UCF is eager and has the backing to return to national prominence after joining Big 12

Bounce House,” and alumni can travel to almost anywhere in Central Florida for vacation and watch a game at their alma mater in the Big 12 while there.

Gabriel Trevino

This is part of The O’Colly’s series on the four new members of the Big 12 Conference: BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF.

Every Big 12 school hosted more fans per game than UCF did in 2022, but that’s going to change.

As UCF enters the Big 12, the school sold out each of its home games at its 45,301-person stadium in Orlando.

FBC Mortgage Stadium is on UCF’s campus, it’s 13 minutes from downtown Orlando, 30 minutes from Disney World and 50 minutes from the beach. With one of the largest enrollments and alumni networks in the country; students will pack “The

UCF is a high-profile school and athletics department, and with excitement from hundreds of thousands of students and alumni for a chance to compete in a Power Five conference, it shows the potential to compete not just in the Big 12, but among the best in the country.

“Years from now, all those connected with our university will look back on this date, July 1, 2023, as a new beginning for UCF athletics,” said UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir.

UCF doesn’t just claim the 2017 national championship — it embodies it. After not receiving a spot in the College Football Playoffs, the Knights beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl and ended their season as the only undefeated team in the country. Fellow Big 12 newcomer Cincinnati would eventually break the stigma that nonPower Five teams couldn’t make the playoffs in 2020, but UCF’s exclusion was controversial at the time.

The Knights even received four first-place votes in the final AP poll, Florida lawmakers proclaimed UCF the national champions and an official NCAA mathematical ranking system put them as the No. 1 team.

UCF has been a consistent top25 team since, winning nine or more games in four of the past five seasons.

With the team back on the rise and excitement at an all-time high, the support from fans and boosters has already increased, which could lead to more money being fed into its football program.

“Everybody loves to be a part of something special,” football coach Gus Malzahn said in an interview with WESH Orlando. “This is so unique, and we think we have a chance to win a championship. We’re dreaming, and everybody likes to dream... The fans and the boosters that have been here since Day 1, when you talk to them, you feel that excitement. It’s special. And when you’re a part of something special, you’re able to look back and say, ‘That’s when it happened.’ This is a really neat feeling.”

UCF’s recruiting is likely to skyrocket, too. It already attracts four- and three-star recruits who aren’t going to UF, FSU or Miami but want to stay in Florida. Now that UCF is in a Power Five conference, it could get more from Florida, and some from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

In 2015, UCF was 0-12. Two years later it was somewhat national champions. Turnarounds are common in the Big 12. Last season saw TCU reach the national championship game, Kansas State win the conference and Kansas reach a bowl game for the first time in 15 years. UCF has been consistent for the past five years with three head coaches, and with the Big 12 logo on its uniforms, it will be on the rise.

“At this point, now that we’re in the Big 12, I think it’s more about being competitive in the collective,” Malzahn continued in the interview. “We’re really embracing Orlando and getting Orlando to come on board. Everybody loves a winner, and we have to win, but we’re setting up to do that.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

12.

Houston...

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On a radio appearance with CBS in March, Holgorsen said the Big 12 “needs Houston” and discussed how his past experiences with the conference could help Houston transition to the conference.

“What it needs to look like, and what we need to do, and what the roster needs to look like, what the support staff needs to look like, what all the other stuff needs to look like (in the Big 12), I’ve got some experience when it comes to that,” Holgorsen said. “We’ve been navigating that for the better part of 15 months when it was announced (that Houston would join the conference) a year and a half ago.”

With the transition of conferences now official, the school announced plans and renderings for $140 million in upgrades of its football operations center. The Houston Chronicle first reported that the weightroom and jumbotron will be renovated as part of the upgrades, and a party deck with premium seating for fans is also included.

In a recent interview with KHOU11, Houston athletic director Chris Pezman hinted at more upgrades and investments to facilities and other areas in the near future, stressing that he’s OK doing whatever it takes to succeed.

“We’re not going to just cash a check. We’re going to try and win games, and that’s our mindset, and I’ll be damned if we’re gonna find a way to do it,” Pezman said. “And that means we have to continue to invest in human resources, human capital and also our physical infrastructure.” sports.ed@ocolly.com