Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2013-14 season.
UCF stunned eighth-ranked Louisville, 38-35, winning a dramatic American Athletic Conference showdown in the final seconds last Friday night before a packed crowd of 55,212 at Papa John's Cardinals Stadium. But the Knights’ signature road win over a ranked team evaporated into the mist when the weekly BCS standings were released.
Just as Louisville won a BCS game against SEC representative Florida last year in an Allstate Sugar Bowl matchup that transformed quarterback Teddy Bridgewater into a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, UCF has put another notch in its portfolio. But the Knights still are not being recognized for the success they are having on the gridiron.
The irony is The American has a guaranteed bid to a BCS game, but their ranking in the initial BCS standings gives credence to conspiracy theorists that there is a separate-but-equal mentality among the more established football conferences. UCF is ranked No. 23. The highest ranked non-BCS school is 6-0 Fresno State, which is No. 17 in the initial BCS standings. Undefeated Northern Illinois is No. 18. If one of these teams finishes in the top 12, it will earn an automatic spot in a BCS game. Louisville (6-1) is ranked No. 20.
The Knights (5-1) deserve more love.
UCF has not only defeated Louisville, a ranked team and the overwhelming pre-season American Athletic Conference favorite; but the Knights have also knocked off Penn State, 34-31, at Happy Valley, smashed an Akron team that almost upset Michigan in the Big House and played a competitive game against SEC contender South Carolina before losing, 28-25, at the Bounce House in Orlando.
No non-BCS team has that type of resume.
Speaking of Michigan, it has a Big Ten brand name, a lofty preseason ranking and wins over Notre Dame and an improved Indiana team, but the 6-1 Wolverines also have a four overtime 41-40 road loss to Penn State at State College and struggled to beat 2-6 Akron at home and UConn in East Hartford.
Yet they are ranked ahead of UCF in the polls and the BCS.rankings
The Knights' position in the BCS standings after beating Louisville head-to-head on the road is just another example of the gerrymandering that goes on among college administrators and gives credence to the theory that BCS presidents aren't interested in the integrity of the game, but rather in preserving their own investments. It takes the wind out of the sails that wins and losses on the field actually have any relevance in determining a national championship under the current system.
We know everything is not fair, but these so-called infallible computer rankings are a closed end fund for presidents who do not want to share the benefits and want to create a caste system to regulate achievement rather than salute accomplishment, which is what intercollegiate sports is attempting to do with its upcoming four-team national playoff.
UCF is a team on the rise and the Knights are emerging as a team that will eventually define this league. They have a capable coach in George O'Leary, who won 10 games in 2012, a future NFL quarterback in 6-4, 227-pound Blake Bortles, a relatively young roster that could end the season ranked in the top 20, and are suddenly the favorites to represent the conference in a BCS game.
The Knights' performance against Louisville should have raised eyebrows. Down 28-7 midway through the third quarter, UCF responded with three touchdowns in the span of 7:22 and outscored the Cards, 31-7, the rest of the way. Staging a classic, game-winning 11 play, 75 yard drive in the final three minutes that ended with Bortles’ throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Godfrey with 23 seconds remaining. The Knights outgained the Cardinals 269-210 in the second half and finished with 446 yards of total offense against a defense that has only given up 7.3 points a game.
"We tell our kids to never, ever give up," O'Leary said. "Our kids were jumping to the music. I knew we were going to be OK.
"We had a couple of good things happen, and it lit a fire."
The flames of excitement are burning on this UCF's campus. The Knights have six American Athletic Conference games left to play. Four of those games, including a date with 5-1 Houston, are at home. UCF's two remaining road trips are manageable. The Knights play at Temple Nov. 16 and end the season with a road trip to SMU. They should be favorites in very game they play the rest of the year.
It's about time the rest of the country noticed.
Football rankings have always been subjective, but mistakes like this are less likely to happen in the future once college football goes to a 13 person College Football Playoff selection committee to determine the four teams that will participate in a playoff for the national championship in January at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
"I hope this distinguished committee addresses some of the things in the polls that, historically, don’t make sense,'' American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said. “I think they will, as strength of schedule, among other things, will become more important as a factor.”
He just wants his league to have a fair shot at inclusion if one of his teams deserves inclusion.
The CFP committee is filled with star power and high profile names like Archie Manning, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. There will be one athletic director from each of five BCS conferences - Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long (SEC), who will chair the committee, West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck (Big 12), Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez (Big Ten), USC athletic director Pat Haden (Pac-12) and Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich (ACC). The rest of the committee will consist of Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, the former superintendent of the Air Force Academy, former NCAA executive vice president Tom Jernstedt, former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, Steve Wieberg, a former college football reporter for USA Today, former Nebraska coach and athletic director Tom Osborne, and former college coach Tyrone Willingham.
The committee has been widely hailed for its knowledge and integrity. The CFP committee will meet approximately four times, releasing standings four of five times, beginning in October. Then it will meet a final time to make selections.
Hopefully, there will be enough eyes in that room to see the big picture a little better than the computers and some of the pollsters have in the past.