I didn't watch Boise State play Oklahoma. But I still heard my dad yell.
At just 10 years old, I was sent to bed because, well, I was 10. But I still remember lying in bed as he yelled about guys named Zabransky and Johnson.
What was going on a floor below me, of course, was one of the greatest college football games of all time. Boise State, who took the name of Cinderella on that night, had just beaten Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
To call it art would be an insult to everything that transpired on that field in Glendale, Arizona. You don't just talk about that game; you have to paint a picture about it.
It was Hoosiers if Jimmy Chitwood wore orange pants.
But over the years, that same Cinderella has been left behind one too many times. And it's not just Boise State.
They're Hawaii and Boise State, they're Western Michigan and UCF. They're the little brothers of college football and the Power 5 knows it.
That's why, under the current model, the Group of Five should make its own playoff. And it shouldn't look back.
UCF, which finished the season unbeaten after a heart-stopping conference title game (seriously, that game was nuts), ended the season 12th in the rankings — behind Miami, which lost twice in a row. One of those losses was a 10-point loss to Pitt, the other a 35-point drubbing to No.1 Clemson.
Last year, Western Michigan finished with two Big 10 wins and a 13-0 record, good for just 15th in the final rankings. Four-loss Auburn finished 14th.
Boise State playing Oklahoma might be the same as UCF playing Auburn in the Peach Bowl, but with a playoff system designed to give more teams a chance at a title, the hopes for smaller schools have remained the same as they ever were.
It's simple: To think that anyone inside the Power Five views any team in the Group of Five with respect isn't wishful thinking, it's purposeful ignorance. Never will a team in the Group of Five get respect.
The argument for Group of Five schools from the Power Five is essentially: Stack up a strong, ranked season one year and return most of your starters and head coach the next year. If you do that and then are fortunate enough to play a big time school, you have to go undefeated to get a chance.
That's a rigged system if I've ever seen one.
Added on top of that, the Power Five can pluck coaches out of the Group of Five whenever it pleases, and there's not much that smaller schools can do.
What if a Mid-American Conference coach leads his team to back-to-back 12-1 seasons and a top 10 ranking each year? He might love Athens or Kalamazoo or Toledo, but I'd bet he loves tens of millions of dollars more.
A Group of Five playoff would be immensely more interesting than watching a no-name bowl game in the middle of December, too. For example, let's say the Group of Five playoff this year would be UCF, Memphis, South Florida and Toledo.
That's a much more watchable set of games than what the Group of Five has put out in recent years, especially since there's a title to be played for.
Some might say it'll de-value a title, winning a college football championship that isn't "The Big One." But ask Division III Mount Union how much they care they don't get Bama', or ask FCS James Madison how much they care they didn't get their chance at the big boys.
Any championship is better than no championship. It gives teams a more realistic ceiling than a 9-3 season and a spot in the Who Even Knows Bowl, sponsored by a Company You've Never Heard Of.
The Group of Five, which would increase money flow due to the playoff, would be able to create its own market for a playoff. You can't tell me you wouldn't watch UCF play Toledo, because it's simple at that point you're not a football fan.
You might be able to argue, incorrectly, that the exposure and potential money to be had is too much to look on.
But just how many times has a Group of Five school earned the respect to even see that type of money?
It's not a perfect system. That's completely understood. But if the playoff system, which has proven to have serious flaws, is going to stick the way it is, then serious reform is needed.
For Group of Five schools, a playoff is the best way to do that. Because right now, another Boise State team, that everyone knows and claims to have an affection for, won't ever happen.
