I’m aware that this is off topic but I don’t think this one question / comment is relevant enough for another thread and I want to include
@UCFVanWilder while he’s here.
Having followed the UCF 2017 team and honestly really enjoying watching the games of some of the AAC teams, it upsets me that college football is really so much of a money game.
I attended the 2018 USF game @USF and at the time, really laughed at the announcer who kept screaming about their “Power 6 Conference.” But in reality, the AAC has been equivalent to the ACC aside from Clemson (for the last 3ish years for sure, maybe more maybe less not trying to restart an argument). It seems to me that the AAC teams (on average) just have smaller fan bases and less money than the P5, which hurts recruiting, coach wages, bag men, etc. So while we have recruits who prefer the SEC to the ACC and find it infuriating, UCF and the AAC have to deal with P5 being infinitely better for exposure because of TV deals. Despite having a lot of talent, especially coaching talent, that’s really fun to watch.
I think GT is going to surprise you this weekend, Van, but being one of the ACC/P5 schools that can complain about being underfunded compared to ‘better’ programs, I do really feel for the AAC. I hope conference realignment in the near future gets the AAC some better deals, or can lift a few of the best AAC programs (such as UCF) into a better financial situation in another conference. Regardless of exposure, the P5 will continue growing at a faster rate than the AAC because money breeds money. The way I see it, if UCF was in the ACC or SEC, you would have been in the CFP and/or could have beat Bama in 2017, because you would have had even more talent and revenue to pour back into the program.
Oh and as for this thread, I’m taking GT over UCF +7.5, and if I wasn’t a broke college student I’d put my money where my mouth is