College Football Playoff Rankings: Other than UCF, who else hates 2018's first top 25?
The college football playoff rankings are out, and that means the controversy has started for the 2018 college football season. When the committee tells you who they like, and in what order, it quickly means that half of college football fans are upset. It’s part of the game.
Here is the first top 25 released by the selection committee for the 2018 college football season:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. LSU
4. Notre Dame
5. Michigan
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma
8. Washington State
9. Kentucky
10. Ohio State
11. Florida
12. UCF
13. West Virginia
14. Penn State
15. Utah
16. Iowa
17. Texas
18. Miss. State
19. Syracuse
20. Texas A&M
21. NC State
22. Boston College
23. Fresno State
24. Iowa State
25. Virginia
Let’s look at who hates this top 25, shall we?
UCF
We start with the Central Florida Knights. They hate the college football playoff rankings. Of course they do. We know the story. They’re undefeated (going back to the start of last season). Tuesday night, the committee reminded us once again how much they value UCF’s undefeated-ness… not that much.
The fact that UCF is behind a two-loss Florida team tells you all you need to know. UCF fans could choose to look elsewhere in the poll and see that it’s a common theme. For example, one-loss LSU is ahead of undefeated Notre Dame. Resume and strength of schedule is what matters, and UCF doesn’t have that.
Unfortunately, the argument against UCF is pretty simple:
On teleconference, committee chair Rob Mullens notes that LSU has the most wins over +.500 teams (six), and that UCF is the only team in the Top 25 that doesn't have any.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 30, 2018
Jay Bilas
Jay Bilas is a smart dude. He’s also a college basketball-first guy. Bilas doesn’t like the narrowness of college football. He prefers a basketball season that is pretty meaningless as long as it’s followed by a fully inclusive tournament. I enjoy March Madness like the everybody else, but I don’t want it for college football.
Football, where every game counts (except for non-Power 5 games). In basketball, every game truly counts, and no team (UCF) is excluded from the title chase. https://t.co/o1LQgwkvCo
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) October 31, 2018
Joel Klatt (kinda)
Klatt thinks many of the SEC teams included in the ranking are overrated, but don’t include him in the pro-UCF camp. Klatt is one of the media members taking the lead in dismantling UCF’s argument.
However, Klatt thinks Kentucky is easily the most overrated team in the rankings, and also included teams like LSU and Florida in the overrated camp.
CFP Reaction:
Undervalued – @NDFootball @OU_Football @Utah_Football @UW_Football @NUFBFamily
Overvalued – @LSUfootball @UKFootball @GatorsFB @UCF_Football @PackFootball @CycloneFBMost overvalued team is easily @UKFootball which was down 11 to Mizzou w/ 6 min left
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) October 31, 2018
Quick trend I would like to point out…Take from it what you will
Top ranked undefeated team – SEC
Top ranked one loss team – SEC
Top ranked two loss team – SEC
Top ranked three loss team – SEC— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) October 31, 2018
Danny Kanell
Two SEC teams in the top three, and five in the top eleven? Of course Kanell is going to hate it!
"Other relevant factors" = we can use any excuse to pick any 4 teams we want ??
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) October 30, 2018
Reminder to everyone: The rankings will change quite a bit in the coming weeks. Enjoy the ride!
