At least Nick Saban is a compassionate king.
He may have a reputation for being grumpy and gruff, but the unquestioned crowned head of college football actually feels the pain of neglected programs such as UCF.
Unlike so many of the Power 5 propagandists in the national media and even members of his own team who have ridiculed UCF’s self-proclaimed national championship, Alabama’s Saban — the greatest coach in college football history — actually commended UCF on Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
Saban answered thoughtfully and profoundly when I asked him his feelings about the Knights, who finished with a perfect season last year and weren’t even considered for the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“Look, I have tremendous amount of compassion for UCF and what they accomplished this year in going undefeated,” said Saban, whose team beat Georgia for his record-tying sixth national championship last season. “We've only had one team that's gone undefeated and won the national championship, and that was in 2009. And that is very, very, very difficult to do for anyone. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for the [UCF] players.
“I’m not responsible for the system that determines who gets in the playoffs. But I think they did a good job of determining who got in the playoffs, and we can have another discussion about the future of the playoffs and how many teams should get in the playoffs … There are a lot of philosophical questions that everybody needs to take into consideration as what the best way to do this whole (playoff) thing is, and I don't think I have the answer to that. That's not what I get paid to do.”
But it sure would be nice if those who do get paid to organize and orchestrate the College Football Playoff [see executive director Bill Hancock] would at least be as honest as Saban and admit that maybe just maybe the system isn’t perfect.
Saban, as you would expect, said he felt the best teams made the playoff last year, but it was still refreshing to hear somebody of his enormous magnitude at least empathize with UCF’s predicament.
It would have been easy for Saban to be like all of the others and simply dismiss the UCFs of the world and tell them to stay in their lane and accept whatever crumbs the big-boy conferences drop on the floor. While Saban doesn’t agree with UCF’s national championship claims, he at least has some empathy for the Knight plight.
So many others in the college football establishment — media members, fans and players — have found it necessary to ridicule UCF’s claims. For instance, Alabama running back Damien Harris trolled UCF on social media back in January and told me Wednesday that he felt “disrespected” by UCF’s self-proclaimed national championship.
Alabama RB Damien Harris originally felt disrespected by UCF national championship claims
In contrast, Saban at least seems to understand how UCF itself felt disrespected by not even getting a sniff of consideration from the College Football Playoff Committee.
Meanwhile, Hancock — as likable and polite as he is — continues to pretend as if the CFB Playoff is perfect. With a straight face, he claimed again on Wednesday that the playoff system is fair and equitable and gives Group of 5 schools the same access as Power 5 schools.
“For the College Football Playoff, things are simple: Play a good schedule, win your games and you’re going to be in the hunt,” Hancock told me Wednesday. “That holds true for UCF, Houston and Northern Illinois as well Alabama, Ohio State, Texas and Washington.”
Of course, this is nonsense. Near the end of last season, UCF and Wisconsin were the only two unbeaten teams in the country and had nearly an identical strength of schedule, but Wisconsin was ranked No. 8 by the CFB Playoff Committee; UCF was ranked No. 18.
That’s right, UCF was the highest-scoring team in the nation and has essentially played the same schedule as Wisconsin — and beat its opponents more decisively than Wisconsin — and yet UCF was ranked 10 spots below the Badgers. When I asked Hancock Wednesday how that could be considered fair and equitable, he said, “I don’t think the numerical ranking of the strength of schedule is as important as the committee looking at the schedules side-by-side.”
Translation: The committee is biased and probably gave more credence to a Wisconsin victory over a 4-8 Nebraska team last year than it did a UCF victory over a 10-2 USF. Why? Because the committee is partial to the Power 5 name brands and always will be.
Hancock also said another unbeaten season by UCF this year would mean no more in the eyes of committee members than the unbeaten season last year. “What happened last year has no bearing on what happened this year,” he said. “We start with a clean sheet of paper every year.”
Translation: An undefeated UCF would get no more consideration this season than it did last season.
Which means the only way UCF and schools of its ilk will ever get into the current College Football Playoff semifinals is by divine intervention.
Either an act of God.
Or a royal decree by King Saban.
System won't change, but at least Alabama coach Nick Saban has 'tremendous compassion' for UCF after playoff snub
He may have a reputation for being grumpy and gruff, but the unquestioned crowned head of college football actually feels the pain of neglected programs such as UCF.
Unlike so many of the Power 5 propagandists in the national media and even members of his own team who have ridiculed UCF’s self-proclaimed national championship, Alabama’s Saban — the greatest coach in college football history — actually commended UCF on Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
Saban answered thoughtfully and profoundly when I asked him his feelings about the Knights, who finished with a perfect season last year and weren’t even considered for the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“Look, I have tremendous amount of compassion for UCF and what they accomplished this year in going undefeated,” said Saban, whose team beat Georgia for his record-tying sixth national championship last season. “We've only had one team that's gone undefeated and won the national championship, and that was in 2009. And that is very, very, very difficult to do for anyone. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for the [UCF] players.
“I’m not responsible for the system that determines who gets in the playoffs. But I think they did a good job of determining who got in the playoffs, and we can have another discussion about the future of the playoffs and how many teams should get in the playoffs … There are a lot of philosophical questions that everybody needs to take into consideration as what the best way to do this whole (playoff) thing is, and I don't think I have the answer to that. That's not what I get paid to do.”
But it sure would be nice if those who do get paid to organize and orchestrate the College Football Playoff [see executive director Bill Hancock] would at least be as honest as Saban and admit that maybe just maybe the system isn’t perfect.
Saban, as you would expect, said he felt the best teams made the playoff last year, but it was still refreshing to hear somebody of his enormous magnitude at least empathize with UCF’s predicament.
It would have been easy for Saban to be like all of the others and simply dismiss the UCFs of the world and tell them to stay in their lane and accept whatever crumbs the big-boy conferences drop on the floor. While Saban doesn’t agree with UCF’s national championship claims, he at least has some empathy for the Knight plight.
So many others in the college football establishment — media members, fans and players — have found it necessary to ridicule UCF’s claims. For instance, Alabama running back Damien Harris trolled UCF on social media back in January and told me Wednesday that he felt “disrespected” by UCF’s self-proclaimed national championship.
Alabama RB Damien Harris originally felt disrespected by UCF national championship claims
In contrast, Saban at least seems to understand how UCF itself felt disrespected by not even getting a sniff of consideration from the College Football Playoff Committee.
Meanwhile, Hancock — as likable and polite as he is — continues to pretend as if the CFB Playoff is perfect. With a straight face, he claimed again on Wednesday that the playoff system is fair and equitable and gives Group of 5 schools the same access as Power 5 schools.
“For the College Football Playoff, things are simple: Play a good schedule, win your games and you’re going to be in the hunt,” Hancock told me Wednesday. “That holds true for UCF, Houston and Northern Illinois as well Alabama, Ohio State, Texas and Washington.”
Of course, this is nonsense. Near the end of last season, UCF and Wisconsin were the only two unbeaten teams in the country and had nearly an identical strength of schedule, but Wisconsin was ranked No. 8 by the CFB Playoff Committee; UCF was ranked No. 18.
That’s right, UCF was the highest-scoring team in the nation and has essentially played the same schedule as Wisconsin — and beat its opponents more decisively than Wisconsin — and yet UCF was ranked 10 spots below the Badgers. When I asked Hancock Wednesday how that could be considered fair and equitable, he said, “I don’t think the numerical ranking of the strength of schedule is as important as the committee looking at the schedules side-by-side.”
Translation: The committee is biased and probably gave more credence to a Wisconsin victory over a 4-8 Nebraska team last year than it did a UCF victory over a 10-2 USF. Why? Because the committee is partial to the Power 5 name brands and always will be.
Hancock also said another unbeaten season by UCF this year would mean no more in the eyes of committee members than the unbeaten season last year. “What happened last year has no bearing on what happened this year,” he said. “We start with a clean sheet of paper every year.”
Translation: An undefeated UCF would get no more consideration this season than it did last season.
Which means the only way UCF and schools of its ilk will ever get into the current College Football Playoff semifinals is by divine intervention.
Either an act of God.
Or a royal decree by King Saban.
System won't change, but at least Alabama coach Nick Saban has 'tremendous compassion' for UCF after playoff snub
