Well Saturday was the conclusion of the inaugural Big 12 season for UCF, thankfully it ended with a UCF victory over new (wink wink) rivalry week opponent Houston. In doing so UCF becomes bowl eligible for the 8th straight season which is now the longest active streak in Florida. But was this first season a success for UCF in their new conference? I will take a look and give reasoning on why it was or wasn’t in this article. I will tell you that before doing anything else keep in mind this is still a team with people from the AAC recruiting class. There is a quality difference between AAC recruits and Power 5 Big 12 Recruits.
Ok so record wise the Knights finished the regular season 6-6 and 3-6 in the Big 12 including winning 3 out of their last 4 games of the season. But records do not always tell the whole story, as is the case with the 2023 Knights. Very easily UCF could have been 9-3 and possibly if their rush defense would have shown up in the K-State game 10-2 with a 6-3 or 7-2 conference record which as it stands now would be tied for 2nd in the conference. I will break down the games that could have went either way for the Knights this season.
First and Foremost of course is the dreaded Baylor game, my Heart Rate already elevated just typing that up. Up 35-7 with less than 4 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter there is no way this team should have lost this game. Yet they did. On the road against Oklahoma UCF was in position to get a major road upset in Norman, and they found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They then come home for homecoming against West Virginia and look very flat and often times disinterested they end up losing 41-28 but the game was much closer than the final score would indicate. The last of the bad losses was Texas Tech Colton Boomer who seems to have developed the Yips late in the season misses and Extra Point and a FG and the Knights lose 24-23. I will through the K-State game in there as well because it was a very winnable game if the rush defense would have showed up and did their job. With that being said even if half of those games go the Knights way their record would still be 8-4 5-4 in the Conference.
I think overall the Knights did exactly what they needed to do in their new conference. They made a bowl, while dealing with injuries and adversity while still only having a AAC team of recruits. Yes it could have been better with what transpired but us Knight fans have become used to 10 win seasons it wasn’t too long ago we would have been estatic with becoming bowl eligible. So in conclusion lets cheer our boys on in whatever bowl they get (I am hearing the Armed Forces Bowl in Texas) and lets let our coaching staff recruit and power us into an even better 2nd season in Big 12. Keep Calm and Charge On Go Knights!!!