UCF landed in both the final Top 25 football polls for the first time in program history. Following a win over Georgia, the Knights entered the offseason ranked No. 20 in the Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the final AP Poll.
On Dec. 4 UCF defeated SMU 17-7 at Bright House Networks Stadium to claim the C-USA title. The Knights, ranked 24th by NCAA coaches, play Georgia in the Liberty Bowl Dec. 31.
Latavius Murray scored two touchdowns and Nick Cattoi kicked a 29-yard field goal on Saturday afternoon to lead UCF to a 17-7 win over SMU in the Conference USA Championship.
For the third time since 2005 the Conference USA Championship Game comes to Orlando as the UCF Knights host SMU on Saturday at 12 noon at Bright House Networks Stadium. UCF is now ranked No. 25.
UCF’s first appearance in the Top 25 proved to be short lived. The brief rise to national recognition came crashing down by way of a thumping by Southern Miss on Saturday at Bright House Networks Stadium.
Sports fans had little trouble finding something to do with their time on Friday. In action were the Orlando Magic, Florida Tuskers, UCF football and women’s soccer, Rollins men’s soccer, and prep football games.
With the top spot in the C-USA East Division up for grabs, UCF jumped at the opportunity to seize the moment Saturday afternoon. The Knights put up 424 yards of offense and were never forced to punt in a 49-35 win.
Daunte Culpepper added to a long list of great memories at the Florida Citrus Bowl on Thursday night by leading his United Football League team to a come-from-behind win over the Florida Tuskers.
UCF football will commemorate four jersey numbers during the Knights’ Homecoming game against Rice. The four honorees are Daunte Culpepper, Kevin Smith, Joe Burnett and the late Wayne Densch.
On Wednesday UCF throttled visiting UAB 42-7 to improve to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in C-USA. UCF led 21-0 at the half and dominated a team that came in averaging 25.2 points and 441 yards per game, good for 28th in the nation.