It’s technically a dead period but it sure seems like new Nebraska head coach Scott Frost has still been working around the clock.
Frost will make a few appearances on ESPN on Monday in the run-up to the College Football Playoff National Championship, he was on SportsCenter Sunday morning to talk about the Huskers and Saturday night he accepted the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award in Atlanta.
At the accompanying banquet, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, Frost pulled no punches when discussing what he felt was a lack of respect shown towards his 13-0 Central Florida Knights this past season.
On several occasions, Frost referenced how, in Week 13, a three-loss Mississippi State had been ranked ahead of the unbeaten Knights.
“I don't know whether our team deserved to be in the playoff or not,” Scott continued. “To us, it appeared like it was a concerted effort to keep us a reasonable distance away from the top four to avoid controversy.”
According to Dodd, Frost and numerous other members of the Central Florida program felt “insulted” by the Knights weekly ranking in the CFP poll. Central Florida finished the regular season ranked No. 12, despite a 12-0 record and a conference championship, behind five 2-loss teams and a 3-loss Auburn team the Knights would go on to beat in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.
Frost stressed all season that he wasn’t going to discuss the Knights’ standing in the weekly polls. Instead, they would focus on their business and try to win football games, hoping the rest would work itself out. It didn't. And with the season now being over, Frost has made it very public he disagreed with the way the CFP committee judged his team this season.
Frost added: "To me, this year more than any other year watching those rankings come out, seemed like opinions. I'm not a fan of sports where it's a judgment. I used to watch gymnastics when I was young in the Olympics and somebody had a perfect routine. But the East German didn't like it and gave them a 7.2.”
Frost also cited a fact that many in college football have used to question Central Florida’s absence from the playoff field: The Knights beat Auburn, a team who beat both National Championship participants, on a neutral field.
Frost questioned why the SEC and the ACC, two conferences that have appeared in the CFP every season since its inception, only play eight conference games when the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 play nine. He questioned why 13 committee members "that may or may not know a lot about football" are making such important judgments. He questioned why a three-loss Mississippi State team moved ahead of Central Florida in the rankings following an 11-point win over UMass in Week 13.
He's not alone in questioning the system.
Following the Knights' bowl win, UCF athletic director Danny White claimed his program as this year’s national champs. There will be parades in Orlando and there’s plenty of support for White. Frost said he’s glad his former boss “started the conversation” about how Group of Five schools are treated in relation to Power Five programs, "but there are other conversations to be had.”
