ORLANDO, Fla. — Sadly, just like when UCF went unbeaten for two straight regular seasons, the Cincinnati Bearcats are finding out there’s no seat on the bus and no room at the inn for them in the Power 5 Invitational otherwise known as the College Football Playoff.
The Bearcats are 8-0, but yet they are only No. 8 in the latest playoff rankings — one spot behind two-loss Iowa State of the Big 12. And, yes, the Ohio State Buckeyes, who have played only five games and have a terrible strength of schedule, are ranked No. 4 and will undoubtedly get into the playoff because, well, they are Ohio State.
Unfortunately, in college football, your brand matters more than your body of work. As UCF athletics director Danny White has told me many times: “It’s not a playoff; it’s an invitational. We would love to see the leadership of college football expand the current invitational into a real playoff that determines one true national champion. If we need a model to emulate, we could simply look at every other sport in America — college or pro — that determine their champions on the field or on the court.”
This year in particular, the College Football Playoff selection committee should be especially ashamed of itself.
If ever there were a season to punish the Big Ten champion, this was it. First and foremost, the league is absolutely awful right now. Secondly, conference leaders have looked like a waffling, flip-flopping band of buffoons all year long. The reason Ohio State has played only five games is because the Big Ten was late to the party, left itself no wiggle room and now is changing its rules yet again to get the Buckeyes into the conference championship game.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s players, coaches and fans, like UCF before them, will have their noses pressed against glass when the playoff commences.
If I’ve written it once, I’ve written it a million times:
The good ol’ boys of college football have effectively locked smudged-and-tattered Cinderella in the basement, where she is expected to wash the dishes, scrub the floors and iron the clothes so her Power 5 stepsisters can get all gussied up for their private and privileged postseason ball.
