Wishlist for 2012

As I slept soundly last night after the long drive from Orlando I had a vision.  In this vision the gods of college football appeared before me and presented the message that because of my great devotion to my UCF Knights, I had been bestowed with the gift of one wish to be granted for this upcoming 2012 college football season.  The only catch is that it has to be realistic which unfortunately means I would be wasting my time wishing for a national title this year.  Luckily for me I was not required to give my response at that moment and I am allowed to take seven days to contemplate this important decision.  I feel that the best way to approach this decision was to make a list of items that I would like to see materialize this season.  Currently here is my wish list in order:

1. Win a conference title.  Short of winning the national championship this is probably my most recurring wish and something that should be very attainable this year.  At a minimum I expect the Knights to compete for a conference title every year but this year I feel we are strong enough to bring home a third trophy.

2. Crush FIU.  Yes that actually says "Crush" not beat or defeat.  Last years defeat to the Owls left a bad taste in my mouth that still has not completely washed out.  I have my opinion of why we lost that game but that is not the focus of this post.  Simply put I want us to beat them and beat them badly.  Anything short of a twenty point win will not leave me satisfied.

3. Beat Missouri at home.  Nothing helps your reputation more than beating an SEC team and this year is no exception.  At the time of this writing the SEC is the measuring stick by which all conferences are measured and beating any of them (well almost any, sorry Vandy and Mississippi State) earns you some atttention.

4. Win a second bowl game.  This is one of the most important items that a team can add to its resume that helps build the reputation quickly.  A big bowl win can also help nullify any missteps that were taken during the year, just ask West Virginia who lost last season to Syracuse but then reached the Orange Bowl and put a hurting on Clemson so bad that everyone forgot their loss to a bad Syracuse team.

5. Beat Urban Meyer up in Columbus.  I am sure that my Gator friends would appreciate me moving this one to the top of the list but it probably will not make that jump. When you beat a "traditional power" at their house it definitely gives a boost to your reputation.

Did not make the cut but still important:

•  Beat both ECU and Southern Miss in the same year for a change.  Overall our record against these teams is not good and beating both of them in the same year would be a great way to exit CUSA.  
• Payback UAB for our embarassing loss to them last year in Birmingham.
• Exit CUSA undefeated against Marshall.  Hey its only fair, they were undefeated against us while we were both in the MAC.

Finally I would like to thank the football gods for bestowing on me this rare gift and throw in my rather short wish list for 2013:

Beat the usf cows! -nuff said

Trying to catch up

OK it has been way to long since I have posted anything. In fact I broke one of the main rules that I set when I first started this blog and that was _ I am not going to let more than 7 days go by (that's a week to you and me) without posting something. I am not quite sure what happened to the men's hoops team at the end of the conference and NIT tourneys. Maybe they were just a little intimidated about being there - I really don't know. It was still a pretty memorable season and I look forward to see how Coach Jones and the team do next season. Men's and women's soccer teams did really well last year and hopefully they can play up to the same standard they set last season.

 Football..............?

60 more days until the first game - a road trip up to Akron Ohio to take on the Zips. Not quite sure what kind of reception we will get up there but we have played them when we were a member of the MAC. The last time we played them was in 2004 which was GOL's first year as our head coach and the year in which we lost every game including a 26-21 loss to Akron at the Citrus Bowl. It appears that they have been down for the last couple of seasons only winning two games in two years and with new head coach Terry Bowden it might be a rebuilding year for them. I think it will be a good tune up game for us before we head back to Ohio a week later to take on the Buckeyes in Columbus. 76 more days until we get our chance at revenge against FIU - a game that I did not want to lose last year. Yes I said it - REVENGE. This is all about payback and I want us to not just win this game but I want us to beat them down bad. I will not be happy unless we beat them by at least two touchdowns. Go Knights!