After finishing the regular season 8-0 in AAC play and a perfect 11-0 overall, UCF jumped just one spot to No. 14 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
The Knights clinched the AAC East on Black Friday with a thrilling 49-42 win over rival USF (9-2, 6-2 AAC), which gave them their first perfect regular season ever. UCF was No. 15 in last week’s rankings, but five teams that were ranked higher went down on the final weekend of the regular season. Two of those, Alabama and Miami, were undefeated. Their losses leave UCF and Wisconsin as the only two undefeated teams in the country. The Badgers are ranked No. 4.
Last week, seven two-loss teams and a three-loss team were ranked ahead of the Knights. After some shakeup this week, a new three-loss team (Stanford) and six two-loss teams are ahead of UCF. Fresno State (No. 25) and Memphis (No. 20) are the only other Group of Five teams in the rankings.
The playoff committee has made it clear all season that the Knights weren’t going to get top-four consideration, even with an undefeated season. That leaves them with the prize of making a New Year’s Six bowl game, which they will do if they can beat Memphis in this Saturday’s AAC Championship Game. The game is being hosted at Spectrum Stadium. Kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m.
