Greg Hansen: UCF mostly unknown to Arizona, but opportunity for Cats to reach farther East in Big 12 (2024)

Editor’s note: This is part of the Star’s month-long “Big 12 Blitz” series, where we introduce U of A fans to the on- and off-field need-to-know details surrounding each member of the new 16-team Big 12. Today: UCF, located in Orlando, Florida.

In Arizona’s more than 100 years of college football — exactly 1,165 games — the Wildcats have played one game in the state of Florida.

The UA has played everywhere from Tokyo to Toledo, but only one game in Florida. One game for the ages.

On a muggy September afternoon, 1991, the 1-1-1 Wildcats played No. 1 Miami at the Orange Bowl. It was a tear-jerker among tear-jerkers.

I was standing on the 20-yard line when Arizona kicker Steve McLaughlin of Sahuaro High School missed a 51-yard field goal attempt as time expired. The top-ranked Hurricanes survived 8-7, winning their 47th straight game on the hallowed Orange Bowl turf.

There wasn’t a dry eye on the UA sideline. I approached McLaughlin as he walked to the locker room. “Not now, it hurts,’’ he said. “ I let the team down, but we’ll grow from this.’’

How true.

Two years later McLaughlin was a consensus All-American. Arizona was ranked as high as No. 6 in the AP poll.

In the weeks after it left Miami, Arizona beat No. 1 Washington, No. 8 Stanford and No. 11 UCLA. Desert Swarm was born. It all began after the UA’s only football visit to the state of Florida.

So bring on Central Florida, you say? The Wildcats will play new Big 12 rival UCF in Orlando on Nov. 2. What we don’t know about UCF could fill the pages of a very thick football magazine.

Here’s an introduction of the Knights, who also refer to themselves as “Space U.’’

UCF’s one true link to the UA is a former Lute Olson assistant coach, Kirk Speraw. In the late ’70s, Speraw played for Olson’s Iowa Hawkeyes and was a graduate assistant coach when Iowa reached the 1980 Final Four. Speraw went on to be UCF’s head basketball coach from 1993-2009. UCF’s career NCAA Tournament record: 1-5.

Lou Saban, Nick’s dad, was UCF’s football coach. Briefly. Real briefly. Four years after UCF started a Division III football program in 1979, UCF somehow persuaded the former head coach of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots — as well as Army and Miami of Florida — to coach the Knights. Saban resigned in the middle of his second season. UCF was 0-6.

Even though UCF has only been a FBS program since 1996, it has a superior quarterback history than Arizona. Two UCF quarterbacks, Daunte Culpepper and Blake Bortles, were first-round NFL draft picks. They combined to start 173 NFL games. In more than 120 years of football, Arizona’s QBs have started just 85 NFL games: 58 by Nick Foles, 25 by Fred W. Enke and three by Bill Demory. None were first-round picks.

Arizona is 0-1-1 against UCF in all sports. The only game a UCF team — any sport — has played in Tucson was on Sept. 17, 2010. That’s when UCF’s women’s soccer team tied Arizona 1-1 in two overtimes. UCF and Arizona met again in 2017 in a weekend tournament at ASU. Central Florida won 2-1, which wasn’t casually forgotten. The ’17 Arizona team was its best in history, finishing 7-2-2 in the Pac-12, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

While working on selling naming rights to Arizona Stadium and McKale Center, the UA lags behind UCF. The Knights named their basketball arena Addition Financial Arena, a 10-year contract through 2034 worth $12 million. UCF also named its football stadium FBC Mortgage Stadium for $19.5 million through 2031. The Knights also beat Arizona in construction of an indoor arena (mostly for football). The Nicholson Fieldhouse was built in 2005. Arizona built the Davis Sports Center in 2019.

Arizona and UCF rarely cross recruiting lines and engage one another. Of the Knights’ current 85-man football roster, 61 are from Florida and only three from west of the Mississippi River. The only true western player on the UCF roster is Idaho transfer Xe’ree Alexander, a linebacker from Auburn, Washington.

The best team in UCF history is probably coach Scott Frost’s 13-0 football team of 2017, although UCF’s quality of schedule was strained and then some. The Knights rolled up those 13 victories over teams like UConn, Austin Peay, East Carolina, Temple and Navy. They beat Auburn 34-27 in the Peach Bowl, but Auburn was 10-4 that season. Some at UCF may vote for the school’s 1979 women’s volleyball team as the school’s best ever team. The ’78 volleyball team went 55-0 and won an AIAW small college national championship; the AIAW was a precursor the NCAA beginning to sponsor women’s championships in the 1980s.

Don’t expect any empty seats when Arizona plays football at UCF in November. The Knights averaged 44,015 at home games last season, of 96% capacity. Arizona averaged 47,320, or 94% capacity. UCF has averaged more than 94% at home games every since 2016, not counting COVID-related games.

Finally, this: To a UA fan, the most familiar name and face in the UCF athletic department is men’s basketball coach Johnny Dawkins. Remember? He was Duke’s assistant coach when the Blue Devils beat Arizona in the 2001 national championship game, Arizona’s last visit to the Final Four. However, Arizona exacted some revenge on Dawkins. When he was Stanford’s head coach, 2008-16, he went 1-13 against Arizona, losing the last 13 games in succession.

But don’t expect the Dawkins of Stanford to be the Dawkins of UCF. Last year, UCF drew sellout crowds at home (about 9,300) against Big 12 powers Kansas, BYU, Iowa State and Houston, including a stunning upset over No. 3 Kansas. UCF refers to its basketball arena as “The ‘Bounce House.’’ Chaos guaranteed.

Fortunately, Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats are not scheduled to play at UCF this season. The Knights, who have an undergraduate student enrollment of close to 69,000, usually fill half of the arena with students. The “Bounce House’’ can wait.