GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Central Florida is looking forward to 2013 for a couple reasons: joining the Big East, and becoming eligible for the postseason again.

The school was sanctioned by the NCAA with a one-year postseason ban in football and basketball.

The Knights finished 5-7 last season, but expected to compete in 2012 for a Conference USA championship.

The University of South Florida also finished with an identical 5-7 record, but five of those losses came by a total of 18 points. 

The Bulls are still led by senior quarterback B.J. Daniels, and with South Florida returning a wealth of talent on both offense and defense, the Bulls expect to compete for a Big East title.

Florida International University is still surprising in south Florida.

The program that only started playing football in 2002 earned its second-straight winning season, the first time that's been achieved in program history.

Mario Cristobal will try to build off an 8-5 finish in 2011 and earn the Golden Panthers a second Sun Belt Championship in the past three years.

Florida Atlantic started 2011 with a thud, getting trounced 41-3 by the Florida Gators. The Owls finished 1-11 and look to turn it around with new head coach Carl Pelini.

Pelini, brother of Nebraska's Bo Pelini, becomes only the second head coach in the history of FAU football, replacing Howard Schnellenberger.

And Florida A&M University keeps plugging away on the football field, finishing 7-4 last season.

But the team's been overshadowed by the hazing death of band member Robert Champion.

The Marching 100 of the Rattlers will not play for the entire football season.