D1 college football has always been a caste-enabled athletic institution. Its independence from the NCAA and team/conference bias manifest this characterization.
From the pre-BCS ranking system and the BCS to the current College Football Playoff, equal opportunity and fair play have never been considered necessary when it comes to the top four teams at the end of the regular season.
No matter the quality wins or undefeated record, unless you are the SEC or a Power 5 conference team, you won’t be playing for a national championship.
And that, unfortunately, is a fact.
This year’s caste-system victim is Cincinnati who, despite going into South Bend last month and beating the Irish, is once again relegated to the outside looking in.
This happens every year, pleasing college football traditionalists who fear their beloved alma mater being upset by rebelious teams daring to breach the fortifications surrounding the Power 5.
Appalachian State, Utah (pre-Pac 12 membership), Boise State, UCF and Cincinnati are a few who successfully infiltrated the sport’s kingdom of Camelot.
In response, the power structure refused to play top FCS teams, bought off others by welcoming them into a Power 5 conference or simply ignore them by leaving them out of the top four.
We witnessed the latter once again when the first CFP rankings were released on November 2nd and the Cincinnati Bearcats tumbled to 6th despite being undefeated and beating Notre Dame, who was ranked 9th at the time.
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