ORLANDO, Fla. _ We sometimes chuckle and roll our eyes at some of the outlandish statements that come from the mouth of FAU coach Lane Kiffin, but in this case, the Lane Train is absolutely correct when he says UCF belongs in the SEC.
Actually, after watching some SEC teams embarrass themselves in Week 1 of the college football season, UCF probably belongs in the top half of the SEC _ just below Alabama and Georgia and right there with Florida, Auburn and LSU.
During a teleconference with reporters earlier this week, Kiffin talked about this week's game against UCF and playing the Knights last season when they handed the Owls a 56-36 loss. Before last year's game, Kiffin recalled an on-field conversation he had with UCF coach Josh Heupel.
"I remember talking to Coach (Heupel) and I was like, 'You guys look like an SEC team over there,' " remembered Kiffin, whose team is 0-1 after last week's 45-21 loss at Ohio State.
When asked if UCF is the type of program FAU aspires to be, Kiffin replied: "I think it's a program everyone aspires to be. For us, it's like we're playing another SEC or Big Ten team two weeks in a row. They have players like those guys."
Is Kiffin buttering up and building up the Knights before Saturday's game, or does he really believe UCF could compete in the SEC or Big Ten?
You know what I believe.
I believe UCF could hold its own with most of the schools in the big-time leagues. The Knights certainly have proven that over the last couple of seasons. Two years ago in the Peach Bowl, they beat an Auburn team that beat both Alabama and Georgia during the regular season. Last season they annihilated a Pitt team that ended up in the ACC Championship Game against Clemson.
Does anybody really believe UCF isn't better than most of the teams in the SEC East? Here's all you need to know: Last week Tennessee lost to a Georgia State team that was 2-10 last year. South Carolina lost to a North Carolina team that was 2-9 last season. Wyoming upset Missouri and ran over the Tigers to the tune of 297 rushing yards.
Really?
Seriously?
North Carolina, Georgia State and Wyoming?
Are you kidding me?
UCF would have blown out all three of those teams by at least four touchdowns.
If I've written it once, I've written it a million times: If the Power 5 conferences were being formed today, UCF, without question, would be in the SEC, the ACC or the Big 12. The only reason Wake Forest, Oregon State, Texas Tech and Vanderbilt are in major conferences today is because they happened to be in the right place at the right time when those Power 5 leagues were formed nearly 100 years ago.
You know the last time one of the SEC's Mississippi schools won a conference championship? It was 1963 when Ole Miss won the title four years before the league even integrated. Vanderbilt, of course, never has won an SEC championship in the 86 years since the league was formed. Wake Forest has one conference championship in the 66 years since the ACC was born. Do Iowa State and Texas Tech _ programs that never have done anything in the Big 12 _ really deserve to be in a Power 5 league? The same with Purdue in the Big Ten or Oregon State in the Pac-12.
As former UCF coach George O'Leary used to always say, "There are two or three good teams in each major conference; the rest are just members who are cashing checks."
It's no secret that many of these bottom-feeding Power 5 programs are simply taking up a spot that would be better suited for UCF _ a burgeoning university in a major metropolitan TV market. If you think UCF, in its current state, couldn't survive the rigors of a Power 5 conference schedule, it's always been my contention that this is an illogical and unfair conclusion.
Why?
Because if UCF were playing a Power 5 schedule, that means UCF would be in a Power 5 league. And if you put UCF in a Power 5 league and gave the Knights the TV money, the TV exposure and the built-in monster games against marquee opponents that would galvanize the fan base and fill their stadium even more, they'd be more successful than half the teams in the big-boy leagues.
Lane Kiffin sometimes says things he shouldn't, but in this case, he is spot-on.
UCF belongs in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten or Big 12 much more than many schools already in those leagues.
