Since the Big East imploded and split into two conferences (only one for football), the Power 6 conferences became the Power 5. Despite the fact there are former BCS teams in the American Conference, the teams just don't get the respect that they used to. This may get called into question this season as the University of South Florida has a legitimate chance of going undefeated. This begs the question, are they a College Football Playoff team? This post will examine that.
In the 2017 season, the South Florida Bulls will be one of the teams to watch. This season, they play against two teams that were ranked in the top 25 last season. In addition, they have a new head coach who was most recently the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. They will be ranked in the top 25 to begin the season, and face a schedule where they are favored to win in every game they play. If South Florida goes undefeated, should they be considered for the College Football Playoff?
I argue yes! The reason why is three fold. The first being that if the committee truly values wins like they claim they do, then they should not be able to deny an undefeated team the right to play in the CFP. The second reason is that they used to be a Power 6 team, and the quality of the teams has not decreased with them being in the American Conference, but teams like South Florida have elevated other teams like Tulsa and Temple to become legitimate, solid football teams. The third is that they play a schedule with multiple teams that were ranked in the top 25 last season, and will most likely be ranked in the top 25 again this season.
If they do make it to the CFP, would their resume be strong enough to tell a 1 loss, lets say USC, for example, that they will not make the playoff? Will strength of schedule get a team with more losses into the CFP instead? Will South Florida go undefeated? If not, who beats them? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
Thank you for reading!
Dan Snyder
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