Six months after
Finebaum says he’s all in if UCF perfect again
the perfect season, UCF is still on the mind of national pundits like Paul Finebaum, as Mike Bianchi writes.
Brace yourself, Orlando. I have some major breaking news ... Even Paul Finebaum is starting to warm up to UCF. That’s right, you heard me. Finebaum — the powerful voice and face of the SEC Network and the most obnoxious critic of UCF’s self-proclaimed national championship following last season’s Peach Bowl victory over Auburn — made a concession to me when I was a guest on his show earlier this week.
Finebaum said that if the Knights somehow, someway run the table again and finish unbeaten under new coach Josh Heupel, then he will actually jump wholeheartedly onto the UCF national-championship bandwagon.
“I will make a vow that I will come down to whatever celebration you have,” Finebaum told me. “I’ll buy the T-shirts, I’ll buy the Mike Bianchi ‘Season of Glory’ book and I’m all in.”
Whether or not Finebaum is being patronizing or genuine doesn’t really matter; what matters is that UCF is still on Finebaum’s radar six months after the finale of the perfect season. Love him or hate him, Finebaum has emerged as the most influential commentator and opinion-maker in college football. The fact that UCF has piqued his interest is a major victory for the Knights.
After the Peach Bowl, Finebaum completely dismissed UCF and ridiculed AD Danny White and media members like myself who loudly protested the College Football Playoff as nothing more than a Power 5 invitational — an exclusive championship tournament for the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12.
Finebaum referred to White’s championship proclamations as “buffoonery” and arrogantly advised UCF to “know your place.”
Now, Finebaum is essentially saying, “If they can do it again, then I’ll start to believe.” And he’s not the only one. Undoubtedly, there are members of the College Football Playoff Committee who feel the same way.
In other words, for the first time in history, UCF will be nationally relevant going into a season. Everybody who’s anybody in college football will be monitoring and judging the Knights on a week-to-week basis. This has never happened before. Not when Daunte Culpepper was quarterback 20 years ago. Not when Blake Bortles was quarterback five years ago and not when McKenzie Milton was quarterback one year ago.
Last season, the nation didn’t start noticing UCF until the end of the year; this season, the scrutiny will start at the beginning of the year.
This is why Josh Heupel inherits the toughest coaching job in America. He comes in after Scott Frost coached the Knights to a perfect season and has curious minds and critical eyes wanting to see if the Knights can do it again. Heupel takes over with a massive spotlight shining on the front of his program and a huge target on its back.
If the Knights lose a few, their critics will say, “I told you so!”
If they win ’em all, the Finebaums of the world will go from belittlers to believers.
What’s so intriguing is that it’s not out of the question for UCF to pull off back-to-back perfect seasons. I’m not saying that should be the expectation, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
UCF, according to odds released by Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, is favored to repeat as American Athletic Conference football champions. Right now, less than two months before the season, UCF should be favored against every team on its schedule — including Power 5 nonconference opponents Pitt and North Carolina.
And you have to admit, it’s pretty exciting when your Heisman-contending QB, Milton, says he believes this year’s UCF offense could be even better than an offense that led the nation in scoring last year.
“We were very young last year and we’ve got a lot of veterans coming back,” Milton told me the other day. “And the other thing is Coach Heup is one of the best offensive minds in college football. We’re going to be airing the ball out and we’ve got a stable of running backs. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re going to go fast, very fast; I think even faster than we were with Coach Frost.”
Seriously, wouldn’t you love to see it?
Wouldn’t you love to see UCF go unbeaten yet again?
Not only would it put the exclusionary College Football Playoff Committee on the spot; it would be worth it just to see Finebaum at the downtown Orlando celebration wearing a “UCF National Championship” t-shirt and presenting Danny White with a commemorative trophy.