Orlando: a plastic resort town, half populated by retirees and made famous by a man and his vision for a mouse. Oh, and it's also home to a university that has a student body that, at 36,013, is larger than three Big Ten schools.
What, you only remember Central Florida as the school that produced Daunte Culpepper but whose games you've never seen? Well, if the folks from the Sunshine State get their way, the Golden Knights will fall somewhere between Universal Studios and Sea World on the list of Orlando's main attractions.
Having joined the Mid-American Conference this year following six years of playing as an independent, UCF believes its time in the national spotlight has arrived. With the MAC's invitation to join last November came the promise of nationally televised games on ESPN as well as access to post-season bowl bids, prizes that are virtually impossible for an unattached school not named Notre Dame to attain.
For UCF, that lure of the postseason and national TV, even in what is generally regarded as a mid-major conference, was too good to pass up. However, that same ambition to advance in the world has also stirred the waters outside the lands of leisure and relaxation, notably those lands north and west.
"Every program has to start somewhere, and for just starting a Div. I program six years ago, this is a huge step for us," said UCF athletic director Steve Orsini.
Part of UCF's underexposure problem has been history, or lack thereof. Where most large Universities have founding dates that begin with the number 18 or at least could have served as recruiting bases during the first World War, classes didn't start at UCF until 1968, when the school was known as Florida Tech.
But as far as national recognition goes, the upstart lacked something more powerful than far-reaching tradition in the age of 24-hour news channels and ESPN -- a major sports program. A lack of teams paraded across the highlight shows to serve as a beacon of school pride translates to a lack of instant name recognition.
And in the ever-expanding, overhyped world of big-time college sports nothing compares with football Saturdays. Nothing.
Trying to combat this, the school's administration started a football program in 1979 as part of UCF's expansion program. To give an idea of the Knights' humble beginnings as a Div. III squad, original head coach Don Jonas was a volunteer, and players had to provide their own equipment.
While actively expanding the program, UCF managed to move up in the sports world, eventually landing in Div. I-AA with the Citrus Bowl as its home field by 1991, the same time the Knights began showing up on Div. I schedules. It wasn't long before the boys in black decided they wanted to be on the same level as those elite opponents and, as a result, were a Div. I school by the start of the 1996 season.
However, the Knights were homeless. Already a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference in other sports, UCF was forced to exist as an independent due to the fact that the ACS did not offer football.
Still, going it alone wasn't all bad. Finishing with a 5-6 record, which was very respectable for a rookie Div. I squad, UCF also got its first look at who would usher it through its transition to big time football: quarterback sensation Culpepper.
During his freshman season, Culpepper threw for 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns. Before Culpepper was selected 11th overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1999 NFL Draft, he was named to Playboy's All-American team, finished sixth in Heisman trophy voting, led UCF to its most successful season to date at 9-2, rewrote the Knights' record books and became just the third player in NCAA history to throw for over 10,000 yards and rush for over 1,000. According to those at UCF, Culpepper's impact on the program's history and, in many cases, future, cannot be overstated.
"His attending UCF was one of the most significant events that happened in the progression of UCF from I-AA to I-A to being good," said Steve Sloan, the athletic director at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, who
held the same position at UCF until last June.
Culpepper's breakout career wasn't the only surprise to come out of America's favorite resort town. In 2000, the Knights upset Alabama in Tuscaloosa and gave Georgia Tech a scare in UCF's 21-17 loss.
At the same time, the phone calls Sloan had been making to conferences east of the Mississippi since making the jump to Div. I were finally starting to pay off, as the MAC began serious discussions about adding UCF's football program to its Eastern Division. The deal was sealed midway through the 2001 season, with the formal announcement coming in November.
The Knights finally had a place to call home.
"It was a quantum leap," Sloan said. "First of all, you have eight conference games -- that's terrific. Number two, they have a conference championship. Number three, they can play in a playoff game and number four, they have two-and-a-half bowl contacts."
Besides the obvious benefits of nationally televised games, particularly the Friday night contests that have become a MAC staple, UCF will be eligible for the bids to the GMAC Bowl and Motor City Bowl that are extended to the conferences' top two respective finishers.
Equally important in terms of filling the Citrus Bowl, UCF will have the opportunity to develop home rivalries, something that was nearly impossible when trying to schedule any team willing to sign up.
Right now, Marshall, which only joined the MAC in 1997, seems to be the perfect candidate for a burgeoning rivalry. The two schools dominate preseason picks for conference champions. For his part, Thundering Herd football coach Bob Pruett isn't taking the newcomers lightly.
"I think Central Florida has the capability to succeed at this level," Pruett said. "We've been able to use that, getting into the MAC, to propel us into the national rankings the last four or five years, so the impact is huge."
And not to be left out, it provides UCF with much sought-after respect.
"I think it heightens our sense of respect around the nation," UCF football coach Mike Kruczek said. "I don't know how much respect we got as an independent."
Still, not everything has come up sunny in the land of oranges.
Other MAC teams were understandably unenthused about welcoming a team that could shoot straight past them in conference rankings into the fold, and by June, bulletin board material was beginning to pile up.
At a pep rally for UCF alumni, Kruczek was asked about his goals for the season, to which he says he replied, "to go undefeated," a statement he says was misconstrued as a prediction.
The situation did not improve a month later, when UCF hosted the MAC's pre-season media day. At a private luncheon for conferences coaches the day before the event, university president John C. Hitt announced the school was pleased to be joining the Mid-Western Conference. This mistake was compounded by Orsini telling the same audience that one day UCF hoped to join a major conference entirely.
"I made a comment about how this was a milestone to be joining the MAC in football and about how we would like to get all our sports in one major conference," Orsini said.
Orsini claims his statement was meant to reflect the desire to move all 17 of UCF's athletic programs to the MAC, something the school hopes to do within the next six years. However, some coaches felt he wanted to use the MAC more as a stepping stone on UCF's path to something bigger and those comments found their way into the Orlando Sentinel.
While the statements might have made waves, both Orsini and Kruczek are willing to dismiss the gripes as something opposing coaches are using for motivation.
For their part, those opposing coaches seem to have let any misunderstandings pass.
"They're a team with a great reputation and they're going to improve the MAC's football reputation," Akron football coach Lee Owens said.
Regardless, whether UCF is perceived as a cocky upstart or a team trying to break through, one thing is certain: now, they're bound to be noticed by somebody.
