UCF's national title claims won't move Group of 5 any closer to Playoff

Go to Disney World. Raise have a banner. Have a parade.

All those things are warranted after UCF beat Auburn 34-27 in the Peach Bowl on Monday.

It's a victory that legitimized gripes of Group of 5 fans about their place in the College Football Playoff era and adds some progressive conversions as to whether an eight-team playoff isn't just warranted, but necessary. The Group of 5 had all that going in its favor.

MORE: UCF's Peach Bowl win is powerful closing argument for G5

UCF coach Scott Frost was right when he criticized the committee for keeping the Knights low in the rankings afterward. That's the most legitimate argument of all: The College Football Playoff committee suppressed UCF this season. This victory could have loosened that grip.  

Until, of course, this claimed national title nonsense spun out of control. Oh, UCF can claim a national title; it wouldn't be the first school to do it. But it didn't win a national championship, and this won't help UCF, the Group of 5 or the push for an eight-team playoff if it spins out of control over the next week.

It's not productive. It's moving backward, and fast. The longer it goes on, the greater chance the Power 5 will strike back and the conversation will move away from an eight-team playoff to a word Group of 5 schools don't want to hear: Autonomy.

Remember, it was Alabama's Nick Saban who suggested Power 5 schools play 12 games against each other in the first place. What do you think Saban — the most influential voice in college football right now — will say if he's asked about UCF on the podium if the Crimson Tide win the College Football Playoff championship on Monday?

You thought Cinderella's stepmother was bossy? Wait until you hear that response. If UCF is trying to revolutionize the playoff, then this simply isn't the way to do it. What would be a more productive solution?

Don't make claims to a national championship you haven't won. That's a losing argument, even for an undefeated team. Anybody can say they would beat Alabama or Georgia when they don't have to play them. UCF isn't the first school outside the power conferences to go undefeated since the BCS era started in 1998.

Here are the other teams and their corresponding bowl results: 

None of those teams claimed a national title, because that claim wasn't there in the BCS era. The BCS buried unbeaten Boise State and TCU in 2009 because it had undefeated Alabama and Texas in the title game.

TCU talked a little smack too when it put "Little Sisters of the Poor" banners in Columbus, Ohio, after winning the Rose Bowl in 2011. The Horned Frogs host the Buckeyes next year — as a member of the Big 12. Utah also used its undefeated seasons to move up the Power 5 ladder. Yet the collective success of Utah, Boise State and TCU helped spark talk for a four-team playoff.

Especially Boise State. The Broncos are the best-case model for any Group of 5 school that wants a legitimate playoff shot. It took more than one undefeated season to build that credit. Boise State scheduled big and played big, and had a legitimate chance for that national championship shot in 2010 before losing 34-31 to Nevada. Had the Broncos gone undefeated that year, it would have been justifiable to put them ahead of Oregon, which they had beaten the previous season. 

MORE: Nebraska finally gets to the points with Scott Frost

That's the reality for Group of 5: It's never going to be fair, because it's always going to be subjective. UCF can say it would beat Alabama and Georgia because it beat the team that beat them, but the overwhelming perception will always be the Tigers didn't want to be there. The better way to put it is Auburn didn't have as much to play for. That game meant everything for the Knights, and they played like it. The Tigers get nothing perception-wise from winning that game, much like Wisconsin against Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl Classic last season.

If UCF proclaims itself national champion, then it's going to give the Power 5 schools even more incentive to push them down. What if the Big 12 reopens expansion talks? Would the conference hold this as a strike against the Knights? Don't rule it out.

It's also a distraction from what the Group of 5 schools need to do, which is find a way to hold on to their coaches. Frost levied those criticisms, and he also took the UCF job. Frost also left to take a Power 5 job. P.J. Fleck left for Minnesota after leading Western Michigan to an undefeated regular season in 2016. Tom Herman, who led Houston to a victory in the Peach Bowl in 2015, is now at Texas. Western Michigan and Houston combined for a 13-11 record in 2017. That's the challenge for first-year coach Josh Heupel. How can he keep that momentum going at UCF?

Group of 5 schools need to keep that progressive eight-team playoff discussion moving in a favorable light. Remember, an eight-team playoff doesn't guarantee a Group of 5 school gets in: The Big Ten isn't even guaranteed a spot in a four-team playoff, and UCF finished No. 12 in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Who says the Group of 5 is guaranteed one in an eight-team format, beside nobody?

MORE: Ranking the best teams that never won it all

If that's the case, who do you think the committee would take faced with that last-team-in decision? Penn State or Appalachian State? LSU or Toledo? It's still the Power 5 school every time.

The best thing to do? Group of 5 schools need to keep having moments like this. The BCS era moved us closer with the likes of Boise State, TCU and Utah.

Houston beat Florida State in 2015 and doubled down by beating Oklahoma in the regular-season opener in 2016. The Cougars were ranked No. 6 before losing to Navy. Had Houston won out that year, then it had a legitimate claim to get in the College Football Playoff over Washington. That two-year plan is still the best way in. 

Schedule big. Win big. In fact, just keep winning until there are no excuses left for the Power 5 to give that shot — once and for all. If that ever happens and the Group of 5 schools win it all, then Disney World, the banner and parade will be that much more meaningful.

There will be only one claim left to make. The dream the Group of 5 wishes will come true.