2017 UCF didn't have success the previous season
Just for the record here, undefeated UCF got snubbed again the very next year in 2018.
Like, when some of us bitch about ESPN and what not, we are not confused between conference payout money and the playoff selection process. We just don't see all that much of a difference between the two at the end of the day.
It wasn't as much of a snub in 2018 as they weren't nearly as dominant in the regular season, and also their starting quarterback went down in the last game of the regular season. Now, would this have made a difference if it had been an Ohio State or a Georgia team? Possibly, but it damn sure wouldn't have been as much.
Cincinnati is not getting into the playoffs over a 1 loss power program. They could get in over a 1 loss Baylor, Oklahoma State, Iowa, or Michigan State because those are not power programs. They can't get in over a 1 loss Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. It's not about conference affiliation so much as it is about the strength of the individual program.
What does that mean, "strength of the individual program"?
To date, 24 of the 28 teams selected for the College Football Playoff have been undefeated or 1-loss conference champions from Power Five conferences. Two 1-loss Power Five teams have been selected without playing in their conference championship game(Ohio State in 2016 and Alabama in 2017), while one other has been selected after losing its conference championship game(Notre Dame in 2020). One undefeated independent team has been selected(Notre Dame 2018). No teams from the "Group of Five" conferences or with two or more losses have been selected.
Going back through things, UCF in 2017 is the only G5 team that's legitimately had a case to be in that's been left out. No other teams had the resume or looks to be a contender. Also, the Baylor/TCU debacle in 2014 was caused as much by the Big XII and their co-champion BS as it was the playoff committee. The only other 1 loss teams to not be invited ever to the playoff has been Ohio State (2015 and 2018), Iowa (2015), and Wisconsin (2017); only Ohio State in 2018 was a conference champion. They were left out because of a matching record Oklahoma only had a close loss to #9 Texas while that year Ohio State had a bad loss on the road to unranked Purdue.
I guess my point to this is, if you're in a P5 conference and win your conference championship game with 1 or 0 losses, you're pretty much in. There are plenty of theoretical scenarios that you can come up with to how this could result in 5 or 6 undefeated teams at the end of the year, all vying for 4 spots, but it hasn't happened yet and is very unlikely to happen. Our conference is going back to 12+2 members, having two divisions, and a CCG that actually matters. If you run the gauntlet, you get in.
EDIT: Now, to the scenario that we're currently wondering about, harkens back to UCF in 2017. That ultimately ended up with two national champions, the very scenario the playoff was supposed to prevent. I don't think the playoff committee will make that same mistake again. We won't know for sure unless Cincinnati runs the table in convincing fashion and still gets left out (depending on what happens with the rest of the conferences). However, it will tell us for sure whether a G5 stands a chance at getting in or not.