ORLANDO – The UCF athletics program has enjoyed unprecedented success the last few years and 2018-19 was no different. According to CBS Sports, the Knights had the 17th best year in the nation thanks to their across-the-board performance.
CBS’s formula to pick the top collegiate athletics programs puts more weight on football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, three marquee sports that UCF excelled in this past season.
The football team went 12-1, won another American Athletic Conference Championship and earned New Year’s Six bowl berth, playing the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. Both the men’s and women’s basketball programs earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament with the men advancing to the second round.
With two wild card sports – either from baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey or wrestling – also added to the calculation, NCAA Tournament runs by UCF’s volleyball and men’s soccer teams helped the Knights rise all the way to 17th in the rankings.
UCF was just ahead of Duke, Texas and Maryland in the top 20. The Knights were the only team in the top 25 from The American, as Cincinnati came in at tied for 38th. Michigan topped the chart for 2018-19.
The complete list can be found by clicking here.