The ESPN College GameDay hosts covered the University of Central Florida for the first time at Spectrum Stadium and witnessed the Knights’ best performance all season – all against a ranked opponent.
One of the UCF’s biggest critics – Kirk Herbstreit – went on air mid-season to highlight other, more “deserving” G5 teams in a widely circulated hot take, but later changed his mind once seeing the team in action against a tougher opponent.
Congratulations @UCF_Football on another big win. I was really blown away by your team and your home field advantage. From @CollegeGameDay to the game itself we had a great time. Thanks very much for having us. You all have a lot to be proud of. pic.twitter.com/G0iFlUKiqZ
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 18, 2018
Cincinnati grazed top-25 status, while UCF and USF also made the list, but lost to Temple October 20 and fell out of the rankings. A 42-0 shutout against Navy vaulted them to No. 19, only eight spots below UCF. The Black and Gold beat Navy at home by only 11 points the week after Cincinnati, a major talking point for the Ohio team’s sympathetic.
On primetime television, defensive coordinator Randy Shannon answered with a complete shutdown of the Bearcats’ offense for more than three quarters with Heupel and McKenzie Milton making an impressive march down the field six times to score.
At the beginning of the game (sent in a tweet following the game), Herbstreit took out his phone and panned around Spectrum Stadium while 47,000 fans brought the bounce house to life. The ESPN host said that he’d been blown away by UCF’s program and game atmosphere as the Knights made a dominating performance at home. Herbstreit went far enough to rank the 23-0 team No. 7 in the country while describing UCF as “FAST & REAL,” behind Georgia and Washington State.
Few Saturday observations
*Clemson defense playing DOMINANT football
*ND is 60 minutes away from a playoff berth
*UM needs better Red Zone eff vs Ohio St
*UCF is FAST & REAL
*OU & Ohio St have SERIOUS defensive issues
*Okla St plays up or down to their opponent
*****continue— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 18, 2018
I’d rank em 7. https://t.co/Sz2VaU5nyP
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 18, 2018
The American Athletic Conference East Division was claimed by UCF Saturday night. As the best-performing team in the conference, the AAC Championship will return to Orlando December 1 at 3:30 p.m. on ABC against the winner of the West Division game.
Check out Knight News’ College GameDay Coverage:
