Aug. 7, 2011
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By Marc Daniels
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - When UCF finished the 2010 season celebrating its Liberty Bowl win, the school enjoyed its first national ranking in a final poll. But last year's accomplishment did not guarantee a preseason ranking and when the first poll of value was released this past week, college football coaches who vote in their own poll found 25 other teams they felt deserved to be ranked higher than UCF. Welcome to the world of college football polls.
The Knights placed 33rd in the total tally of votes by coaches. That position is not all that bad. Sure, you'd love to see UCF begin the year as a ranked team, but a pair of wins to start the year might place the team back into the poll and a four-game run in September will certainly mean a place in the top 25.
Whether you like preseason or early season polls or do not value their relevance, they exist and will continue to play a role in the national championship process until that thing called a playoff comes around, and even then a formula utilizing polls may still be involved.
UCF fans have a right to wonder though about that coaches poll in several areas. For example, Georgia finds itself ranked 22nd. We all know the final score from Memphis and keep this in mind about the Bulldogs, they lost not one but two running backs, their top two receivers, four offensive linemen and three of its top four tacklers on defense. As for UCF, they too return a talented sophomore quarterback. But UCF returns all of its running backs and its offensive line. The Knights do lose their top three receivers and two of its top four tacklers. But is Georgia that much better?
How about the Gators ranked 23rd? Yes, Florida plays in the toughest league in the country, but is there a comparison at key positions, like quarterback? UCF has potentially three 1,000-yard rushers in the backfield and the Gators do not have a single back that stands 6-feet tall or ran for 700 yards in 2010. The Gators defense lost seven of its top nine tacklers and team went 0-4 against ranked teams last season. Add the fact that Florida is changing its offense and has a new staff and one can wonder about a place in the top 25.
But polls are like a soap opera. It's a continuing story line from one season to the next. And that story builds from two seasons to five seasons to a decade. Boise State is the perfect example of the process that takes time to build.
The Broncos are seventh in the coaches poll and that poll respect comes after what has become a decade of averaging more than 11 wins a season. The same applies to TCU which has averaged almost 10 wins a season over the same decade.
But polling history has taught us the traditional names always get the benefit of the doubt and voters are more likely to believe that a named program can turn things around after a subpar season than a poll newcomer like UCF putting together another season worthy of being ranked.
For programs like UCF, it will take a few years of double-digit wins to earn preseason polling respect. Another way is to win those big games against schools from BCS leagues. This year the Knights get Boston College and the newest independent, BYU.
Right now UCF's schedule features no opponent ranked in the top 25, but that may change as the season goes along. And while it sounds like an obvious part of the formula to get ranked, beating ranked teams does not necessarily play as big a part as you think.
Over the last five years do you know Boise State and TCU's regular season record against ranked teams? Boise State is 4-2 and TCU is 6-3. While the Broncos have played six and the Horned Frogs have played nine teams ranked in the top 25 over the last five years, UCF has played eight games against ranked teams during that time. The point is Boise State and TCU have garnered national attention by dominating their leagues and winning enough non-conference games to warrant a ranking and then stay in the poll by continuing to win.
Winning solves a lot and that is the case for UCF and anyone else in Conference USA in regards to getting ranked. UCF and Houston received votes in the first coaches poll of the season. Coaches are underestimating Tulsa, which returns 18 starters. If those three teams, or anyone else from the league gets on a roll, the ranking will take care of itself. Until then, it's business as usual when it comes to the world of polls.
Knights notes and more: A few years ago UCF's secondary was special with Joe Burnett, Sha'reff Rashad and Johnell Neal. UCF's current crop of defensive backs featuring Josh Robinson, A.J. Bouye and Kemal Ishmael might be better, a lot better with the likes of sophomore Jordan Ozerities and redshirt freshman Clayton Geathers adding depth...Freshman linebacker Leilon Willingham from Denver looks to be everything he was touted to be and should be an impact guy early this season...UCF's pass rush is going to be really good. Despite the loss of Bruce Miller and David Williams, this year's group of ends is fast, furious and fun to watch. Among the newest help on the defensive front, Toby Jackson and Cam Henderson look the part and are prime examples of UCF's growth in recruiting. A few years ago, players like Jackson and Henderson are not at UCF. Now there's a bunch of guys like that wearing black and gold...He has yet to play a down for UCF but defensive tackle Jose Jose might remind fans of Torrell Troup early on. Jose has dropped his weight to a manageable level and George O'Leary has said if he can be in top shape, he is tough to run on. Troup was priceless to Bruce Miller because he often handled two offensive linemen freeing up Miller to get after the quarterback...Final note: Earlier in the week, I had a massive computer problem. I was unable to get online and my computer was telling me it could not find a reason why. I tried for almost two hours to figure it out. In a panic mode, I let my producer of my daily radio show to take a look. He then pressed one button and everything was fixed. I would have felt better if he had taken the computer to another room and come back an hour later looking exhausted and tell me everything was fixed and I would not understand if he explained what he did.
Marc Daniels' From the Press Box runs several times per month on UCFAthletics.com. Listen to Marc during UCF football, men's basketball and baseball radio broadcasts on the UCF Sports Network. Each weekday, Marc hosts The Beat of Sports on ESPN Radio 1080 in Orlando.