Just who are these Samford Bulldogs? That’s a likely question from a new generation of UCF football fans. The Knights have not meet up with this Football Championship Subdivision (Division 1-AA) team since back in 1997.

That’s back when “Golden” was a part of UCF’s nickname. When the school was in its second season in Division I (the current Football Bowl Subdivision). And Daunte Culpepper was putting the program on the map from behind center.

Over the course of 31 football seasons only Bethune-Cookman (15 games) has played the Knights more times than Samford. UCF is currently 7-3 all-time against the Bulldogs, a program that has yet to earn a win against an FBS team in 13 tries. The Knights enter the game 16-0 against FCS teams.

Seems like an easy win for the Knights, right?

“That’s for the media and the fans to think like that,” said wide receiver Rocky Ross on Tuesday. In his eyes it hardly matters who the opponent is. He’s just happy to be playing again after an injury last September, against UTEP, ended his season.

“Doesn’t matter who we play, you have to understand the gameplan, you have to go in knowing not to beat yourself,” he said. “If you can go in there doing that, not worrying about the competition and only worrying about what each individual has to do for the team, then that’s when good things happen.”

Such as earning a win. Any win is a good win for a team coming off of a 4-8 season. But don’t confuse UCF with one of those other state schools who are in the business of scheduling non-conference softies on a regular basis, such as Florida or USF (Charleston Southern, anybody?)

“We have trouble getting games,” said head coach George O’Leary matter-of-factly. That’s because big shots of the Bowl Championship Series’ conferences often demand ridiculous agreements that would send the Knights to an opponent’s stadium twice, in return for one game in the series at UCF’s place. It’s either that, or in the case of USF, teams just flat out want nothing to do with them.

In this week’s case O’Leary said it was Samford doing the Knights a favor by filling in for another team that had pulled out. And he’s treating this matchup the same way he does any other – as one of the 12 one-game seasons ahead of him.

“Samford’s coming in to win a game just like we are,” he said. “I treat every game the same the way. We don’t practice any different, we don’t meet any different, we don’t do computer reports any different. Everything’s the same.”

In the Bulldogs he sees an experienced team with a Southern Conference Freshman Player of the Year at quarterback who gets rid of the ball quickly, and a solid running game that mixes some power with finesse. Defensively he expects Samford to force the Knights to throw the ball while testing his team’s offensive line with an eight-man front.

Samford finished the 2008 season with a 6-5 mark overall, giving the program its first winning record since 2003. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Bright House Networks Stadium.

– Samford returns to Orlando –

Redshirt senior starting center Jon Weber began his collegiate career at UCF before transferring to Samford after the 2005 season and blossoming into the leader of the offensive unit. Last season he was part of an offensive line that produced the school’s first back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers.

Junior running back Chris Evans has benefited from Weber’s presence as he enters Saturday’s game just 805 yards short of Samford’s career rushing record, set in 1999. He currently sits at 2,317 and has been named to the preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award which goes to the top player in the FCS.

This season Weber will wear a patch on his jersey with the No. 5 inscribed on it after earning the Charles Williams Memorial Jersey, given each year to a senior in honor of the former Bulldog player who died in an automobile accident in 2003.

Another UCF connection comes from the Samford coaching staff. Defensive coordinator Bill D’Ottavio held that same position with the Golden Knights from 2002-03 after coaching UCF linebackers from 1999-01 under then-coach Mike Kruczek. During that span UCF finished a combined 27-30 overall.

The Samford Bulldogs will dress three sets of brothers over the course of the 2009 season. Among them are Alex (DE) and Andy (DB) Davis, Richie (WR) and Ryan (FB) Fordham, Jacquez (OL) and Marquez (WR) Gray.

More about UCF vs Samford:

Fans chime in on the matchup at ESPN

Jeremy Fowler picks UCF on wrong end of potential upset at Orlando Sentinel

Ryan Bass writes about UCF looking for consistency at Central Florida Future

Jon Rein provides his “what to watch for” at Bleacher Report