Post Penn State: A Historic Win (Week 4, 2013)

We just witnessed a historic moment in UCF Football’s program history, a victory over a highly anticipated marquee opponent. Without question this is one of the biggest wins in program history; bigger than at Tuscaloosa 2000, bigger than the C-USA conference championships, and I would even go as far as to say is comparable or even bigger than the Liberty Bowl over Georgia. Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, hear me out. Emotionally and in terms of significance to the program, the Liberty Bowl without question is the biggest UCF win in program history yet. However strictly in terms of on-field accomplishments, I would argue that the Penn State win makes the biggest statement about this team and this program as a whole. For me personally, this win gets the edge over both the 2000 Alabama game and the 2010 win over Georgia in the Liberty Bowl because unlike those games, we’ve beat a storied program who is still a competitive fixture in their respective level. In the wake of the NCAA sanctions on the Penn State football program following the scandal, Bill O’Brien has lead the Nittany Lions to a 10-4 record from the start of his coaching tenure in 2012 to just before the match-up with UCF. Compare that to our win at Tuscaloosa in 2000; as great as it feels to say we beat Bama at Bryant-Denny, we still have to qualify that and remind ourselves that it was against a Crimson Tide team that ultimately finished 3-8 that year. Not the same dominant Bama as the present dynasty or the Bear Bryant days. The same can be said about the 2010 Georgia team we faced in the Liberty Bowl. We faced a 6-6 Georgia Bulldogs team who barely scraped its way into the postseason after being mangled in SEC play, a shadow of the team contending the SEC title the past two seasons and arguably a top 3 team in the conference this season. In the grand scheme, the Liberty Bowl win is unquestionably the biggest win in program history considering that it was our first bowl win, it capped off the best season in program history which included a ranked finish, and was a win against a talented Georgia team. However, the Penn State game pitted us against a team that was still making headlines for its collective on-field success and also sets up even more anticipation for the upcoming rematch in Ireland. From that day forward, UCF finally has that signature win over a strong opponent this program has been thirsting for since the beginning of the program.