College Football Playoff rankings – Snub to Cincinnati and Group of 5 is simply unbearable

For the first time since the College Football Playoff was established in 2014, there was some real, genuine hope that Cincinnati would make history as the first Group of 5 team to make the top four.

How naïve.

The CFP selection committee reminded us all once again that the Group of 5 need not apply to the playoff, that they are judged by a different set of rules, that they might as well be playing for crumpets and not national championships.

Despite the best nonconference record of any undefeated Group of 5 team ever presented to the committee, Cincinnati landed at No. 6 in the first rankings reveal Tuesday — a complete and utter joke that insults every school that resides outside the major conferences.

The selection committee might pat itself on the back for putting Cincinnati higher than any Group of 5 team in playoff history. But the hypocrisy would be laughable if it was not so pathetic. When UCF went undefeated in 2017 and 2018 and did not even come close to the top four, people like CFP executive director Bill Hancock told us all that if the Knights’ nonconference schedule was just a little bit better, who knows what might have happened?

Hancock in particular held up 2016 Houston as a shining example. That season, Houston beat Oklahoma to open the year. But the Cougars stumbled during conference play and they were eliminated from consideration. Back in 2018, when asked whether the committee was unfair to Group of 5 teams, Hancock told ESPN, “I don’t buy it. Look no further than Houston. Everything was teed up for them, a good schedule, a good conference schedule, and I just disagree with those people.”

Cincinnati has a good schedule. Same conference (AAC) as Houston, as a matter of fact. Its definitive nonconference road win over Notre Dame is actually better at…