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FSU Football: Stat shows why Noles would beat fake champion UCF

By Jason Parker

TALLAHASSEE OCTOBER 7: Defensive back Stanford Samuels III #8 of the Florida State Seminoles intercepts a pass intended for wide receiver Lawrence Cager #18 of the Miami Hurricanes during the second half of an NCAA football game at Doak S. Campbell Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE OCTOBER 7: Defensive back Stanford Samuels III #8 of the Florida State Seminoles intercepts a pass intended for wide receiver Lawrence Cager #18 of the Miami Hurricanes during the second half of an NCAA football game at Doak S. Campbell Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images) /
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FSU football was looking up at the self appointed national champs UCF when it came to their record – but one stat shows the Noles would dominate them.

By now, fans of FSU football have heard the same thing over and over again from friends and alumni of the Central Florida Knights – who seem to think that because they went 13-0 this season and got ranked No. 1 by some fan poll, they are the national champions of college football along with Alabama…who actually won this thing called the College Football Playoff.

It was cute at first when UCF was doing self promotion right after their Peach Bowl victory over Auburn – it’s something second tier schools like the Knights have to do to actually get people to recognize your program. But the school adding national title banners to facilities, petitioning for state license plates and now claiming that a fake title is worth over $200 million is ridiculous.

It’s even more ridiculous when you consider that, in one of the three worst seasons that FSU football has had in over four decades, the Seminoles would have beat the men from just outside Orlando if they had met on the field.

Right about now, the men in gold and black are getting their pants in a bunch over such a statement since a 13-0 record in the American Athletic Conference – and a month to prepare for one game against Auburn – means they were the best team in all the land. To that, I say this: the stats don’t lie.

UCF finished the season with the seventh ranked offense in all of the Football Bowl Subdivision – which is impressive on the surface until you look at the defenses they played this season. Here are how the 11 FBS teams the Knights faced ranked in total defense last season:

"FIU – 80thMaryland – 84thMemphis (two games) – 121stCincinnati – 91stEast Carolina – 130th (dead last)Navy – 57thSMU – 122ndUConn – 126thTemple – 61stSouth Florida – 14thAuburn (Peach Bowl) – 25th"

Sooooo…this amazing offense was helped in part by playing four of the 10 worst defenses in major college football last season – with UCF playing just one team (USF) that had a better total defense than FSU Football last season, as the Seminoles finished with the 23rd ranked unit.

Meanwhile, the Knights ranked in the bottom quarter nationally in total defense as they finished 91st in the country – with nine opponents of the Seminoles having a higher ranked defense than UCF including four teams in the top 17 nationally (Alabama at No. 1, Clemson at No. 8, Florida at No. 16 and Southern Miss at No. 17).

UCF did a good thing by going through the season unbeaten – they did their job and won every game, which should be commended while also maybe raising the level of debate about the respect that Group of Five teams get. With that being said, the Knights just look like spoiled, stubborn children who you can’t talk to because they don’t want to deal with reality.

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The reality is that the AAC is much easier than the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac 12 and that’s why the 13-0 record isn’t respected – and why FSU football would have come out victorious this season if the teams had played.

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