Alabama may have won the national championship on the field, but they weren’t a unanimous selection according to one major media outlet.
The Associated Press released its final Top 25 ranking of the 2017 season shortly after Alabama beat Georgia in overtime of the College Football Playoff title game, with the Crimson Tide receiving 57 of the 61 first-place votes cast. It marked the first time since Alabama beat LSU in the BCS title game in what was a regular-season rematch that the AP didn’t unanimously vote the winner on the field as its champion.
And the team this year that kept ‘Bama from sweeping the AP poll? No. 6 UCF, which was the only other team to receive first-place votes and which was also the only team in the country to go through its schedule without a loss.
UCF’s head coach Scott Frost left to take over at his alma mater Nebraska; Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald was one of the four voters who tapped the Knights No. 1, with McKewon stating his case HERE. Another hails from the state of Florida: the esteemed Safid Deen, the Florida State beat writer for the Orlando Sentinel.
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
I’ve received zero pressure whatsoever. Quite the contrary actually. Just plenty of friendly emails stating UCF’s case the last few weeks. https://t.co/8SBzeSfI2D
— Safid Deen 💯💯💯💯 (@Safid_Deen) January 9, 2018
The other two who opted for UCF No. 1 were Ed Daigneault of the Republican-American in Waterbury, CT, and Ryan Aber of the Oklahoman.
Kudos to that quartet for stepping into the line of fire and using their votes to send a message. And, honestly, I’m surprised that more didn’t follow suit.
Outside of those four brave souls, though, there were six others who tapped the Knights as the No. 2 team in the country behind the Crimson Tide -- the Boulder Daily Camera‘s Brian Howell, Honolulu Star-Advertiser‘s Dave Reardon, Idaho Statesman‘s Dave Southorn, WRAL‘s Lauren Brownlow, SEC Country‘s Lauren Shute and Winston Salem-Journal‘s Scott Hamilton. Three others had UCF at No. 3 and three more had them at No. 4.
The lowest they were ranked? No. 10 by Soren Petro of Sports Radio 810 WHB in Leawood, Kansas.
To see how all 61 Associated Press voters voted, visit CollegePollTracker.com.