The UCF Knights, who enter the 2019 season as the favorite in the American Athletic Conference race, are ranked No. 17 in the Amway Coaches' Poll presented by USA Today.
The Knights, who have been ranked in 28 consecutive national polls, dating to Oct. 1, 2017, are 29-1 as a member of the American Athletic Conference as a ranked team. UCF has won 25 of its last 26 games and is the only FBS team with only one loss in the last two seasons combined.
Four other American Athletic Conference teams received votes in the preseason poll: Cincinnati (25 points), Memphis (24), Houston (3) and Temple (2).
Teams from The American will face eight top-25 opponents in the nonconference portion of the 2019 schedule, including three of the top nine teams in the preason poll (Houston at No. 4 Oklahoma, Cincinnati at No. 5 Ohio State, Navy at No. 9 Notre Dame).
2019 Preseason Amway Coaches' Poll
| 1 |
Clemson (59) |
1,619 |
| 2 |
Alabama (6) |
1,566 |
| 3 |
Georgia |
1,447 |
| 4 |
Oklahoma |
1,415 |
| 5 |
Ohio State |
1,368 |
| 6 |
LSU |
1,218 |
| 7 |
Michigan |
1,155 |
| 8 |
Florida |
1,103 |
| 9 |
Notre Dame |
1,100 |
| 10 |
Texas |
1,038 |
| 11 |
Texas A&M |
893 |
| 12 |
Washington |
834 |
| 13 |
Oregon |
787 |
| 14 |
Penn State |
699 |
| 15 |
Utah |
642 |
| 16 |
Auburn |
606 |
| 17 |
UCF |
436 |
|
Wisconsin |
436 |
| 19 |
Iowa |
343 |
| 20 |
Michigan State |
313 |
| 21 |
Washington State |
274 |
| 22 |
Syracuse |
227 |
| 23 |
Stanford |
200 |
| 24 |
Iowa State |
169 |
| 25 |
Northwestern |
161 |
Others receiving votes: Nebraska 152; Boise State 118; Mississippi State 111; Miami (Fla.) 94; Army 91; Kentucky 79; Virginia Tech 64; TCU 63; USC 47; Utah State 32; Fresno State 32; Virginia 30;
Cincinnati 25;
Memphis 24; West Virginia 24; Oklahoma State 20; South Carolina 15; NC State 12; Duke 10; Boston College 5; Florida State 4; Baylor 4; Appalachian State 4; North Texas 3;
Houston 3; UCLA 2;
Temple 2; Arizona State 2; Troy 1; Tennessee 1; Mississippi 1; Minnesota 1