UCF enters Year 1 in Big 12 with conference title in mind
When UCF joined Conference USA in 2005, the Knights not only qualified for their first bowl game in program history but also reached the league title game.
Although they lost both, it became clear things were heading in the right direction in Orlando.
Eight seasons later with two CUSA championships and a pair of bowl wins under its belt, UCF once again had major success in its first year in a new conference.
As new members of the American Athletic Conference, the Knights captured a league championship while clinching a spot in their first New Year’s Six (then BCS) bowl game. UCF shocked the country and beat Baylor 52-42 despite entering the game as the largest underdog in BCS bowl history.
Now, after a decade dominating the AAC, the Knights are in the same conference as the Bears. UCF is an official member of the Big 12 and is hoping to make a similar splash in joining a new conference.
“We don’t just want to be a member of the Big 12,” UCF coach Gus Malzahn said. “We want to compete for championships.”
Although the Knights had major success during their first seasons in CUSA and the AAC, doing so in the Big 12 will be no easy task. Recent history isn’t on their side to capture a title in their first year in the Power Five league.
The year before TCU joined the league in 2012, the Horned Frogs won 11 games. What they accomplished in their final year in the Mountain West took TCU two seasons to reach 11 wins total.
The story is similar for West Virginia, which also joined the same year. The Mountaineers finished with 10 wins their last season in the Big East. It took the program five years in the Big 12 to reach that mark again.
Malzahn isn’t worried about what those programs did in the past. He’s only focused on this year.
“That will be extremely hard — there’s no doubt about it — but that’s our goal,” he said of winning a Big 12 title this season. “That’s what we’re talking about.”
While the Knights have high expectations for themselves, the same can’t be said for the rest of the conference or national media.
UCF was voted to finish eighth (out of 14) in the Big 12 preseason poll. Although that’s the highest of the four newcomers to the league, it’s a far cry from a conference championship.
ESPN’s Football Power Index, which is meant to predict a team’s performance moving forward, puts UCF two spots higher in the league standings than the media poll but still gives the Knights just a 4.3% to win the conference.
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Despite outsiders not giving UCF a legitimate chance to compete for a Big 12 title in Year 1, Malzahn has taken that information and used it to motivate his team.
“We’ve got to earn everything that we get,” he said. “I don’t believe we have anyone on the all-conference [team] and we’re not ranked. We don’t need to.
“That’s our mindset. We’re coming into a really good conference with really good teams and players. Just having that ‘something to prove’ chip on our shoulder, earning what we get, that’s who we are.”
Malzahn’s players and coaching staff live by that message.
“We’re coming into a new conference,” senior defensive end Tre’mon Morris-Brash said. “So what? Nobody is going to treat us any differently. Can we get the job done or not? I know teams haven’t been able to transition too well but nobody cares.”
Added defensive tackles coach Kenny Martin: “That’s our mentality, our want-to, and ultimately our goal. We want to go in there and show everybody in the country that we are ready for the Big 12.”
If UCF does come up short in winning a conference championship, it wouldn’t be considered a failure given the league’s strength and history. Recording at least six wins and qualifying for a bowl game in Year 1 would likely make the average fan happy.
The Knights, however, want more. The desire to accomplish more than what’s expected of them is only what they know.
“That’s UCF’s standard,” quarterback John Rhys Plumlee said. “We’re a championship football team and we want to continue to be one. We’ve been one for many years before this and that’s what got us to where we are right now.”
And Plumlee is right. UCF’s first year in the Big 12 has been years in the making.
Knights of the past such as wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who was the MVP of UCF’s first bowl game, and storied quarterback Blake Bortles didn’t settle.
They earned it — the same way Malzahn wants his team to during its first season as members of the Power Five league.
“It’s bigger than us,” he told his team on the first night of training camp. “This year is about playing for every player and every coach that helped us get to this point.”
Added Plumlee: “We’re just trying to help hold the standard of UCF.”
Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.
