UCF Football: What hosting College GameDay means to the Knights

Showcasing the best Group of 5 conference

Atop the American Athletic Conference is UCF. However, this has not always been the case.

In 2016, the Houston Cougars peaked in the AP Poll at No. 6. That year, Houston beat, then ranked No. 3, Oklahoma, and really started to bring the AAC into the conversation at a sixth “Power 5” conference. That same year, Navy knocked off Notre Dame, and had finished at No. 18 in the polls the year prior. Things were looking up for the conference as a whole.

However, many of those who were really building the AAC, eventually all left. Coach Justin Fuente had already left Memphis for Virginia Tech. Coach Tom Herman headed over to Texas from Houston. Navy quarterback and Heisman finalist, Keenan Reynolds, graduated. The AAC looked to have had two strong years, 2015 and 2016, and was now back to being just another Group of 5 conference.

But Scott Frost, and the UCF Knights, made the biggest turn around in college football history. In 2015, the Knights did not win a single game. By 2017, they were the National Champions. As with the other successful coaches in the AAC, Coach Frost left for alma mater, Nebraska. But this has not stopped UCF from winning.

This season, the AAC has made a name for itself with teams like USF, UCF, and Cincinnati. The latter two will be playing each other, Saturday, November 17th, on primetime television. With College GameDay being at UCF, the game will be getting national attention all day long.

The two best teams in the AAC are going to show the nation that this conference deserves to be recognized as a top conference in the country, and that there is a significant difference between the AAC and the other four conferences in the Group of 5.