Go Mighty Card

UCF 45, Stanford 27

Considering the 2,446-mile flight, the three-hour time difference, the ninety degree heat, and the ninety percent humidity, Saturday's game was always going to be a difficult challenge for the Cardinal. When you then consider that Stanford was already missing a few key players at kickoff and that an excellent UCF team was eager to bolster its résumé with a nationally broadcast win over a Power 5 team... Well, there were a lot of signs pointing in the same direction.

Even considering all of that, it was still stunning to see how quickly everything disintegrated for the Cardinal.

Blogging with the Enemy: UCF Knights

When Stanford and Central Florida agreed to a home-and-home series in September of 2014, it looked like a great deal for the Cardinal. Yes, the Knights had been 12-1 in 2013, culminating the season with a win over #12 Baylor in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, but when they dipped to 9-4, it seemed like they were just another mid-major that had enjoyed a brief taste of success before falling back to the pack. Stanford beat them easily in the first game of the series on the second week of the season in 2015, and when UCF went winless that season, it looked like the deal would be an unmitigated success. Surely the Knights would wallow in mediocrity for a few years until the Cardinal would come calling in 2019 to pick up an easy win and hopefully impress some Florida recruits.

Clearly, it hasn't worked out that way. Scott Frost burned the Stanford football program once again. Two decades ago he left the Farm for stardom at Nebraska, and in 2016 he took the job as head coach of the Knights and proceeded to turn UCF into a football powerhouse. They rebounded to 6-7 in 2016, but then they shook up the world in 2017, capping off an undefeated season with a 34-27 win over #7 Auburn in the Peach Bowl and laying claim to a mythical national championship. Sure, Alabama beat Georgia to win the actual national championship that season, but with both of those teams finishing with a loss, the undefeated Knights pronounced themselves the true champions, complete with rings and a parade.

In a move that did not stun Stanford fans, the typically loyal Frost left UCF for Nebraska, but Josh Heupel arrived in 2018 and kept the train rolling, extending the winning streak to 25 games before falling to #11 LSU in the Fiesta Bowl. Technically, I suppose Central Florida is still a mid-major, but it's probably more accurate to describe them as a Power-5 plus 1 team playing in a mid-major conference. Put simply, they're good, and they're here to stay.

The 2015 Schedule

With no game to look forward to this Saturday, now seems like the perfect time to look at the Cardinal's 2015 schedule, released this week by the Pac-12. Far too many things will happen between now and next fall to predict outcomes of any of the games, but let's take a game-by-game trip through the schedule anyway, just for fun. Oh, and keep this in mind as we go -- the schedule sets up perfectly for a run to the playoffs.