UCF Football: 5 takeaways from Knights’ perfect 2017 season

The UCF football program finished 2017 with a perfect 13-0 record. Here are five takeaways from the 2017 campaign for the Knights.

The Central Florida Knights finished the 2017 season with a perfect 13-0 record. UCF had to overcome cancelled practices and a cancelled game at the hands of Hurricane Irma. That cancelled game hurt the Knights strength of schedule, and UCF was never even close to a College Football Playoff option for the committee.

The committee changes their parameters on a weekly basis so take that all with a grain of salt. Central Florida finished seventh in the S&P+ overall rankings per Bill C.

To understand how far the Knights have come, you have to understand not only that UCF was 0-12 only two years ago, but the confusion and controversy surrounding that unvictorious record. George O’Leary took over as the UCF football coach back in 2004, after his resume fiasco had him removed as head coach at Notre Dame after mere days. O’Leary spent 2002-03 with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings before being named the new coach at Central Florida.

UCF’s head football coaches had been surrounded in controversy dating back to Gene McDowell in the mid-90s. McDowell was fired following fraud cases over cell phones and Mike Kruczek, his replacement, was fired over discipline and academic issues while he was in charge of the then Golden Knights.

O’Leary started his reign of terror at UCF 0-11 and finished it 0-12, after starting the 2015 season as dual head coach and athletic director and moving solely into the AD role before being forced into retirement. O’Leary wasn’t without controversy as the program was deemed responsible for the death of Erick Plancher, where O’Leary was at practice cussing out the player as he passed away and the athletic training staff failed to react appropriately during an emergency.

In came Scott Frost, a young, energetic and progressive mind that was the exact opposite of the man he was following. Coach Frost brought in a positive light and high energy offense that was based around scoring touchdowns and playing #UCFast. He changed recruiting practices — moving the focus from the northeast to Central Florida and was immediately loved by both the old players on the roster and the new recruits.

The dark cloud over the program from the O’Leary era was lifted and new AD Danny White removed Brent Key, the interim head coach, and changed the idea of what UCF football is. The Knights finished 6-7 in 2016, and then 13-0 in 2017 giving Scott Frost a 19-7 record in two years as a head football coach and a new contract at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to take over the ailing Cornhuskers. White has replaced Frost with Josh Huepel, another young upstart offensive mind.

Here are my five takeaways from the UCF Knights’ 2017 season.