To no surprise, Alabama — who defeated Georgia 26-23 in overtime to win the national title on Monday night — finished the season as the No. 1 team in the college football AP Poll.
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To perhaps some surprise, though, the Crimson Tide were not unanimously the No. 1 team, as 13-0 UCF received four first-place votes in the poll. Those four voters have since identified themselves, and given their own explanations for why they put UCF No. 1 in the poll.
Safid Deen — who covers Florida State for the Orlando Sentinel — posted about his decision on Twitter, saying this: "If it's not about winning and losing, what are we really doing here, fam?"
I've submitted my final AP Top 25 football poll for the season. ... And I'll say this: If it's not about winning and losing, what are we really doing here, fam?
— Safid Deen 💯💯💯💯 (@Safid_Deen) January 8, 2018
Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman also revealed his vote on Twitter. Aber's logic was that UCF beat Auburn and that Auburn beat both Alabama and Georgia, while UCF didn't lose any game this season.
All right, so now that it’s over. I can say I voted UCF No. 1. I didn’t do it out of any other reason than consistency with the principals I’ve used all season. UCF beat Auburn, Auburn beat Alabama. UCF was undefeated.
— Ryan Aber (@ryaber) January 9, 2018
In response to Aber, Ed Daigneault of the Republican-American in Connecticut said that he too had voted UCF as the No. 1 team in the nation.
Well, hell, if one guy is putting it out there then I can. Yes, I voted UCF No. 1 for the same reason. Typically hate the transitive property but UCF deserves recognition. https://t.co/5OCcUlxuyV
— Ed Daigneault (@EdDaigneault) January 9, 2018
Sam McKewon of the Omaha World Herald was the final of the four voters, with his rational essentially boiling down to UCF being undefeated.
My final AP Top 25 poll. I had a choice to make between Alabama and UCF. Here's my call for No. 1: https://t.co/3Ap2ikLQVB
— Sam McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) January 9, 2018
Even with the four votes, UCF still only finished sixth in the AP Poll. Of course, "only sixth" maybe relative here, as UCF fans are likely a bit excited that they got some recognition in the AP Poll when they hadn't gotten much all season in the College Football Playoff rankings.
The final AP Poll for the 2017-18 college football season can be seen here.
