The College Football Playoff, like the post-antitrust BCS before it, reserves one spot in its array of New Year’s Six games for a team from outside the power conferences.
How UCF could be the top-ranked non-power and not make a New Year’s bowl
Remember the committee’s full stipulation.
Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
But a specific team: “the top-ranked champion” from outside the power conferences.
That means independents like BYU and Army can’t get in just for being the highest-ranked non-powers, because they can’t be conference champions.
It also would mean no Peach/Fiesta Bowl autobid for a hypothetical 11-1 UCF that loses the American Athletic Conference title game to Memphis.
Technically, UCF could still make the NY6 as an at-large by ranking in the committee’s final top 11, with the 12th team in the big six bowls being the actual top-ranked mid-major champ.
But the undefeated Knights will enter the AAC game ranked No. 8 or so. If you think a committee that’s only now, for the first time in five years, put a non-power in its top 10 would keep a one-loss UCF in its top 11, then ... alright.
Here’s the really awkward scenario we could have.
Say Fresno State wins the Mountain West by beating Boise State. Then we’d have a two-loss MWC champ that wasn’t ranked two Saturdays before Selection Sunday taking the NY6 bid as UCF fell into the AAC’s regular bowl mix, down to the Birmingham Bowl against UAB or whatever.
Two-loss Fresno might be ranked No. 19 or so, leaping ahead of a No. 13, one-loss UCF for the NY6 bid, all due to conference champ rules.
Rules are rules, but UCF fans would justifiably be pretty pissed about all this, especially after conference titles weren’t required for 2016 Ohio State or 2017 Alabama to make the actual Playoff, let alone just a Peach Bowl. And on top of that, the 2017 Playoff was one undefeated UCF wanted to make. UCF fans already fear conspiracies against them at every turn, and this would only ramp that up.
Phew.
None of this matters unless UCF actually loses, of course.
Memphis has put real scares into UCF two times in a row, and now the Knights are without star QB McKenzie Milton. But they just stomped USF in Tampa with Milton missing most of the game, and they’ll get to host Memphis. UCF will rightly be favored.
If UCF wins, it’s another chance to take down a big-name team in a big-name bowl and claim another national title, if they want.
But if UCF loses ... this is gonna be a mess!
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