I LOVE UCF, But Let's Face It...Our Schedule is a Problem

[Renegade2007]

I want to be clear and say I think we are as good if not better than a lot of the teams in the top 10. I think we could legit beat most of them, and the crap that we're getting on national TV and social media is trash.

Having said that, some of them have a point. Our schedule just isn't doing us any favors this year. We schedule Pitt and UNC a few years ago hoping they are good. Pitt is trash and UNC game canceled. And although we've beaten the majority of the teams we've played by double digits, we haven't BLOWN THEM OUT. And Memphis (we know internally that was a very good Memphis team that was at home, and motivated), just wasn't a good showing on paper. Cincy just lost, Memphis is losing badly to Mizzou as a write this post. If USF were to crap the bed before they play us, we got nothing.

I'm not saying the losers at ESPN and the other pundits are right about us not belonging. But even as a DEVOUT UCF fan, even I can see our schedule is a bit of a joke this year.

But let's win em all and see where the chips fall!

 

[Knight_Light]

 

[Knight_Light]

 

[atsKnight]

I want to be clear and say I think we are as good if not better than a lot of the teams in the top 10. I think we could legit beat most of them, and the crap that we're getting on national TV and social media is trash.

Having said that, some of them have a point. Our schedule just isn't doing us any favors this year. We schedule Pitt and UNC a few years ago hoping they are good. Pitt is trash and UNC game canceled. And although we've beaten the majority of the teams we've played by double digits, we haven't BLOWN THEM OUT. And Memphis (we know internally that was a very good Memphis team that was at home, and motivated), just wasn't a good showing on paper. Cincy just lost, Memphis is losing badly to Mizzou as a write this post. If USF were to crap the bed before they play us, we got nothing.

I'm not saying the losers at ESPN and the other pundits are right about us not belonging. But even as a DEVOUT UCF fan, even I can see our schedule is a bit of a joke this year.

But let's win em all and see where the chips fall!

I don't think UCF fans are delusional about who we are. New coach, new schemes, lost important contributors. I don't know any fans that would be shocked if we lost.

The outrage is about the line of attack. Last year, the attack was the same: you don't play anybody and if you did, they would destroy you.

But now that we beat Auburn, it's the same line of attack.

If they said, "You know, I doubted UCF last year, but they proved me wrong. But I still don't think this year's team is as good as some of these one-loss teams because of x,y,&z weaknesses", I think you would see a different response from Knight fans.

 

[Knight Strength]

Not worried about it. I just like that we win. Hope for a shot at our CCG. Rankings, CFI, and bowl games are all icing.

 

[Mikesi]

I want to go to the Fiesta now. 5 year anniversary

 

[HoseEmDown]

The ACC sucks this year, the big 10 is a two team league and both will have a loss after tonight, PAC 12 is a mess, Big 12 is top heavy. Sure the AAC isn't a great conference top to bottom but our top would handle the mid teams in those conferences and hang with some of the top.

 

[ks2-1]

OS-WHO???? Had to get that out of the way and can’t help our conference schedule and games scheduled years in advance.

F ESPN, Pollack, Desdumb, and Kirkshit. Schools don’t want to play us because we are that good, just ask Auburn and Pitt who Notre Dame barely beat.

 

[jefferymeng]

Outsider here, have you guys tried scheduling the other powerful G5 teams? Maybe calling up BYU, Boise State, fresno and San diego, basically any of the consistent G5 programs? Only 1 of the programs will be invited so maybe you guys all playing each other can prop one of you up further.

 

[rainman614]

The ACC sucks this year, the big 10 is a two team league and both will have a loss after tonight, PAC 12 is a mess, Big 12 is top heavy. Sure the AAC isn't a great conference top to bottom but our top would handle the mid teams in those conferences and hang with some of the top.

All conferences are that way. The cream rises to the top of the conference. The SEC has Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and LSU. Soon it will drop to 2 teams as they play each other. PAC12, Big12, cannibalize each other. WSU is the last 1 loss PAC12 team? The Big12 is in a weird place with Texas back on the rise. The ACC has a weaker Clemson team still there. The Big10 had OSU but now they are endangered by Michigan and Wisconsin. Notre Dame as an Independent is in the best spot because they just need to win out and they just play big names that used to be good so they can appease that human element when selecting the top teams.

 

[HoseEmDown]

All conferences are that way. The cream rises to the top of the conference. The SEC has Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and LSU. Soon it will drop to 2 teams as they play each other. PAC12, Big12, cannibalize each other. WSU is the last 1 loss PAC12 team? The Big12 is in a weird place with Texas back on the rise. The ACC has a weaker Clemson team still there. The Big10 had OSU but now they are endangered by Michigan and Wisconsin. Notre Dame as an Independent is in the best spot because they just need to win out and they just play big names that used to be good so they can appease that human element when selecting the top teams.

I know all conference eventually beat each other up and only one or two look legit. I'm just saying there's a lot of teams that are or were ranked that aren't that good. In the ACC nobody outside of Clemson looks like a top 25 team, we can beat the Miami or NC State's. The Big 10 we could probably beat Wisconsin or Penn State. Big 12 I'd think we could take Texas and WVU while giving Oklahoma a game. Nobody in the PAC 12 I'm worried about, think we can stack up against any of them. Even the ol SEC we could beat teams like A&M, MSU or Auburn that get ranked cause the conference, we'd beat Kentucky and Florida, Georgia doesn't look that impressive. What I'm getting at is we'd be a top 2 team in some of these league's, Houston would be challenging for a division title in some too, the USF, Cincinnati and Temples would be your Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Oregon, or Oklahoma State's not the Kansas, Nebraska, UCLA, Arkansas or Illinois that they want to make it seem when they trash the conference.

 

[mattropolis]

Outsider here, have you guys tried scheduling the other powerful G5 teams? Maybe calling up BYU, Boise State, fresno and San diego, basically any of the consistent G5 programs? Only 1 of the programs will be invited so maybe you guys all playing each other can prop one of you up further.

Since we opened our stadium in 2007 we'very played the following:
home-and-home with BYU. (1-1)
Two-for-one with Texas. (0-3). The game played at UCF we lost 35-32.
In 2018 we were supposed to play Texas but it somehow got moved to 2023...and has now been cancelled...by Texas. At this point, if you lose to UCF it just looks like a loss....but a loss to Bama is a "quality loss" and a win, well if you were unranked might get you jumped into the top 10.
Home-and-home with Boston College (1-1)
Home-and-home with NC State (1-1)
Home-and-home with Miami (0-2)
Home-and-home with Stanford (0-1). Second game played @UCF next year.
We played @ KState (0-1). No return game @UCF.
We played @ Ohio State (0-1). No return game @UCF
Home-and-home with Missouri (0-2). We lost 21-16 at home....punt return for a TD was the difference.
Home-and-home with South Carolina (0-2). We lost 28-25 at home.
Away game at Penn State (1-0). They wouldn't play us at our place so the second game was played in Ireland. We lost 26-24 as they kicked a FG as time expired.
We played @Michigan (0-1). No return game @UCF.
Home-and-home with Maryland (1-1)
Home game versus Pitt (1-0). Game @Pitt next year.
Home game against GA Tech canceled due to Hurricane. It has been rescheduled a few years down the road.
Away game at North Carolina canceled due to Hurricane and I think has been rescheduled a few years down the road.

Future home-and-homes:
Loserville
North Carolina
Ga Tech

In our bowl games against P5 competition:
Lost to Miss State
Beat Georgia
Beat the Big 12 Champ Baylor
Lost to NC State
Beat Auburn


The point is, we have played plenty of good competition and held our own when the opportunity is a level playing field. Don't let the pundits tell you otherwise because they do it all the time. The super big programs do everything in their power to make sure they don't play any real road out-of-conference games because they are tough. I think 2011 was the last time Bama played a true OOC road game.

For example, Michigan played 8 home games in 2016. Eight..let that sink in. They were 8-0 at home. They played 4 road games and went 2-2 in those games.

For a program like ours that has been up-and-down from one year to the next, although we are getting more consistent, when you happen to play teams makes a world of difference as well. For example, we played at Ohio State in 2012 and lost but it would have been awesome to have either played them at Ohio State with the 2013 team, or if they had played @UCF in 2013. Same with Michigan. We played at Michigan in 2016 but then never got a return game. Again, what if it just so happens that game was played at Michigan in 2017, or their was a return game in Orlando in 2017.

In the past, we often signed poor contracts as well, where we play at somebody's place but then they buy us out so they don't have to play at our place. That is how we have ended up with opponents like SC State on our schedule. There are few choices to plug up scheduling holes when this has occurred. You never here anybody talking about this. Right now, you'd be hard-pressed to get any major program to sign a home-and-home with us. Several years ago we got out of that racket and the norm is to only sign true home-and-homes, and that is why we are getting more games with mid-level P5 programs because we are now a commodity.

 

[KnightVision82]

The talking heads know very little about our program including that we were part of the BCS along with USF and CINN which they NEVER mention. They never mention our BCS year when we won the Fiesta with Blake. Very skewed conversations but we will continue to grow as a program 68,000 * $200 per semester base revenue for our sports programs Next iteration of TV negotiations will go better for us.