7. UCF improved to 9-0 by beating Navy 35-24, but continues to battle a Group of Five ceiling. That bothers at least one coach in the American Athletic Conference.
SMU coach Sonny Dykes, who has faced both UCF and Michigan this season, believes the Knights deserve more respect than they’ve been given. SMU lost by nearly identical scores – 48-20 to UCF and 45-20 to Michigan. “There’s not that big of a difference, I promise you,” Dykes told colleague Pete Thamel this week. “Michigan is better up front, and I thought Central Florida had a little bit better skill. I think that’s probably not going to be popular with people in the Big Ten, but that’s my assessment.”
Dykes has been the head coach at Louisiana Tech and California and served as an assistant in the Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. In other words, he’s seen plenty of quality opponents. “Could [UCF] hold up physically week after week after week?” he asked. “Maybe not. I know this, they held up against Auburn.” When asked if UCF would win the Big Ten West or the Pac-12 South, he said firmly: “I don’t think there’s any doubt.”
Dykes has been disappointed by the media narrative around UCF, much of which has been driven by Fox analyst Joel Klatt. While he didn’t name Klatt, Dykes said, “For guys to go on TV and basically make fun of them is disrespectful.”
Dykes went on to question the fairness of a system where half of the teams essentially can’t compete for the national title.
“It’s interesting the way stuff is now, and the way it’s designed, where half the teams that play Division I college football really don’t have a chance to win a championship,” he said. “There’s not another sport anywhere in the world where half of the people that participate have no chance of even being involved. To me, something is wrong, just from that perspective. Otherwise, they need to split it up and do something different.”
