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This is pretty much it.

I actually don't give a crap what happens to Cincinnati. What bothers me is a system that purports to say that half of FBS is in the same sport and division as P5 teams, but which eliminates them from contention every damn year before the season's opening kickoff.

If that is the case, don't even rank them in the CFP rankings. If you'd put 10-3 Wisconsin in over 13-0 Cincinnati, why lie and even rank them at all.

You can either break the P5 away and actually be truthful about who has a chance in this sport, or you should give them an actual chance (i.e. 6+2). 

The real dream is promotion an relegation, but alas, the sport isn't flexible like that. 

This is pretty much it.

I actually don't give a crap what happens to Cincinnati. What bothers me is a system that purports to say that half of FBS is in the same sport and division as P5 teams, but which eliminates them from contention every damn year before the season's opening kickoff.

If that is the case, don't even rank them in the CFP rankings. If you'd put 10-3 Wisconsin in over 13-0 Cincinnati, why lie and even rank them at all.

You can either break the P5 away and actually be truthful about who has a chance in this sport, or you should give them an actual chance (i.e. 6+2). 

I agree.

I've always said the G5 is in purgatory. 

They can achieve out of it (TCU, Utah), but that's hard and takes luck and timing, along with success.  What I don't understand is that these FCS teams who CAN compete for national championships keep flocking up for the $$$ while forfeiting any chance at a NC.  That's plainly what they're doing.  Boise, GA Southern, and others, and now James Madison are putting a 'success ceiling' on their own players and programs to chase some additional dollars. 

Cincinnati is going to discover the ceiling in a big way this year, whether they're in the playoff or not.  Not getting in = ceiling.  Getting in and being curb-stomped with the nation watching = ceiling. 

And again, fairness isn't a thing. 

And again, fairness isn't a thing. 

If fairness isn't a thing, sports isn't a thing.

Cincinnati is going to discover the ceiling in a big way this year, whether they're in the playoff or not.  Not getting in = ceiling.  Getting in and being curb-stomped with the nation watching = ceiling. 

Pretty sure every team that has been in the playoffs has gotten curb stomped outside of Georgia and LSU.

Pretty sure every team that has been in the playoffs has gotten curb stomped outside of Georgia and LSU.

And again, a straw man argument.  I fully expect Cincinnati to get blasted.  Doesn't change my opinion.  otherwise just use the 247 composite recruiting rankings, and put the top 4 in.

For the life of me I don't understand why anyone would expect, say, Oklahoma State to do any better than Cincy.

The only realistic way for OkSU to get in is for them to win back-to-back games against Oklahoma then either Baylor or Oklahoma again.  IF they do that, I will say that they are a better team than Cincy no matter what Cincy does against ECU and Houston and I'm assuming that SP+ and the like will agree with me and yes, I'll absolutely expect them to do better than Cincy because they'll be a pretty obviously better team.  

The same is true for Oklahoma just substitute back-to-back games against OkSU.  

The same is true for Baylor just substitute TxTech and OkSU.  

Any which way the winner of the B12 will be a better team.  

This is pretty much it.

I actually don't give a crap what happens to Cincinnati. What bothers me is a system that purports to say that half of FBS is in the same sport and division as P5 teams, but which eliminates them from contention every damn year before the season's opening kickoff.

If that is the case, don't even rank them in the CFP rankings. If you'd put 10-3 Wisconsin in over 13-0 Cincinnati, why lie and even rank them at all.

You can either break the P5 away and actually be truthful about who has a chance in this sport, or you should give them an actual chance (i.e. 6+2). 

I'm not saying no way ever, I'm saying Cincy hasn't done enough.  Their schedule isn't very good.  Obviously a BIG part of that is playing in the AAC but they CHOSE to play Miami, OH and an FCS team OOC.  Then one of their other two OOC games was IU which frankly is probably about what they expected when they scheduled them however many years ago and the only good one is ND which I frankly think is overrated although they may actually be pretty good now.  

If Cincy was closing in on 13-0 with IU replaced by say aTm (#18 in the CBS 1-130) and FCS replaced by say Purdue (#33 in the CBS 1-130) then I'd look at it differently.  Their best opponents would be:

• #6 ND
• #18 aTm
• #19 Houston
• #30 SMU
• #33 Purdue

That is not altogether terrible compared to a hypothetical B1G Champion tOSU:

• #5 M - roughly even 5v6
• #11 MSU - roughly even 11v18
• #13 Ore - roughly even 13v19
• #15 UW - tOSU much better 15v30
• #29 PSU - roughly even 29v33

I'm just using tOSU as a fill-in here for basically any P5 team because the story is the same with nearly all of them.  As it is now Cincy has a comparable #1 opponent but after that they are WAY behind nearly any P5 at each step.  

Look at this chart:

Other than #1 opponent and the last few, Cincy is generally about 2-3 steps behind the Oklahoma's, tOSU, or Bama:

• Their #2 is comparable to OkSU's #3/4, OU's #3/4, ND's #2, tOSU's #4, Bama's #3
• Their #3 is comparable to OkSU's #4, OU's #4, ND's #3, tOSU's #5/6, Bama's #5
• Their #4 is comparable to OkSU's #7, OU's #6, ND's #6, tOSU's #8, Bama's #9
• Their #5 is comparable to OkSU's #8, OU's #7, ND's #6, tOSU's #8, Bama's #9
• Their #6 is comparable to OkSU's #10, OU's #10, ND's #9, tOSU's #10, Bama's #10
• Their #7 is comparable to OkSU's #11(exact), OU's #10/11, ND's #10, tOSU's #12(exact), Bama's #10/11
• Their #8 is comparable to OkSU's #12, OU's #11, ND's #12(exact), tOSU's #12/13, Bama's #10/11
• Their #9 is comparable to 

I just realized I didn't reorganize for IU's drop but you get the point.  Every week Cincy's opponent was easier than OkSU's, OU's, ND's, tOSU's, and Bama's by a not insignificant margin.  They need two more good to great opponents to rectify that and they chose Murray State instead.  That is on them.