A Bigger College Football Playoff?

The UCF Knights have won big this year in college football and we couldn’t be prouder of them here in Orlando, but why is it that in the grand scheme of things, even with all the ratings and dominance that this team has garnered, Orlando fans seem to be unhappy with the results? Is the college football ranking system fixed to promote SEC and other “Power 5” schools more respect? Is that fair? I have been listening to a lot of opinions and points of view from everywhere. I’ve heard the little guy and the big guy speak. It seems to all shake down to the strength of the playoff system itself in College Football. Rankings are handed down by the committee to the rest of us to show us where they put a team that has been chosen for each position one through twenty-five. Does that really tell you how good a team is? If you have watched these games you might be able to make the argument that these games value to the committee are decided before they begin. The audience, however, is a completely different story. Have you seen any of UCF’s play. Not only do they have a lights out star leader at Quarterback in McKenzie Milton, but they have talent all across the board and have had things going well for them because of great coaching and leadership on and off the field. Have you heard of any big locker room issues at UCF? No, because this team knows what it means when destiny seeks you out and you have to rise to the challenge. It was really remarkable to witness the rise of this team and the fact that they are the only undefeated, unblemished team in the country sure has to count for something. Athletic Director Danny White has announced that there will be a parade, banner, and team memorabilia created because of the dominance of this team and they have become adamant about being named the National Champions. This conversation--and the hype, about this team is far from over. There are remarkable things happening here. You can’t expect this to be a national story, but it actually is gaining some traction in that respect. Bob Levy is going to have White on his show on ESPN, “Outside the Lines” today to discuss the prospect of his team being named the National Champions. These guys won the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl against a stalwart Auburn team that has not been a pushover at any point this season. These guys beat two out of three of the teams in the ESPN flag program College Playoff--the two teams that happened to have made it all the way to the championship. The real key here is how this win actually dramatically increases the demand for an expanded playoff system in these interconference bowl games at the end of the season. If I am just going to talk about what I think, I have to say, I have not seen better football played in 12 consecutive quarters than I saw out of our Knights this past three games. The consistent scoring and the rugged defensive stands and turnovers. This team proved every hater wrong and the critics have nothing they can say against them now. They have the win that they were given the chance to get and they are not backing down from what that win could potentially mean. It isn’t enough to say that they are Bowl game Champions because it diminishes the greatness of what has been accomplished here. This program is not to be trifled with. Personally, I have to be honest, I have no connection to this team of great worth. I might be what you would call a fair-weather fan. I do not tend to be seen that way, but the truth of the matter is that I have done a lot of viewing of the different facets to what college ball differs in from the professional level of the sport that I am much more familiar with. Nobody is going to argue with you that the team that wins the Superbowl isn’t the best team in the league. The wonderful thing about the College Bowl system is that it leaves room for greatness to be reached by these smaller, less storied programs that are trying to make a name for themselves. People reaching for greatness. All in all, it’s a sport. Things are going to happen and in the end, there must be a winner. It is just damn cool that in this case, it happens to be our own hometown heroes in white. GO KNIGHTS!