The 18th century English poet Alexander Pope once said, "Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." It would be interesting to see Pope come back today and try to get University of Central Florida football fans to buy into that mantra.
Expectations are sky high for 2018 as the Knights begin spring football camp this week. The glow of a claimed national championship still shines brightly as the college football world continues to weigh in on its validity this offseason.
UCF is months removed from capping an undefeated season by beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl, but just this past week ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit and Alabama athletic director Greg Bryne were the latest to make their criticisms known about the country's only undefeated champions.
Just enjoy a magical-incredible year. You’re damaging your own brand by jumping up and down “claiming” a National Championship. Just stop. Your “National Champions” in your own world. And that’s awesome. But the rest of us crowned Bama the champ January 8th. https://t.co/Lblv7dEp8p
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) March 15, 2018
Great win today over UCF for @AlabamaWBB! We're not ready to make it more than it was and schedule a Disney Parade...but we'll definitely take it. #RollTide pic.twitter.com/LyjvFKbmoO
— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) March 18, 2018
This is the utterly fantastic and downright odd landscape that new head coach Josh Heupel enters as he tries to run his first spring camp as a head coach. There has certainly never been a better time to be a Knights fan, but the ability of the team to live up to the hype remains very much in question.
Expectations have always been loosely attached to what UCF football could become in the future, but never directly applied to what the program can accomplish in the present. The Knights were somewhat surprised contenders for conference championships in 2005, 2007 and 2010.
Following the 2014 Fiesta Bowl win, a talented team returned but Blake Bortles entered the NFL Draft, dampening hopes for another historic run. While star players like Shaquem Griffin, Mike Hughes, and Trequan Smith are taking their talents to the NFL this time around, loads of talent returns for 2018 on both sides of the ball.
Most importantly, UCF welcomes back a quarterback in McKenzie Milton that will get preseason Heisman buzz and the American Athletic Conference is, at least on paper, not as strong as it was a year ago. It is a ready-to-win situation that Heupel is entering.
This is undoubtedly a blessing and a curse for a coach who was dismissed from the staff at his alma mater, Oklahoma, just years three ago.
Normally when a coach takes over a program, it is because the last guy did not do a good enough job. Expectations are lowered and the new head man in charge has a honeymoon period to right the ship.
Perhaps unfairly, Heupel has no such grace period.
UCF will be favored in every game they play next season. With all the postseason bluster going, Knights fans are chomping at the bit to have a team that can challenge the college football power structure and more specifically the College Football Playoff committee.
Once things were rolling last year, there was even internal talk among Scott Frost and the former coaching staff about what could happen with a UCF team that racked up 26 straight wins. Would two seasons of undefeated play be enough for the Knights to punch a ticket into the playoff?
Some may doubt that the committee would allow a so-called Group of Five team into the party, especially when that program is one who has so brazenly challenged their modus operandi like the Knights have. I believe that any team that runs the table for two years would get the call, regardless of schedule.
The outcry for inclusion among fans and media alone would make it very difficult for the CFP to stonewall UCF. Even some that may not be so gung-ho about the Knights championship celebrations this winter would jump sides and start waving their black and gold pom-poms against the establishment.
After all, America loves an underdog, right?
Heupel and his staff will now be expected by many to live up to this possibility.
That brings us back to Pope, who is one of the most quoted men in modern history. The saying he is perhaps best known for perfectly sums up the feeling around Heupel and the Knights.
"Hope springs eternal."
Carson Ingle has been a sportscaster and sports talk radio host in Orlando for the past ten years. He can currently be seen several times a week on Spectrum Sports 360's Face-Off segment at 10:30 p.m. on Central Florida News 13, channel 1013. Follow him on Twitter.
Stay connected to all the Orlando sports news and events by subscribing to 407area.com.
