The Daily Player 12: There's a Time and Place

Back in the day, a rockin' radio station held a contest asking its listeners to state in 25 words or less why the Beatles became such a huge cultural phenomenon.

The winning response only needed two words:

The times.

How nebulously accurate that was.

Clearly, the Beatles were what anyone wanted them to be.

That report was broadcast on 21 Nov 1963, one day before the Kennedy assassination and just over a year after the Cuban missile crisis came within hours of igniting World War III.

If ever a feelgood trend was in a position to go viral -- 1960s style -- it was then.

In college football, Scott Frost is white-hot right now.

Dude's only in his second season as a head coach, he's got his UCF Golden Knights at 9-0, and existential choices will be imminent the moment their bowl game concludes.

UCF is the largest school in Florida, with rich alumni who are stepping up to keep him in Orlando. However, UCF's a commuter school, and that rarely translates into weekend buzz.

10 minutes before the Civil ConFLiCT kicks off. Orlando's obviously at a fever pitch. pic.twitter.com/kF8NA6TRwb — Joey Knight (@TBTimes_Bulls) November 11, 2017

Frost was on Chip Kelly's staff when Oregon rose to national prominence with a boost from kajillionaire alum Phil Knight and his company. Still, he well knew he wasn't ready to be considered for the Oregon job last off-season.

This gives UCF hope. Still, the reality of FBS football is they're gonna need to get into a Power Five conference to have any shot at improvement.

Unless Frost wants to be a Howard Schnellenberger-type program builder, it likely won't happen in time to keep him.

Unless the CFP expands its bracket, the Golden Knights would need to schedule and beat non-cons like the Dolphins, Jaguars, and Buccaneers to make the Featured Four.

Obviously, they're nowhere close again this week:

1. Alabama	3. Miami
2. Clemson	4. Oklahoma
5. Wisconsin	9. Ohio State
6. Auburn	10. Penn State
7. Georgia	11. USC
8. Notre Dame	12. TCU

For the record, UCF checked in at No 15.

The CFP criteria is so screwed up that not even our taking it literally can help the Golden Knights.

The Daily Player 12 is based on taking the Selection Committee's objective criteria literally. More than literally, in fact. No opinions, just data.

It considered all FBS teams with two losses or less after Week 9:

• Until a conference title is clinched, division leaders will be considered as first-place teams.
• Power Five scores in non-conference games will be measured on a win-loss basis.
• Head-to-head results will be measured separately on a win-loss basis.
• Bookies are the only evaluators who put their dosh where their conclusions are. Bovada championship odds will be factored into the rankings.
• Geeks have an unbiased place in this process; Anderson-Hester computer rankings are easily understandable and will be included.

We'll try, because that's just who we are.

Objective facts have a way of aligning the stars the way nature intended.

• Standings matter. The Big XII has ten teams; no other conference has a division that large, so a first-place team will get 10 points, a second-place team will get 9 points, and so forth. If a team is tied for a position, it will be considered to hold the higher position. A conference champion will be awarded 5 bonus points.
• Non-con Power Five wins will be worth 3 points; those losses will be worth 1 point.
• Notre Dame's schedule will be measured against ACC teams.
• If BYU ever becomes a factor, we'll figure it out then.
• Head-to-head conference wins will be worth 3 points; those losses will be worth -1 point.
• Bovada and Geek rankings will be based on a 25-point scale and factored down by a constant of 0.3; thus, a first-place position will be worth (25 x 0.3) = 7.5 points, second place for either will be worth (24 x 0.3) = 7.2 points, and so on. If a team is tied for a position, it will be considered to hold the higher position.

This produces The Daily Player 12. Here are this week's results:

Right now, you're probably asking yourself ...

• Georgia? ... Getting those three criteria points for winning at South Bend are based on cold, hard results. Yes, they just got their lunch handed to them on the Plains, but it's only one loss.
• Miami? ... As with Wisconsin and Alabama, they faced no Power Five non-cons who made it to Week 9 with no more than two losses. No criteria points.
• USC? ... They've staggered through in survival mode. The Pac-12 really does have to sort out its Friday scheduling. Road teams are 0-4 in those games, three of which are contenders.
• The Geeks? ... Anderson-Hester's computers give objective cred to the Golden Knights, too:

Bless their little widgets for putting an Other Five team on equal footing and letting them stand on their laurels.