Central Florida States Case

I thought it was funny that no matter what UCF, and Louisville for that matter, did all season they never moved from the same mid teens position they held in the rankings all season. The media and coaches were determining themselves that the American Athletic was a lesser conference and its two representatives were not as good as their records indicated. Forget Louisville's play versus Florida last January--that was in the past--or UCF playing South Carolina down to the wire--well the Gamecocks were looking ahead to SEC play--these two teams could have been 20-1 and they would not have climbed higher than number 15. So now what? Louisville looked impressive in their bowl game, but it was against a reeling Miami program. Central then beats Baylor at their own game (outscoring everyone) and suddenly a top ten spot awaits. Of course both programs expect to lose their star QBS but that is a different matter. As far as last night's game, the play came in stark contrast to the Rose Bowl. Is this the future, if not present, of the sport? As much as I enjoyed UCF's forcing everyone to respect them, I hated a game where the early TDs did not matter. I do not like the NBA and so cannot put my head around games that combine for 80-100 points. But, again, I did enjoy UCF sticking it to the big guys. The Bortles kid made sure everyone knew he was one of the best players in the country--even if ESPN and the other media ignored him all season (you would have heard a lot more about him as the NFL draft takes center stage)--and coach George O'Leary, he of a past worthy of a minor Shakespearean play, reminding everyone that he always was a good coach. To be honest UCF reminds me a lot of last year's Baylor squad, who was hungry to say that they had arrived, that beating Kansas State was no upset. Both programs have an arrow pointing upward. Hopefully they will keep their coaches. Ditto that for Louisville.