UCF -- 2017 Strength of Victory National Champions
Shortly after Alabama raised the trophy from their overtime win over Georgia in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game, we all began to see it. UCF, fresh off an undefeated season and a Peach Bowl win over SEC West Division winners Auburn, began a relentless recognition campaign of their season success, including a claim as "National Champions". Most snickered a little and thought it was cute. But the school persisted. Rings were made, parades occurred, merchandise flew off the shelves. UCF wasn't trying to be funny...they believed it.
We loved it. This situation falls right in the wheelhouse of our mission here at DPSRankings.com. Since day #1, we've been outspoken opponents of the current college football system, and all of the systems that came before this one. And we don't intend to rest until the system is fixed. It's about fear (money), fairness, and opportunity. We're not going to get into that debate right now, but it our firm belief that UCF did enough to earn the right to PLAY for the National Championship of Division 1-A college football. And guess what? So did Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma, and even eventual playoff champion Alabama.
Was UCF worthy? Most definitely they were. Forget what you've been trained about RANKINGS...which artificially keep you from believing they are. UCF finished the 2017 season as the #1 team in the land in the strength of victory component of our rankings. That's very significant. What does it mean? It means that the teams UCF beat won a lot of football games. Strength of Victory is a measure of the FBS winning percentage of the FBS teams you BEAT. UCF's conquered opponents were the most-winning of all teams in the land on average. That means the Knights won games against teams that won a lot of games. That's pure math....it's not debatable. (Note: Strength of Victory is slightly different than schedule strength, which is a measure of the power ranking of all teams on your schedule, whether you won the game against them or not)
Sure, the Knights would have been significant underdogs every step of the way in a mythical 8-team playoff scenario that allowed them access. Just like they were against Auburn. Last time we checked UCF won that game.
So go ahead UCF...keeping printing those shirts. You earned it!
















