UCF’s story is historic–the meteoric rise from no football to Power 5 football.
We’re used to seeing Power 5 schools transfer from one conference to another. Examples include South Carolina from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Nebraska from the Big 8 to the Big 10, and Arkansas from the Southwest Conference to the SEC. But never before has a conference brought in a slate of lower-tier schools to round out its makeup … until now.
UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, and BYU–all from the “Group of 5” American Conference–are in the Big 12 as of July 1, 2023. They will make out big time financially, too; the conference cut of revenues to those schools is expected to rise (on average) five-fold in the next fiscal year from what the schools had received as American Conference members.
While the conference is making history, so is UCF. Its meteoric rise aligns with its location, Orlando, and that phenomenon known as DisneyWorld. How so? UCF wasn’t founded until 1968 and didn’t field a football team until a decade later, and football figured prominently in the rise of the school founded as Florida Tech. Today, UCF is the 2nd largest university in the country (nearly 70,000 students), behind only Texas A&M University.
Moreover, UCF is the only school in NCAA history that has competed in all of the NCAA’s four divisions–D-III (starting in 1979). D-II (1982), Football Championship Division (1990), and the Football Bowl Division (1996). That’s a swift climb, from no football at all to playing the likes of St. Leo, West Georgia, Valdosta State, and Rice, to going up against the Oklahoma Sooners this year.
Want more uniqueness? UCF is the only “directional school” among Power 5 schools, meaning its in-state location is reflected in the university’s name. All other Power 5 schools fall into one of four categories–state flagship university (e.g., Alabama), state land-grant university (e.g., Virginia Tech), schools that carry both designations (e.g., Ohio State), and elite private university (e.g., Stanford).
While getting to where it is today is nothing short of amazing, UCF has hit potholes along the way. UCF had to delay its entry into Division 1 sports because of financial issues. At one point, things were so bleak that Bobby Bowden and FSU donated uniforms and cleats to the school. Still, the football team has attracted national-class leadership over the years, including former FSU head coach Bill Peterson as AD, as well as Lou Saban (former Buffalo Bills coach), George O’Leary, Scott Frost, and Gus Malzahn as head football coaches.
Dante Culpepper (photo courtesy BVM Sports)
The nation didn’t start paying attention to the Knights until QB Dante Culpepper came along in 1998 when UCF went 9-2. Fourteen bowl appearances from 2005-2022 (winning six) spotlighted the school, with the biggest win coming in the 2017 Peach Bowl against Auburn. That win capped off an undefeated 13-0 season and launched a three-year 35-4 run.
Perhaps the most meaningful win came at the end of the 2021 season, when the Knights beat Florida, 29-17, in the Gasparilla Bowl, played in Tampa. It was a home-state win against the state’s flagship university. With Goliath vanquished, there was no question now: UCF had arrived.
The Knights play home games in the 48,000-seat FBC Mortgage Stadium, a U-owned facility that opened in 2017, replacing the downtown Citrus Bowl. The stadium, known as “The Bounce House,” shakes when fans get riled up.
What are the prospects for the Knights’ opening campaign in the Big 12?
John Rhys Plumlee (photo, UCF Athletics)
For starters, fans are uber-excited. The hottest tickets are for home games against Baylor on September 30 and West Virginia (homecoming) on October 28.
As for play on the field, UCF is known for its offense, and last year the Knights were #9 in rushing nationally and #16 offensively overall. The bad news is that portal departures hit the team hard, but they still have plenty of weapons, including John Rhys Plumlee, a dual-threat QB who came from Ole Miss and rushed for nearly 900 yards last year. RB RJ Harvey added another 800 yards. UCF has a good placekicker, too, with a surname that befits his role, Colton Boomer. The biggest challenges will likely be the O-line (senior-dominated but undistinguished), the defensive front, the linebacking corps, and the secondary. That’s a lot to overcome.
Moreover, the upgraded schedule means beating Power 5 squads, and the record on that score isn’t good. Overall, the Knights have played Power 5 teams 73 times over the years, winning 15 games (20% winning percentage).
But no matter how the Knights do on the field this season, UCF is aggressive institutionally, and its football program has a history of coming off the mat during tough times. So, don’t ever count out the Knights, even if they struggle this year, which they will likely do in what may be America’s toughest football conference top-to-bottom.
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NOTE: Text is drawn from comments made on Wolfman’s Call with Host Dale Wolfley (July 10, 2023) on the West Virginia Football channel at the Voice of College Football network.
SOURCES: Chris Boyle, “UCF completes Power 5 ascent,” USAToday, published nationally on July 2, 2023; Sports Reference, College Football, UCF; Winsipedia.com; and Lindy’s College Football, National 2023 Preview.
Thanks for the UCF write-up. Some points, UCF was founded in 1963 as Florida Technological University to provide workforce to the Kennedy Space Center. First classes were held in 1968. Name changed to the University of Central Florida in 1978 to reflect the number of non-STEM colleges within the university. Football team formed in 1979. FBC Mortgage Stadium opened on the UCF campus in 2007 (first game was against UT-Austin), it did not replace the Citrus Bowl (now Camping World Stadium). FBC Mortgage Stadium currently seats approximately 45,000 (there is some disagreement on the actual maximum). Finally, UCF Football beating UF in the Gasparilla Bowl was the first time that Florida Football had been beaten by an instate rival NOT named FSU or Miami since 1938.