Sure it was Pitt but that’s still an ACC team; and if we are going strictly by the stereotypes of G5 vs. P5, Pitt should’ve won convincingly.
The first quarter went as expected, McKenzie Milton opened the scoring with a rushing touchdown.
Next UCF drive, Milton hit Gabe Davis from 25 yards out.
The UCF defense continued to shut down the Pitt offense, but after going up 14-0 UCF was forced to punt.
Pitt’s Rafael Araujo-Lopes went back to receive the punt and then he struck gold, returning it 86 yards to the house to cut the UCF lead in half.
After that, the Knights completely took over, UCF would score the next 31 points to go up 45-7. Pitt would score another touchdown in garbage time to make it 45-14.
That would be the final score as the Knights got their P5 win.
Now let’s get to the polls:
People liked to complain that UCF didn’t have any P5 wins this season and shouldn’t be ranked as high as they were (which is ridiculous but that’s a different story). UCF gets a P5 win and then only jumps one spot in the AP Poll? C’mon man. I’m not saying they should be in the top 5, but they should be higher than 12th. I think they should be 9th right behind Auburn.
This 17 game win streak has been impressive, but it becomes even more impressive when you look at the numbers they have put up:
UCF Knights’ Longest Win Streak in the Nation:
17 straight wins
48.4 ppg
23.3 opp. ppg
25.1 margin
Wins by 21+ pts: 11
Power 5 wins: 3
AP Top 25 wins: 3
AP Top 10 wins: 1
30+ pt games: 17 straight
40+ pt games: 12
50+ pt games: 7
60+ pt games: 4
70+ pt games: 1 pic.twitter.com/RKm9ZzLDoA
— UCFSportsInfo (@UCFSportsInfo) September 30, 2018
You see that people? Three P5 wins and four ranked wins.
Let compare this to Clemson in the same span:
Power 5(non-ACC) wins: 3
AP Top 25 wins: 5
AP Top 10 wins: 1
30+ pt games: 12
40+ pt games: 5
50+ pt games: 2
60+ pt games: 1
70+ pt games: 0
What makes Clemson number four and UCF number twelve? Clemson only has two more wins over ranked opponents and UCF has put up better numbers against the mid-level opponents that each team plays.
At the same time, I am happy with UCF being 12th for this reason:
Dates that UCF broke into the Top 12:
2013: January 7
2017: November 26
2018: September 30— Christian Simmons (@ByCASimmons) September 30, 2018
The Knights are getting more respect than past years, but it is still not enough.
