Almost all of the experts had the University of Louisville football team ranked among college football’s top four teams this week. Almost all of them is except for members of the College Football Playoff Committee which put UofL in the fifth spot.
The Associated Press and the Coaches Poll both had the Cardinals at No. 3 in the national polls, as did Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN who has indicated he believes Louisville is the only team with the talent capable of knocking off Alabama for the national championship.
The fact that it took a room full of committee members to keep the Cardinals out of the top four probably says more about the shortcomings of the committee process than it does about the quality of Louisville football.
The College Football Playoff Committee voting results contradicting the independent opinions of writers, broadcasters and coaches who follow the sport religiously. All too often committee decisions are nothing more than mediocre compromises between conflicting viewpoints of the participants.
In this case, there appears to be a bias toward the traditional powers, specifically in the Big 10 Conference. The selection process would be much more credible with more transparency, making the votes of the committee members available to the public.
It would be interesting, for example, to know the votes of Dan Radakovich, the athletic director at Clemson, or Jeff Long, the athletic director who fired UofL Coach Bobby Petrino when he was at Arkansas. Doubtful Jeff Long would ever give Petrino the benefit of the doubt, especially at a competing school in another conference.
The lack of recognition shouldn’t come as any surprise to University of Louisville football fans who have had to battle stereotypes constantly over the decades. This while gaining respect by moving to stronger conference affiliations, finally making it to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.
But the UofL football team didn’t exactly help its case with the committee by turning in mediocre games against teams like Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest. All of the illegal motion penalties and a dreadful first half in the six-point loss to Clemson did not help either. Nor is it helpful with some teams appearing to be slowing Lamar Jackson down considerably.
Despite the shortcomings, the fact that the University of Louisville football team is fifth, right on the edge getting in the playoffs for the national championship is a giant step forward for the school, the athletic department and the UofL football program.
UofL is paying its dues, earning respect, playing with the big boys now. No one expected immediate acceptance for the process to be easy.
The Cardinals are right there, ready to compete, incredibly close to realizing a once seemingly impossible dream. The stereotypes and the biases of the committee, even the committee process, won’t matter if UofL keeps winning and the traditional powers falter.
This may or may not be the year that happens. But Louisville will have achieved tons of respect when CFP committee members convene in the future. UofL will be a familiar face instead of the new guy next time around.
Never mind..