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Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

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Many of us Knights are confused.  We've noted a great amount of dislike from FAU fans.  Why, we don't know.  In fact, most of us think favorably of FAU.

We're hoping you guys get an on-campus stadium.  It makes all-the-difference in both atmosphere and revenue.  We like to see FAU and FIU dominating the Sun Belt.  We also know what it feels like to go winless.  Also understand that UCF's football program basically had to "reset" after going into the MAC, and we're not fully recovered from that.

UCF joined I-A as an independent in 1996, after going independent years earlier in I-AA because of various issues.  By 1997, with all the scares we gave ranked, ACC and SEC teams, we had teams pulling out of our schedule, while the NCAA was bullying us into a conference.  Why?  The NCAA required us to schedule four (4) I-A home games.

No one wanted us.  We spent only about $1M on football (something USF didn't make the mistake of), ran it bare bones.  Eventually we received an invite from the newly formed Sun Belt, but we knew that would kill our recruiting.  As an independent with decent schedules, we could get good recruits regularly.  But eventually the NCAA was going to make good on their threat to kick us back to I-AA.

So we begged everyone and only the MAC allowed us to be a football-only member (who we were already 10-0 against as an independent), and only with a TV deal with Sunshine Network (Sun Sports), which gave them a venue into Florida recruiting.  And guess what still happened to our recruiting?  We went on a losing streak, the program faultered student-athlete discipline (nothing like we see out of FSU, Miami, UF and, God help the kids, USF), but for UCF's program, missing class will get you suspended and kicked off for repeat offenses (even if you're the QB that's going to break records, including Daunte's).

So that's when the boosters and a new AD made a change.  We put money in.  Of course, it was years after USF did, they didn't win jack in C-USA, but the Big East gave them an invite.  And that's when their recruiting took off – it's all about BCS conference invites – which we've recognized all along.  We're still only in C-USA, and it's likely to be that for some time.  C-USA has maybe only 2-3 ranked teams at best, and 1 or none at worst, every year.

This year has been odd.  Our QB is a RS Senior transfer from Wake Forest who didn't come in until close to the start of the season, didn't know our offense, etc…  We have a young, inexperienced secondary.  We held Texas to 14-3 into the 3rd quarter until they just started to bomb against that secondary.  Same deal with Miami.  We've had lots of flaws this year.  Heck, even Houston did their best to light us up.  So we're far from perfect, but we're finding ways to win.

Why hate us?  It was just 5 years ago that ESPN called us "the worst team in college football," and it was very, very deserved!  But it was the result of conferences wanting to have nothing to do with us, except the Sun Belt, which – give our history – was a move backwards.  And we're still recovering from that.  We nabbed Kevin Smith and that was unreal, just like Daunte Culpepper in the mid '90s, but you have to build a team of depth to play.

Why can't we all just "fight" on the field with games against each other instead of the other non-sense?  We just signed a deal to play FIU.  We're not being "snobs" and saying, "oh, we don't want to play Sun Belt teams" like USF says about both Sun Belt and C-USA.  We'll play anyone who wants to.  We like to play Florida teams because it packs our stadium (and we still manage to get 35,000+ every game).

Support FAU.  Pack your games as best as you can.  Get an on-campus stadium.  People think you have to win to get your crowds, but the crowds lead to a lot of winning, especially potential recruits who note that.  And I cannot stress how much UCF's Athletic Village has impressed potential recruits, even the ones who sign with someone else agree UCF has the absolute best facilities.

Best of luck and don't "hate" us except when we're playing you on-the-field.  If FAU wants to play UCF, and UCF has room in the schedule (e.g., after our FIU series is over, or if someone else pulls out of our future schedules), then pressure your AD to play us.  We're not USF and don't stick our nose up-in-the-air against playing Sun Belt, C-USA and MAC – while playing three (3) I-AA teams (although they "got lucky" and Western Kentucky played their first year in I-A).

Heck, we even schedule the most difficult teams in our conference for homecoming year-in and year-out.  Look forward to a series with FAU in the near future.
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

UCFBS said

Many of us Knights are confused.  We've noted a great amount of dislike from FAU fans.  Why, we don't know.  In fact, most of us think favorably of FAU.

We're hoping you guys get an on-campus stadium.  It makes all-the-difference in both atmosphere and revenue.  We like to see FAU and FIU dominating the Sun Belt.  We also know what it feels like to go winless.  Also understand that UCF's football program basically had to "reset" after going into the MAC, and we're not fully recovered from that.

UCF joined I-A as an independent in 1996, after going independent years earlier in I-AA because of various issues.  By 1997, with all the scares we gave ranked, ACC and SEC teams, we had teams pulling out of our schedule, while the NCAA was bullying us into a conference.  Why?  The NCAA required us to schedule four (4) I-A home games.

No one wanted us.  We spent only about $1M on football (something USF didn't make the mistake of), ran it bare bones.  Eventually we received an invite from the newly formed Sun Belt, but we knew that would kill our recruiting.  As an independent with decent schedules, we could get good recruits regularly.  But eventually the NCAA was going to make good on their threat to kick us back to I-AA.

So we begged everyone and only the MAC allowed us to be a football-only member (who we were already 10-0 against as an independent), and only with a TV deal with Sunshine Network (Sun Sports), which gave them a venue into Florida recruiting.  And guess what still happened to our recruiting?  We went on a losing streak, the program faultered student-athlete discipline (nothing like we see out of FSU, Miami, UF and, God help the kids, USF), but for UCF's program, missing class will get you suspended and kicked off for repeat offenses (even if you're the QB that's going to break records, including Daunte's).

So that's when the boosters and a new AD made a change.  We put money in.  Of course, it was years after USF did, they didn't win jack in C-USA, but the Big East gave them an invite.  And that's when their recruiting took off – it's all about BCS conference invites – which we've recognized all along.  We're still only in C-USA, and it's likely to be that for some time.  C-USA has maybe only 2-3 ranked teams at best, and 1 or none at worst, every year.

This year has been odd.  Our QB is a RS Senior transfer from Wake Forest who didn't come in until close to the start of the season, didn't know our offense, etc…  We have a young, inexperienced secondary.  We held Texas to 14-3 into the 3rd quarter until they just started to bomb against that secondary.  Same deal with Miami.  We've had lots of flaws this year.  Heck, even Houston did their best to light us up.  So we're far from perfect, but we're finding ways to win.

Why hate us?  It was just 5 years ago that ESPN called us "the worst team in college football," and it was very, very deserved!  But it was the result of conferences wanting to have nothing to do with us, except the Sun Belt, which – give our history – was a move backwards.  And we're still recovering from that.  We nabbed Kevin Smith and that was unreal, just like Daunte Culpepper in the mid '90s, but you have to build a team of depth to play.

Why can't we all just "fight" on the field with games against each other instead of the other non-sense?  We just signed a deal to play FIU.  We're not being "snobs" and saying, "oh, we don't want to play Sun Belt teams" like USF says about both Sun Belt and C-USA.  We'll play anyone who wants to.  We like to play Florida teams because it packs our stadium (and we still manage to get 35,000+ every game).

Support FAU.  Pack your games as best as you can.  Get an on-campus stadium.  People think you have to win to get your crowds, but the crowds lead to a lot of winning, especially potential recruits who note that.  And I cannot stress how much UCF's Athletic Village has impressed potential recruits, even the ones who sign with someone else agree UCF has the absolute best facilities.

Best of luck and don't "hate" us except when we're playing you on-the-field.  If FAU wants to play UCF, and UCF has room in the schedule (e.g., after our FIU series is over, or if someone else pulls out of our future schedules), then pressure your AD to play us.  We're not USF and don't stick our nose up-in-the-air against playing Sun Belt, C-USA and MAC – while playing three (3) I-AA teams (although they "got lucky" and Western Kentucky played their first year in I-A).

Heck, we even schedule the most difficult teams in our conference for homecoming year-in and year-out.  Look forward to a series with FAU in the near future.

Thanks for the note!

You make some good points…to be honest, I think  it goes back to a handful of former members on this forum that used to come here and continually talk trash…

Posts like yours can help change the landscape!
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

I don't think USF has been snobby towards us at all…they gave us home and away which we rarely get from BCS teams.

I would love to play UCF, both teams need to find a way to make it happen after we get our on campus stadium.  I understand that most UCF fans have nothing against FAU, its the ones that are loud and obnoxious that seem to show up to try and put us down so they can feel better about their own team's failings.

When we celebrated back to back bowl wins we weren't running over to UCF message boards to rub it in, it was UCF fans coming on here to try and denigrate our accomplishment by saying the wins were against mediocre teams.  We have won more bowls that USF and UCF combined but I have never seen a USF fan on here putting us down.  Our biases against UCF are based entirely on UCF fans that go out of their way to troll our board.

Florida Atlantic University Owls
2007 Sun Belt Football Champions 2007 New Orleans Bowl Champions 2008 Motor City Bowl Champions 2011 Sun Belt Basketball Champions No Bowls without Owls
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

USF has won 2 bowl games so you havent won more then us combined.
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

I stand corrected.  We have won as many as USF and UCF combined.

Florida Atlantic University Owls
2007 Sun Belt Football Champions 2007 New Orleans Bowl Champions 2008 Motor City Bowl Champions 2011 Sun Belt Basketball Champions No Bowls without Owls
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

Nice post UCFBS,. A LOT of very good points.

With some of our early success, some heads became swollen.

Thanks for your post!
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

SeminOWL2006 said

I stand corrected.  We have won as many as USF and UCF combined.

Ok dude, we get it. You won the NO Bowl vs. Memphis. Perhaps you should carry as a footnote that we beat that same Memphis team, in the same year, by a score of 56-21 and it was 49-0 at the half before we emptied the bench.

The same year we had to face a tough Miss. State team in what was essentially a home game for them.

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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

it goes back to a handful of former members on this forum that used to come here and continually talk trash…

Case in point!

 Ok dude, we get it. You won the NO Bowl vs. Memphis. Perhaps you should carry as a footnote that we beat that same Memphis team, in the same year, by a score of 56-21 and it was 49-0 at the half before we emptied the bench.

The same year we had to face a tough Miss. State team in what was essentially a home game for them.


Always comes back to some UCF fans being 1 uppers. Anything we do/say someone from UCF (not everyone) has to come on here and proclaim how much better they are

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

SeminOWL2006 said

I don't think USF has been snobby towards us at all…they gave us home and away which we rarely get from BCS teams.

I would love to play UCF, both teams need to find a way to make it happen after we get our on campus stadium.  I understand that most UCF fans have nothing against FAU, its the ones that are loud and obnoxious that seem to show up to try and put us down so they can feel better about their own team's failings.

When we celebrated back to back bowl wins we weren't running over to UCF message boards to rub it in, it was UCF fans coming on here to try and denigrate our accomplishment by saying the wins were against mediocre teams.  We have won more bowls that USF and UCF combined but I have never seen a USF fan on here putting us down.  Our biases against UCF are based entirely on UCF fans that go out of their way to troll our board.

there were definitely fau fans trying to brag about their bowl win on ucfsports. it's not our fault if all we had to say to them was that we absolutely demolished that team. they still bragged.
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Re: Most UCF fans have nothing against FAU ...

UCF fans, don't make USF out to be snobs who are afraid to play SunBelt teams.  Do your research.  We played FAU twice and FIU once (they pulled out of our other game). And I have never heard a USF fan put down FAU, ever.  The fans I have mentioned them to have nothing but good will toward them because we are young and we remember what it was like.  I have been stopping on this board once in a while for a couple of years giving encouragement and celebrating victories with the Owls.  Just read the comments on the State of Florida board at www.thebullspen.com.  We talk up FAU.  UCF's problems with FAU stem from their fear that the Owls are going to pass them by and I believe that is a reasonable possibility.
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