(01-02-2021 11:31 AM)mustangxc Wrote: (01-01-2021 05:45 PM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote: I just want the AAC Champion to win the NY6 bowl on a consistent basis.
Both the CFP expansion and Power 6 depend on it.
UCF and Boise State have the Goliath Killer persona by the media.
I’m not sure why Houston’s NY6 win doesn’t carry the same weight in public perception.
The biggest difference is UCF and Boise State have both made 3 BCS/NY6 bowls in the last 15 years whereas Houston only made one appearance. Houston was very close on two other occasions but close is simply forgotten by most fans.
2016 and Houston after the Peach Bowl win is actually an interesting discussion point.
Houston finished 2015 8/8 in the final polls, and then was pre-season 15/13. By comparison, UCF was 6/7 after their 2017 Peach Bowl win and opened at 21/23.
Houston beat Oklahoma and was at 6/5 (still before CFP came out) when Navy beat them. After that loss, Houston only dropped to #13/12 (and Navy, with a bad loss to Air Force prior came into the AP at #25, rv in Coaches). Before Houston's loss to SMU, they got up to 11/11. Why does that matter before CFP? Well, when the first CFP rankings came out that year, the top 11 in the AP poll were in the top 11 of the CFP. Had Houston lost to Navy but not to SMU, they would have almost certainly have started the CFP rankings higher than UCF did after their Peach Bowl win. Had they won both? The Coogs might have started the 2016 CFP rankings higher than any of our flag-bearers have ever been since. Undefeated UW was at #5 in the first CFP ranking and would end up #4 with one loss; UW might have fallen below Houston with their first loss. Then a November win over one-loss Louisville might have solidified #4 for Houston - Louisville was #5 in the CFP when Houston beat them in mid-November. (and supposedly, then, not lose to Memphis, and then beat Temple again in the ccg).
But that didn't happen.
That was the year where 2-loss Navy was poised to overtake undefeated WMU for the NY6 bid based on "quality wins"...which the CFP committee identified as their AAC wins, not the win over a down Notre Dame.
...cynical me says that a Houston team, with wins over Oklahoma and Louisville, undefeated in a tough AAC that that year's committee credited when it was a #18 discussion not a top 4 discussion would have still somehow been #5.
And then, 2016 gets overshadowed by flash-in-the-pan WMU taking the NY6 bowl bid over THREE loss Temple.
On one hand, UCF fans should squawk less about doing things no one else has, or being some kind of trailblazer, or everyone else owes credit to them.
On the other hand...did UCF get downgraded through 2018 because Houston didn't deliver on 2015's promise in 2016?