful stat?

I left the bowl games out because we were discussing why UCF didn't get into the playoff which would not have included bowl game stats.

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The power 5 teams absolutely see themselves as a private club and you would too if you were spending the amount of money on your football program that most of them do that smaller conference schools generally couldn't dream of doing.  However, I never said one loss would exclude a smaller conference team, they just wouldn't get the automatic bid.  They'd be evaluated against all other potential wildcard candidates.  It would obviously be harder for them to be included with one loss because they likely wouldn't be in the top 10, but if they're not a top 10 team already (I'm being generous here by not saying top 8 team) even with the one loss they don't deserve to be in the playoff.  You're never going to get the power 5 conferences to agree to sharing the prestige and money that goes along with their current status by keeping the door open for and granting equal opportunity to small conference teams.  But the system I've outlined does allow a small conference team to open the door for themselves if they take care of their business.  And the power 5 can rest assured that undefeated small conference teams don't happen all that regularly.  

Secondly, most power 5 teams already schedule 2 or 3 small conference teams per year.  You can't tell me Duke or some other power 5 school where football isn't the main focus is going to look at a potential small conference opponent and say "ah, nope... can't have you making the playoff off our backs, sorry sucka."  It isn't and wouldn't be hard for a small conference school to get two power 5 teams on their schedule.  I haven't looked at everyone's schedule, but I'd venture a guess that any respectable small conference program already does.  I mean, who are the power 5 going to schedule in place of the small conferences they have on their schedule now if they decided to blackball the smaller conferences?  More power 5 teams?  That would likely result in more losses and less likelihood of them making the playoffs as well.

At any rate, UCF deserved to play in a hypothetical expanded playoff this year.  I would have liked to see them get that GT game under their belt though.  Maybe they would have been creamed by another playoff team that actually was playing for something instead of playing in a meaningless exhibition game, but they earned the right to be properly tested and the fans deserved to see it as well.

The human mind can be made into quite a remarkable fountain of excuses.  Now you're going to say Auburn wasn't trying.  I don't know.  The fans leaving the stadium looked pretty upset to lose.  I didn't get close enough to the players to see.  But I have to think that the players and coaches strongly wanted to end their season with a win and preserve the reputation of the SEC.

The human mind generally responds more positively to incentives.  UCF had a clear incentive of remaining perfect and finishing with an unblemished record.  What was Auburn's incentive?  A shiny peach bowl trophy?  Or to be the name that pops up when people 5 years from now can't remember who won the 2018 Peach Bowl and decide to google it?  It doesn't mean they weren't trying in the moment, but people in general get up for and prepare for events or tasks more so when they are incentivized to do so.  At any rate, going in this direction doesn't really interest me enough to continue so that will be the last I'll say on the subject of it being a meaningless game.  I'm happy to continue discussing the merits of hypothetical playoff systems, however.

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That doesn't help UCF this year though because Alabama would have gotten the wildcard.  It needs to be 8 teams and no more with the 5 power conference champions getting automatic bids and then have 3 wildcards.  There will always be that 9th team that gets screwed, but with 8 everyone has a path to playoff if they take care of their own business.  Right now, smaller conference teams don't have a path to the playoff as was evidenced this year with UCF.  

I'd further stipulate that an undefeated smaller conference team automatically gets one of the wildcard bids as long as they've played at least 2 power conference teams during the regular season.  UCF had two power conference teams scheduled this year but one of the games (Georgia Tech) was cancelled due to the hurricane and was never able to be rescheduled.  The system I've outlined wouldn't have protected UCF this year either, but it was extenuating circumstances that cancelled that GT game and that's not going to happen every year.  And had they known ahead of time they would need that 2nd power conference team on their schedule to qualify for an automatic bid, I'm sure they would have tried to move heaven and earth to get one scheduled on a bye week to meet the requirement.

I see it a little differently.  I think the Power Five teams see themselves as a closed club, and they only want to play non Power Five teams to get an easy win.  If a smaller team is required to get two power conference games on its schedule, suddenly the power conference teams will clam up and getting them to schedule you, if there is any chance you might be good, will become mission impossible.  The Power Five will never schedule the required games unless the fans and sports networks hold their feet to the fire and make them.
Also, I don't think undefeated-ness should be the be-all and end-all for smaller conference teams.  The 2015 Houston Cougars played two Power Five teams in the regular season, and beat both of them, but had one in-conference loss.  Yet they showed they should have been in the playoffs by demolishing FSU in the Peach Bowl that year.  So that "one loss" should have been viewed as a "quality loss" to the extent that such things even exist.
The fans need to understand that since all teams will play a majority of their games against opponents in their conference, talking about "strength of schedule" relies mostly on unprovable assumptions.  In other words, they shouldn't be sure that any one conference is better than any other conference.
Once they understand that, the fans will demand not only an 8 team playoff (at a minimum) but also a rigorous requirement for the top teams in one conference to schedule one or two games with the top teams in other conferences, based only on the previous year's result, like the NFL.

This.  It's a money making club with a closed off system where they wont allow anyone else in.  If they allow others in with the potential to take away any of that money they dilute the pot for the others.

UCF has been trying for YEARS to get into a power 5 conference, submitting bids, kissing [BLEEP], and they literally have gotten nowhere.  Yet you have schools like Vanderbilt and Rutgers cashing in year over year.  Not being allowed into a major conference hurts everything from money, to recruiting, to scheduling, etc...and lets not forget the fact that the committee who picks the playoff has people on it with major stakes in the big conferences and even the schools they are voting for.

It's a crooked system.

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