Sept. 18, 2006
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The UCF football team is in the middle of a nine-day layoff while preparing for a pivotal Conference USA East Division match-up. The Golden Knights face Southern Miss at 7:30 p.m. at the Florida Citrus Bowl next Tuesday, Sept. 26 in the first league contest of the season for both teams. The Golden Eagles dealt UCF its lone loss in league play a year ago, but the setback did not deter the Golden Knights from capturing the inaugural C-USA East Division title in 2005.
The game will be televised live nationally on ESPN2. Rece Davis will handle the play-by-play, while Lou Holtz and Mark May provide the color commentary. Rob Stone will be reporting live from the sidelines.
Locally, the contest can be heard live on the UCF ISP Sports Radio Network and its flagship station, WQTM 740 AM in Orlando. Marc Daniels will handle the play-by-play and Gary Parris will provide color commentary. Jerry O'Neill will report from the sidelines.
The broadcast can also be heard in the following markets: WMMV 1350-AM (Cocoa) WDCF 1350-AM (Dade City) WROD 1340-AM (Daytona Beach) WMMB 1240-AM (Melbourne) WZHR 1400-AM (Zephyrhills). A live radio webcast is also available at www.ucfathletics.com.
Tickets for the game are still available. To purchase tickets or for more information, please call (407) 823-1000.
Southern Miss/UCF Quick Hits UCF opens its second season playing in Conference USA.
UCF is 7-1 in C-USA regular season action, and 7-2, overall, including last season's inaugural league title game appearance vs. Tulsa at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
UCF will be looking to extend its win streak to two games in Conference USA openers Tuesday against Southern Miss. The Golden Knights knocked off Marshall, 23-13, in Orlando last season on Sept. 24 to gain its first-ever conference win in their first attempt and snap an overall losing streak of 17 games.
In the first-ever meeting with Southern Miss last season, UCF fell, 52-31, at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The loss to Southern Miss was UCF's only regular season conference loss a year ago.
The Southern Miss game on ESPN2 will mark the third time the Golden Knights appear on ESPN2 (at Marshall, 9/20/02; vs. Marshall, 11/19/03).
Southern Miss has 12 players from the State of Florida on its 2006 roster, while UCF has one player, Dominik Kelly, from Mississippi (Quitman).
UCF has played four institutions from Mississippi in football, including the state's big three in Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss. The UCF vs. State of Mississippi actually started in 1980-81 when the Millsaps College "Majors" out of Jackson began a home and away series with then-Division III UCF.
Facing Conference USA
UCF is a combined 10-10 all-time against the current C-USA line-up, having faced nine of the 11 teams in its football history.
Of those nine C-USA teams, UCF has a winning record vs. four of them (UAB, Houston, Tulane Rice), tied with one (Memphis) and losing record vs. the other four (ECU, Southern Miss, Marshall, Tulsa).
UCF Football Begins Non-Saturday Stretch
UCF will begin a unique stretch of games where they will not be play on four straight Saturdays. It begins next Tuesday, Sept. 26, when the Golden Knights host Southern Miss for a 7:30 p.m. kick on ESPN2. The following game is eight days later on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at Marshall, also at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Next up, UCF returns home for a Friday night clash with Big East foe Pittsburgh at the Citrus Bowl at 8 p.m. on ESPN. The four Saturdays are Sept. 23rd and 30th and Oct. 7th and 14th.
Three other schools in Division 1-A share similar scheduling. TCU, Northern Illinois and Toledo all have stretches where they don't play on Saturday for four straight weeks. The 15th-ranked Horned Frogs also begin their stretch this week.
Fans Come out For USF Game, 2006 Season
The third-largest crowd in UCF history was on hand to watch the USF game with 46,708 in attendance at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The 2006 figure topped last year's USF game total at Raymond James Stadium (45,319) by 1,389.
Overall, two of the top three all-time attendance marks have come in a three-game home span as a record 51,978 attended the inaugural Conference USA title game at the end of the 2005 season on Dec. 3 vs. Tulsa.
The 76,108 in back-to-back home regular season games to start the 2006 year is the most in a two-game regular season home span in program history topping the 75,313 that came to the Virginia Tech (50,220) and La.-Monroe (25,093) games in 2000. Last year, 84,613 came out to the postseason C-USA title game and the Houston game (32,635) just before that on Nov. 5.
UCF Gets a Record Six TV Games in 2006
The UCF football team will play in front of a national audience a record six-times in 2006, surpassing the five national appearances the program made in 2005.
Since moving up to Division I in 1996, the program has made 51 televised appearances, including 11 nationally aired.
The USF game on CSTV marked just the second time the Golden Knights appear on that network (at UAB; 11/25/05).
Mike Walker Returns to All-Conference Form in `06
Senior receiver Mike Walker (Orlando/Edgewater HS), who played in the team's first 11 games last year before injuring a knee, returned to the starting line-up vs. Villanova and after three games appears to be back on an all-conference pace.
Against South Florida, Walker had 12 receptions for 133 yards. The 12 receptions was a career-high. It was his top single-game performance, statistically, since the Memphis game (10-157) in the fifth game of last season.
The 24 receptions over the first three games of this season marks the highest three-game total for Walker, as well as a UCF receiver, since Tavaris Capers had nine catches in each of the first four games of the 2003 season.
The 100-yard effort, the sixth of his career, landed him in the UCF record books tying for 10th on the list with Bernard Ford (1985-87) and Tyson Hinshaw (1997-00). Walker's other career totals are also moving close to the UCF record lists.
118 receptions - (#10, 127, Mike Dickinson, 1989-92)
6 100-yard receiving games - t#10 (next up 7, Jimmy Fryzel, 1999-02)
1,626 receiving yards - (#10, 1,874, Tyson Hinshaw, 1997-00)
12 touchdown receptions - (#10, 16, Three Players)
In the season-opener against Villanova, Walker led the team with six catches for 77 yards, including two first-half touchdows of three and 13 yards, respectively. It was the third two-touchdown game of his career (at Southern Miss and East Carolina last season). At Florida, he also led the the team with six catches.
Sha'reff Rashad Becomes a Key Disruption on Defense
Sophomore safety Sha'reff Rashad (Jacksonville/Episcopal) is finally coming into form and has emerged as a team leader in the defensive backfield. His third quarter interception against USF marked the third straight game he has tallied an INT, a record since UCF joined the Division I-A ranks.
Most importantly, he has played a role in four of UCF's six turnovers recovered this season. In the Florida game, he also forced a Percy Harvin fumble in the first quarter while picking off a Chris Leak pass in the third quarter.
The three interceptions lands him just one away from entering the UCF single-season record book with four, set by numerous players. He is just two away from joining the career record list with six, also set by numerous players.