Incoming Coastal Carolina President 'Absolutely Flabbergasted' by CFP Rankings

Coastal Carolina's incoming president may have made more than a few friends on campus with his recent comments, but the College Football Playoff committee might not be as inclined to applaud his efforts.

In an open letter to the committee, incoming president Dr. Michael T. Benson strongly criticized the panel's ranking of CCU's undefeated team, noting the No. 12 Chanticleers (11-0) suffered from "flawed logic."

"Coastal Carolina and the University of Cincinnati have every right to be absolutely flabbergasted by both the results of the rankings, but also the flawed logic the committee used to arrive at their conclusions," Benson wrote. "I believe Cincinnati earned a spot in the playoff. And I also believe the Chanticleers were not respected when it came to bowl selection."

No. 8 Cincinnati went 9-0 during the regular season but was placed behind two-loss Oklahoma and three-loss Florida in the final rankings as well.

Despite victories over No. 21 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 13 BYU padding their resume, the Chanticleers won't be playing in a New Year's Six bowl—the Bearcats earned the final bid there. Instead, they're heading to the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl where they'll face No. 23 Liberty on Saturday.

While it's the first-ever bowl game for a program established in 2003, and in only its fourth season as a FBS school, it's not exactly the matchup an undefeated team would expect.

Benson was quick to point out how that wouldn't be the case for a brand-name school while explaining the committee runs away from the type of Cinderella stories created during March Madness by stacking the deck for top teams.

While the incoming school president said the letter wasn't written out of bitterness or with vindictive intent, it's final, blistering line calls out the committee for valuing revenue above all else.

"The lack of fairness inherent in the current system—a system driven by money as its master—must be addressed," Benson said. "You know it as well as I do; it's not right nor is it American."