AAC commissioner questions UCF's playoff absence: 'We're rewarding losing'
American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco doesn't believe UCF received fair consideration for this season's College Football Playoff.
"I think we're (in) a position where we're rewarding losing," Aresco said at a SportsBusiness Journal conference on Wednesday, according to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.
"(UCF) weren't really seriously considered for this ... Is half of college football precluded from playing in this playoff?"
The AAC had just one team in the final CFP rankings, as the Knights came in at No. 8 despite an undefeated regular season and conference championship. The commissioner believes public perception of his conference is what cost some teams postseason opportunities.
"Unfortunately, there's this perception of our conference which is just flat-out wrong, like somehow we play JV football," Aresco said.
"If Ohio State played in our conference and won all their games, they'd be in the playoff," he said, according to Dodd.
Aresco believes an eight-team playoff would be an easy solution to the lack of diversity but insists his conference champion did enough to earn a shot at a national title in 2018.
"As far as I'm concerned, when you do what (UCF) did, two years in a row ... You say to yourself, 'What do they have to do?'" he said.