Division 1 college football national championships have always been subjective. Even though there is now a playoffs, how they determine the participating teams is subjective. This season, Hustle Belt decided that we are as qualified as anyone to subjectively name a College Football National Champion. So we did.

Our 2017 College Football National Champions: The University of Central Florida Knights!!!

Some of you probably have some questions about this choice, so I will do my best to ask and answer those questions.

Like a lot of things you do, isn’t it premature to announce a champion before every game has been played? Well, Bob, we at Hustle Belt hate losers. Both teams in the “championship” game have a loss to Auburn. Our champion is a perfect 1-0 against the Tigers and 13-0 overall. As far as we are concerned, this “championship” game is just there to decide the first loser. We would like to congratulate those teams on their silver and bronze medals. They had great seasons and should be applauded. However, we stand by our choice.

There is no way Central Florida would have been undefeated in a major conference! Well, Tom, that isn’t a question, but I’ll go ahead and respond. We can SPECULATE what Central Florida would do with any number of schedules. What we know, for an absolute fact, is that Central Florida played a schedule with 12 FBS teams and beat them all. The Knights closed the season playing 3 ranked teams and beat them all. Alabama closed the season against three ranked teams, and at best will be 2-1. Georgia has been impressive against ranked teams this season, however, we still can’t get over their 23 point loss to Auburn.

You keep bringing up the Central Florida win over Auburn. Auburn didn’t even want to play in the game, and didn’t try! Again, not a question. Auburn threw a pick six late in the 4th quarter to go down 2 scores. If they “weren’t trying” they would have rolled over and died right there. They didn’t. They played their tales off and made a great comeback. Auburn is a great team. Central Florida was just a little better that night.

Do you really think Central Florida could beat Alabama or Georgia? I am going to answer this question in two parts. I have watched college football for 30 years, and I KNOW Central Florida could beat either team. Would they? We’ll never know, because the committee decided not to include the Knights. This is what I do know. Against teams of similar or superior talent, the Knights won every game this season. Georgia and Alabama played teams with the same, or inferior, talent all season and each have a loss. For that reason, Central Florida earned the chance to see if they could beat those teams. The committee chose to exclude them, so that’s on them.

What exactly are your qualifications? We at Hustle Belt love college football. We love it enough to watch as many games as we can. We even take the time to write about it. We even get press credentials. I’ll give you two reasons why we are more qualified than the playoff committee. One, we watch all the games. They pretend to watch the G5 games, but we all know they don’t. There is no way they would have had Western Michigan ranked as low as they did last season, or Central Florida this season if they did. Two, we are only one factor biased. Did you just admit you are biased? Absolutely. I am a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them. Of course we are biased. Just like everyone else that follows, writes about, coaches, plays, and has anything to do with college football. However, the committee is two factor biased. Along with having favorite teams and being regionally biased, they have money to consider. I don’t get paid a dime extra for naming Central Florida our national champions. I wouldn’t lose a penny if I named Alabama our national champions. Their business partners would lose a small fortune if Central Florida were picked for the playoffs.

Poll time! Who do you think is the national champion this season?