My Yearly re-tread...

[ZeroBullChip]

Almost every word of this commentary came true.

SPORTS COMMENTARY: MIKE BIANCHI

Knights a legend in own minds but nowhere else

Mike Bianchi

October 1, 2003

Duped.

Deceived.

Deluded.

Me, you and every other college football fan in this city. We've been sold on the fantasy that UCF is right at the cusp of becoming a prominent college football program. We were flim-flammed into thinking UCF actually deserved an invitation to a major conference. We were bamboozled into believing the Golden Knights were thisclose to being on equal footing with Florida and Florida State.

"We will compete for a national championship at UCF," Coach Mike Kruczek told me in one of the first interviews I ever conducted with him when I arrived in town three years ago.

In hindsight, I should have spewed Diet Coke out of my nose when Kruczek made such a hilarious comment. It should have been the first hint that UCF and those in charge of the program are a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Kruczek now is getting barbecued by fans, and he has only himself to blame for building expectations to inane levels. He's the one who talked about competing with Miami for national championships before UCF ever even had competed with Miami of Ohio for a Mid-American Conference title. And he's the one who was talking about running the table in the MAC before UCF ever even played its first MAC game.

It's all part of the UCF's utopian fantasy. The Golden Knights look into the mirror and see Oklahoma. The rest of the nation sees Northeast Oklahoma.

It's no wonder UCF fans are calling for Kruczek's job. They feel as if they've been betrayed. They thought they were buying a Harley; they got a moped. They ordered the New York strip; they're eating liver and onions. They were sold a six-pack of Guinness Stout; they're drinking King Cobra malt liquor.

The amazing thing is that UCF, despite never having earned anything on the football field, still reportedly is a leading candidate to join the Big East. But at this rate, the Golden Knights might be a better fit for the Southland Conference.

To think, UCF just relocated into a new state-of-the-art football facility. It's like building a new mansion and the Munsters moving in. UCF is 1-3 and easily could be 0-4. The Golden Knights were beaten by Kent State, a perennial MAC bottom-feeder, and they came within inches of losing to Division I-AA Florida Atlantic. Expected attendance at Saturday's game against Buffalo: Mrs. Kruczek and the kids.

And, please, spare us the rhetoric about how UCF is losing to inferior teams. News flash: UCF is the inferior team. The Golden Knights aren't giving away games; they're getting them taken away. They're not just losing; they're getting pummeled. This is worse than watching the Magic try to get an offensive rebound.

UCF's defense is ranked No. 99 in the country, and its offense is dead last -- 117 out of 117 -- in turnovers. In other words, UCF can't stop anybody -- except itself.

It's become so bad that ESPN has nominated Saturday's game between UCF and Buffalo for the disreputable "Pillow Fight of the Week." It might as well be UTEP-Rice. Wrote one disgusted fan on a UCF message board: "I never thought I'd see the day where Buffalo would be a measuring stick for our program."

As Bill Parcells once said, "You are what you are." And right now, UCF is a second-tier team in a second-tier conference. The Knights never have won a championship; never been to a bowl game. Their fan base is small; their athletic budget smaller.

It's time for UCF to start concentrating on beating Kent State instead of hallucinating on being Florida State.

Mike Bianchi can be reached at Mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.

Copyright © 2003, Orlando Sentinel

[BigEastBeasts]

and nearly five years later this article still says it all: they need us, we don't need them.