The initial College Football Playoff rankings were released yesterday, and UCF fans have many reasons to feel hopeful that their Knights will be playing in a New Year's Six bowl game if not the College Football Playoff.
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Why should Central Florida be feeling giddy this morning about their chances to crash a major bowl game this season even if the CFP is ultimately out of reach?
Here's three reasons.
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UCF Already Beat Memphis
The Knights rolled conference foe Memphis 40-13 back in late September. This is incredibly significant because the Tigers are the only other non-Power 5 squad to appear in the top 25.
The head-to-head win also means Central Florida is in complete control of its destiny and would host the conference championship game should Memphis win the West.
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Two of the Final Four Games Are Against Sub-.500 Squads
After what should be a tough road contest this weekend at 6-2 SMU, UCF faces a pair of 3-5 teams in Connecticut and Temple.
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The Knights Get The Bulls At Home
Until South Florida's stunning home lost last weekend to Houston, it looked like The American might come down to a regular season finale between a pair of undefeated Florida schools.
Still, USF would love nothing more than to spoil their in-state rivals chances of finishing 12-0, but the Bulls will have to do so inside Spectrum Stadium where UCF is averaging an insane 59.3 points per game.
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The Bottom Line
There's still an entire month of football to be played not to mention a conference championship game. Last season undefeated Western Michigan was cruising along until it was nearly upset in its conference title showdown, so the Knights will need to stay on top of their game until early December to ensure playing in at least a New Year's Six contest.
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NEXT: Which Team Was Snubbed in Playoff Rankings?
