AAC commissioner complains about first College Football Rankings

After Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings reveal, controversy broke out on several fronts. The battle for Group of Five relevance took a massive hit when Cincinnati, ranked No. 2 in the AP poll and Coaches’ poll, was slotted No. 6 behind several one-loss teams. The season-defining decision led to widespread backlash, including a scathing review from AAC commissioner Mike Aresco.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Aresco told Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports. “The committee doesn’t rank our teams that deserve to be ranked, then they turn around and say they don’t play any ranked teams.”

The alleged disrespect fell well beyond Cincinnati’s low CFP ranking. Houston and SMU are both ranked inside the weekly polls but were left off the CFP Selection Committee’s list. Without national rankings, or a chance at playoff berth, the American will continue struggling to hold its top programs during conference realignment.

Cincinnati and Houston recently announced their decision to leave the AAC for the Big 12, along with UCF. Another AAC program, Memphis, felt they were snubbed.

Cincinnati slotted No. 6 on CFP rankings

No team had a wider landing zone than Cincinnati, which draws strong opinions on either side. In the end, the Bearcats worst fears came true behind several one-loss teams. Despite their 8-0 record, and a road win over Notre Dame, Cincinnati sits on the outside looking in.

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco and several others were unhappy with the decision, but CFP Selection Committee chairman Gary Barta provided his explanation to ESPN’s Rece Davis.

“I would say the committee has great respect for Cincinnati,” said Barta. “The win at Notre Dame is a really impressive win. When you look at their schedule after that – or who they played after that – who else did they beat? So that was the other question. The committee has been watching games all year and – most recently in the last two weeks – a 2-6 Navy team and then a 1-7 Tulane team with a freshman quarterback starting. Very impressive win against Notre Dame, a lot of respect, but looking at the whole picture we feel No. 6 was the right place for Cincinnati.”

Cincinnati can take some solace in a record-setting performance, becoming the highest ranked team in the CFP era. However, the question now centers on the Bearcats ceiling. Can they make the CFP’s final four?

“We don’t talk about a ceiling at all, again, we look at what’s happened so far,” said Barta. “We don’t project ahead. I think most everybody knows that. We look at what’s happened so far. Cincinnati earned their way to the No. 6 spot with that big win – being undefeated – and with that big win at Notre Dame. We haven’t talked at all about a ceiling so I really am not ready to say there’s a ceiling.”