UCF enters the rankings

UCF has finally cracked the top 25.

Following Friday's 38-35 victory at top-ten Louisville, the 5-1 Knights come in at No. 21 in the AP Top 25 and No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

It's the schools' first ranking since the conclusion of the 2010 season when they were ranked No. 20 by the coaches and No. 21 in the AP after beating Georgia in the Liberty Bowl.

Despite the better resume and head-to-head victory, Louisville remains ahead of UCF in both polls (No. 18 in the AP, No. 16 in the Coaches).

UCF's George O'Leary is among the 62 head coaches with a vote in the Coaches Poll, whose individual ballots are not released until the final regular season poll.

The AP does release individual ballots, which are compiled by sites like Pollspeak.com.

UCF received a 20 or better ranking from 28 of 60 AP voters, the highest of which was a No. 12 selection by Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Four voters had UCF at No. 13, including Austin (Tex.) American Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls.

Two of college football's biggest television personalities also ranked the Knights in the top 20: FOX Sports 1 television analyst and Orlando resident Charles Davis (No. 15) and ESPN College Gameday host Chris Fowler (No. 17).

26 voters put UCF in the 21-25 range, but six left the Knights completely off their ballot: Chris Harris (WSMV-TV in Nashville), Chris Murray (Reno Gazette-Journal), Christian Caple (Tacoma News), Mike Barber (Richmond Times-Disptach), Mike Sorenson (Utah's Deseret News) and Tim Griffin (San Antonio Express-News). All ranked Louisville between 15 and 22.

In response to a tweet from a UCF fan, Nevada-based Murray says the omission was a "simple oversight."

"I should have had them in there over Louisville based on resumes," Murray tweeted. "I'll correct for next week. Apologies."

While more voters ranked UCF ahead of Louisville (35 to 23), the discrepancy in the final vote tally is due to the fact several ranked the Cardinals much higher, the most egregious example coming from Steve Batterson of the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa who ranked Louisville No. 10 and UCF as the last team in at No. 25.

UCF behind Lville is impossible for me to explain. But otherwise, after an impossible week, I have no big complaints.- Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) October 20, 2013

What would be the justification for putting UCF behind Louisville? UCF has a far better resume. Not even close.- Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 20, 2013

No. 21 UCF has wins at Penn St and Louisville, close loss to S. Carolina. What has No. 19 Ok St done? And still behind Louisville!- Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 20, 2013

Louisville being ranked higher than UCF is the reason pre-season polls are a problem.- Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) October 20, 2013

UCF 21, Louisville 18. UCF wins at Penn State and Louisville, close to beating South Carolina. Ville's best W is ... UK? Explain, please.- Ed Daigneault (@EdDaigneault) October 20, 2013