Brian Out Loud

Provided, of course, the Knights can win out their schedule and extend a nation’s best winning streak that is at 19 games and counting.

Call me crazy for saying it. And some of you will.

You’ll come firing back at me with the argument that the Knights don’t play anyone. That their schedule is too easy. That they don’t belong on the same field as any of those mighty Power 5 schools.

Ask Auburn about that. The Tigers were beaten by the Knights in the Peach Bowl last year. UCF beat two other nationally ranked teams last season during its unbeaten “national championship season.”

I get it. It was South Florida and Memphis, but hey, nationally ranked is nationally ranked. It doesn’t matter what the name on the front of the jersey says.

This season, Pitt is among the teams UCF has beaten. The Knights slapped the Panthers back to Pennsylvania in a 45-14 win. Notre Dame, meanwhile, squeaked by Pitt 19-14.

I’m not one to compare scores week to week. It means little. But my reason for bringing up the comparison is to show that in a one-game setting, anything can happen.

And when you look at the landscape of college football this year, is there a team other than Alabama that has separated itself from everyone else?

Clemson is unbeaten but not invincible. LSU has a chance to contend but the Tigers lost to Florida. Ohio State is unbeaten as well but hasn’t played anyone worth the lint in my pocket.

The Big 12 doesn’t have a real contender. Neither does the Pac 12.

So, if there is a year where the playoff committee should consider bringing UCF into the picture, this is it.

All we hear is that UCF doesn’t stand a chance at survival in the playoffs, and maybe the Knights would get hammered by an Alabama or a Clemson or an Ohio State.

But odds are, in my opinion, that a playoff game pitting an unbeaten UCF team against a Power Five foe would be interesting and far more competitive than many of you think.

The folks running college football want you to believe every playoff game up to this point has been a thriller and that having a blowout in the postseason would ruin everything.

But keep in mind that two seasons ago, Ohio State was blanked by Clemson and Alabama thumped Washington. The year before that, Michigan State was waxed in shutout fashion by Alabama, and Oklahoma lost by 20 to Clemson. Oregon crushed Florida State in 2015 by 39 points.

In fact, of the four college football playoffs that have taken place, only two semifinal matchups have been decided by six points or less.

So, at worst, UCF, if given a playoff shot, would just follow the lead of the teams before it. But at best, the Knights pull off a stunner and play for the title, setting off end-of-the-world warnings everywhere.

Just give UCF a shot at the playoffs.

Let the Knights have their opportunity to knock off the quote marks surrounding the words national championship and give them a chance to play for the real one for once.