Orlando's Hometown National Champions

[Jernigan]

8 hours ago, jrs2 said:

Why is everyone (who is a UCF fan) suddenly acting like they don’t understand how the Div 1-A college football rankings and bowl system has worked for the past 90 years?

Because now they are calling it a fancy playoff and attaching a ‘true’ national champion to the winner.   In some ways it was better before when at least everyone knew that we didn’t have any sort of winner  for 90 years.

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, Jernigan said:

Because now they are calling it a fancy playoff and attaching a ‘true’ national champion to the winner.   In some ways it was better before when at least everyone knew that we didn’t have any sort of winner  for 90 years.

True but not regarding the "true national champion."  Before 2014, you had consensus and split national champions based on the AP and Coaches polls since, like, 1931 or 1933.  The most recent splits were in 2003, 1997, 1991, 1990, and 1978 I think.  1995 began the Bowl Coalition and 1998 began the BCS to refine it more as to who was No.1 and No.2 because teams and conferences were locked into certain bowl games for their conference champions (see Orange, Sugar, Rose, Cotton, Fiesta, etc.). The Independants, like ND, Miami, Penn St., etc.,  had an easier path. 

The Playoff is no different than the BCS, except it's 4 teams now, not 2.  But you'll always have arguments over who is No.4, and if expanded, who is No.8 or No.16 of those brackets.  Still based on rankings, but not based too much on conference standings, like the NFL. 

A true playoff like UCF'ers want puts every conference on equal footing to make it based on conference standings.  That will never happen when you have franchises like Michigan, ND, Bama, USC, OU, Texas, TOSU, UF, LSU, UGA, Clemson, FSU, Miami, Penn St, A&M, etc., involved in the analysis.  Ohio State beats Michigan for their conference title versus UCF beats USF or Memphis.  Seriously?  Do you really think those two champs should be judged equally? 

The only answer is conference realignment, but that already happened in 1991, 1992, 1997, and most recently in 2012ish.  If UCF wasn't in a position to capitalize on these opportunities at these times, it's not the NCAA's fault, it's UCF's fault.  They were winless just 2 years ago, and winless not playing a P5 schedule, rather a G5 schedule.  They built their 40k seat stadium in 2007, and still haven't had the need to expand it?  And now they are crying fowl?

[Jernigan]

You keep bringing up factors that shouldn’t play into whether or not a team deserves to participate.   Attendance? Expanding stadiums?  Winless 3 years ago?

On the field is all that should matter.   If I had to pick other things I’d choose graduation rates, players not getting arrested and coaches not covering up sexual abuse or child abuse.  

I do agree that not all conferences are equal and a win against Tulane shouldn’t be equivilent to a win against LSU.  I don’t think many UCF fans would argue that.   But there is clearly a glass ceiling in place that goes beyond any competitive differences.   UCF dropped 2 weeks ago after winning on the road by 21 or so with a backup QB.   In no universe is that a bad thing that should drop you below a team on a bye.   

 

[HankStrong]

NCAA College Basketball Tournament adapted for football by going from 64 to a more manageable 16.

 

• Winner take all.
• In order to get into the bracket of 16, your conference can't have a conference tournament
• 4 #1 seeds, 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 in each bracket
• Neutral sites like the bowl games (or at least as neutral as they are now)

 

[spenser1058]

The truth be told, what's going to matter is the renegotiated AAC contract.

I have to say I have no desire to be a part of the attitude of either the SEC or the Big XII. 

What it appears that we need to do is build the AAC into a serious league that's worthy of a larger ESPN contract or whomever.

Right now, there are arguably a half dozen teams or so in the AAC able to play with the big boys IF they have access to similar resources (Navy gets included because it has a unique cachet all its own.)

The two Florida teams, USF and UCF are already having an impact on Florida football. It's not a coincidence the three legacy teams have been struggling recently. FIU under Butch Davis is going to become more important and who knows what will become of the Lane Train.

As the newer schools produce more and more alumni whose earnings grow over time, more and more money will be diverted southward. Who wants to drive to Gainesville or Tallahassee if they don't have to?

UCF has already made investments that put the Gators to shame - so much so that a requirement of head coaching candidates was that UF catch up on strength-training facilities and indoor practice fields.

The players just want to have a path to the NFL and UCF is providing that (I assume USF is also.)

It was easy to pat a relatively small school like Boise State in a tiny TV market on the head and send them back where they came from. It's going to be much harder to do that with schools that have 50000+ students in huge markets. Add to that the fact we're in the state that is at the epicenter of recruiting and we're well-positioned to jump to the next tier.

So, I think the best thing to do now is build the conference and make the biggest impact in-state we can. The rest will likely take care of itself because, just like with the change from cable to OTT, the powers that be will very soon have no way to ignore us.

Getting away from the money and to the football that the NCAA is supposed to be about, several analysts have noted AAC teams are just more fun. That reminds me of two North Florida coaches who once shook up the status quo and started a dynasty that carried on for a couple of decades.

Edited November 1, 2018 by spenser1058

[Jernigan]

The AAC is a loser though.   If we could cut out Tulane, Tulsa and SMU, that would be a good start.   I can’t take the P6 seriously given the conferences other moves.

[spenser1058]

15 minutes ago, Jernigan said:

The AAC is a loser though.   If we could cut out Tulane, Tulsa and SMU, that would be a good start.   I can’t take the P6 seriously given the conferences other moves.

Well, the P5 has its own basket cases (the ACC has Wake Forest and the SEC has Vandy, not to mention Tennessee is still all hat and no cattle.)

SMU has had years when it was good plus it gets you the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex (in fact, the AAC HQ is about to move there.)

OTOH, I'd like having FIU and FAU with us if they keep improving. UAB is also likely to become a power. How many schools we end up would be a good debate - I guess the Big 10 has the most with 14.

[AmIReal]

Does UCF have any chance at the College Football Playoff?

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25126820/ucf-knights-college-football-playoff-chances

 

[spenser1058]

Join jrs2 (albeit in his Albert hat <g>) tonight at the Bounce House at 7:30pm to watch our Hometown National Champions take on the Temple Owls. Both are undefeated in AAC play right now.

The game will be COLORCAST (with regards to Tom Snyder!) on ESPN.

Charge On!

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Join jrs2 (albeit in his Albert hat <g>) tonight at the Bounce House at 7:30pm to watch our Hometown National Champions take on the Temple Owls. Both are undefeated in AAC play right now.

The game will be COLORCAST (with regards to Tom Snyder!) on ESPN.

Charge On!

Those bastaads ruined my Albert; they gave him real eyes- blue eyes, instead of the eerie slit eyes he had which made Albert mysterious yet cuddly.  Now, he just looks like a deranged alligator like those sickly ones you see at those mini-golf places.  

Tom Snyder and The Tomorrow Show were awesome!  KISS on The Tomorrow Show was a classic.

On the UCF front, if UCF keeps doing what it's doing, things should work out.  Nobody knew who UCF was prior to 2017 sans references to Blake and Daunte.  Now, everybody knows who they are.  Spurrier and The Bear lived by the mantra of having people talking about you, right, whether good or bad? 

[aent]

14 hours ago, jrs2 said:

True but not regarding the "true national champion."  Before 2014, you had consensus and split national champions based on the AP and Coaches polls since, like, 1931 or 1933.  The most recent splits were in 2003, 1997, 1991, 1990, and 1978 I think.  1995 began the Bowl Coalition and 1998 began the BCS to refine it more as to who was No.1 and No.2 because teams and conferences were locked into certain bowl games for their conference champions (see Orange, Sugar, Rose, Cotton, Fiesta, etc.). The Independants, like ND, Miami, Penn St., etc.,  had an easier path. 

The Playoff is no different than the BCS, except it's 4 teams now, not 2.  But you'll always have arguments over who is No.4, and if expanded, who is No.8 or No.16 of those brackets.  Still based on rankings, but not based too much on conference standings, like the NFL. 

A true playoff like UCF'ers want puts every conference on equal footing to make it based on conference standings.  That will never happen when you have franchises like Michigan, ND, Bama, USC, OU, Texas, TOSU, UF, LSU, UGA, Clemson, FSU, Miami, Penn St, A&M, etc., involved in the analysis.  Ohio State beats Michigan for their conference title versus UCF beats USF or Memphis.  Seriously?  Do you really think those two champs should be judged equally? 

The only answer is conference realignment, but that already happened in 1991, 1992, 1997, and most recently in 2012ish.  If UCF wasn't in a position to capitalize on these opportunities at these times, it's not the NCAA's fault, it's UCF's fault.  They were winless just 2 years ago, and winless not playing a P5 schedule, rather a G5 schedule.  They built their 40k seat stadium in 2007, and still haven't had the need to expand it?  And now they are crying fowl?

The thing is YOU are denying that after 2014, you continue to have censensus and split national championships based on the major selectors by the NCAA, just the CFP invitational game became a major selector and many other selectors agreed to follow that, but not all of them. Thats why when you look at the NCAA record book for last year, it lists UCF as a national championship, and you're in denial if you don't recognize it at this point, since the NCAA did. UCF fans are not denying Alabama's portion of it, just they earned it as well, which the NCAA agrees with. If you have a 8 team playoff, with the top  G5 team, every P5 conference champion, and the 2 remaining spots going to any remaining undefeated team, or the 2 highest ranked teams, or (my preference) 2 play-in games to allow it to be a 16 team playoff only adding a single game for each team, if you count the conference championship games as the first round for those that make it into that, I don't think anyone would ever have any sort of claim they were cheated, and you wouldn't have any selectors picking different people to declare them national championships.

UCF most definetely isn't crying foul with the NCAA, they recognize the National Championship. They cry foul with ESPN and the SEC.

[spenser1058]

And your Hometown National Champions make it 21 with a defeat of the Temple Owls. The defense struggled on this one but KZ is back!

One more team undefeated in conference play succumbs - now it's jus us and Houston. Charge On!

UCF's defense struggled during win over Temple, but Knights will stay in playoff discussion
http://bit.ly/2EXUdZJ

From the Sentinel

Edited November 2, 2018 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

SI's Andy Staples says that at this point it's all about building the brand and, thanks to Danny White, we've already done that.

Meanwhile, on the field, if our D plays like that against Houston, we may have a problem (although they got better in the second half.)

http://amp.si.com/college-football/2018/11/02/ucf-temple-mckenzie-milton-playoff-race

[codypet]

What are they trying to do?  Give me a heart attack?

[spenser1058]

36 minutes ago, codypet said:

What are they trying to do?  Give me a heart attack?

The Cardiac Knights are back!

[spenser1058]

The view from the other end of I4 of your Hometown National Champions:

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2018/11/02/ucf-the-underdog-that-everyone-loves-to-hate/?template=amp

From the St. Pete Times

[jrs2]

22 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

The view from the other end of I4 of your Hometown National Champions:

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2018/11/02/ucf-the-underdog-that-everyone-loves-to-hate/?template=amp

From the St. Pete Times

Good points about having a home stadium at the least versus USF.  But I don’t know why they need a coalition with USF to get into a P5 conference.  Missouri isn’t a football juggernaut like OU, but is a very good academically, and the SEC absorbed them.  What does this mean?  I don’t know, perhaps that 13-0 isn’t all of the considerations that go into scouting a new school for a conference.

[jrs2]

On 11/1/2018 at 11:49 PM, aent said:

The thing is YOU are denying that after 2014, you continue to have censensus and split national championships based on the major selectors by the NCAA, just the CFP invitational game became a major selector and many other selectors agreed to follow that, but not all of them. Thats why when you look at the NCAA record book for last year, it lists UCF as a national championship, and you're in denial if you don't recognize it at this point, since the NCAA did. UCF fans are not denying Alabama's portion of it, just they earned it as well, which the NCAA agrees with. If you have a 8 team playoff, with the top  G5 team, every P5 conference champion, and the 2 remaining spots going to any remaining undefeated team, or the 2 highest ranked teams, or (my preference) 2 play-in games to allow it to be a 16 team playoff only adding a single game for each team, if you count the conference championship games as the first round for those that make it into that, I don't think anyone would ever have any sort of claim they were cheated, and you wouldn't have any selectors picking different people to declare them national championships.

UCF most definetely isn't crying foul with the NCAA, they recognize the National Championship. They cry foul with ESPN and the SEC.

That’s fine.  If a selector did crown them, then that’s legit- but, it would be more legit if it happened back before 2014 (Playoff), even more legit before 2004 (when the BCS tweaked the weight of the Harris Poll down(SOS)), even more legit before 1998 (first year of the BCS and Harris Poll), and even more legit before 1995 (first year of the Bowl Alliance).  Why? Because before 1995, they didn’t try to pit No.1 vs No.2, rather, the bowl allegiances controlled and they rolled the dice based on the outcome of those games.  Since then, there have been at least 4-5 levels of refinement in the process, so a selector that crowns you NC by ignoring SOS doesn’t hold much weight versus the Playoff champ, especially when each of the four Playoff contenders’ SOS is in the top 10 of the NCAA while UCF’s is only top 50 or 60.

Back in the 1980’s, they would not have gotten the nod from the NYT Computer Poll based on SOS, in fact, just the opposite; they may not have even finished ranked in the Top 15.

[aent]

2 hours ago, jrs2 said:

That’s fine.  If a selector did crown them, then that’s legit- but, it would be more legit if it happened back before 2014 (Playoff), even more legit before 2004 (when the BCS tweaked the weight of the Harris Poll down(SOS)), even more legit before 1998 (first year of the BCS and Harris Poll), and even more legit before 1995 (first year of the Bowl Alliance).  Why? Because before 1995, they didn’t try to pit No.1 vs No.2, rather, the bowl allegiances controlled and they rolled the dice based on the outcome of those games.  Since then, there have been at least 4-5 levels of refinement in the process, so a selector that crowns you NC by ignoring SOS doesn’t hold much weight versus the Playoff champ, especially when each of the four Playoff contenders’ SOS is in the top 10 of the NCAA while UCF’s is only top 50 or 60.

Back in the 1980’s, they would not have gotten the nod from the NYT Computer Poll based on SOS, in fact, just the opposite; they may not have even finished ranked in the Top 15.

And schools like Alabama claim national championships when they weren't in the top 15. NCAA set rules, under NCAA rules, UCF has a legit national championship, which is why the NCAA lists UCF as the national champion alongside Alabama for last year. I find it much more legit then those schools going back through "historians" and "discovering"  they won national championships without even knowing it to get their count up. I mean seriously, what other sport has ever done that?

[spenser1058]

Well, the survivors in Florida this week were your Hometown National Champions and FAU (who handily took out cross county rival FIU.)

We learned the difference between CFP #11 Gators and the #12 Knights: when they play a "mediocre" team (Bianchi observed this week that Temple was easily the equivalent of Mizzou, S. Carolina, Tennessee or Vandy,) the Knights win...

FSU and Miami also lost as did the Bulls.

BTW, Houston lost to SMU so our Knights are the lone undefeated team in the AAC. Assuming Houston regroups, we're still likely to see them in the AAC championship game if we keep our streak alive.

See you tomorrow for the rankings!

 

[spenser1058]

The Knights are still #1 in the Sunshine State but fell to #11 in the Coaches' poll - the Gators are at #21.

In the S&P we are at #8 and finally make an appearance in Sagarin at #23. Stay tuned...

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2804383-amway-college-football-poll-2018-complete-week-11-rankings-released.amp.html

From Bleacher Report and 24/7 Sports

Edited November 4, 2018 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Meanwhile, in the AP, your Hometown National Champions are at #11, remaining the state's highest ranked team. The Gators fall to #19.

Charge On!

https://www.dawgnation.com/football/ap-poll-top-25-week-11-georgia-football/amp

From DawgNation

Next up: this week CFP's rankings on Tuesday for the Pampered Power 5 Invitational. Stay tuned...

Edited November 4, 2018 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Oh! Let's not forget Stetson won their homecoming! Also, a win for B-CC and a loss for FAMU:

State Report: Stetson keeps rolling, earns homecoming win over Morehead State
http://bit.ly/2yUJc5P

[spenser1058]

The Midshipmen will play at the Bounce House for the first time Saturday at noon. 

ESPN2 will also have the game but let's go for a full house and keep blowing away the Bulls in attendance this year!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/sports-editor-blog/os-sp-ucf-report-1105-story.html

From the Sentinel

[spenser1058]

More on the Shula Bowl, the latest intrastate rivalry between FAU and FIU. It may have big implications for the C-USA East.

It also shows FIU has a ways to go before Butch Davis takes them to the next level.

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/platform/amp/2018/11/3/18060056/faus-ground-game-carries-them-to-a-49-14-victory-over-fiu-devin-singletary-anthony-jones-butch-davis

From SB Nation