Sept. 4, 2006
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ORLANDO - The UCF football team takes to the road for the first time this season on Saturday, playing at seventh-ranked Florida in Gainesville. Kickoff at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is set for 6 p.m. as the two teams will face each other for just the second time.
UCF (1-0) is coming off of a 35-16 win over Villanova at home last Saturday. The Gators are also 1-0 after recording a 34-7 victory against visiting Southern Miss on Saturday.
The contest will be televised live on pay-per-view. David Steele will call the action and Nat Moore will serve as the color analyst. Steve Babik is the sideline reporter. Fans should contact their local cable/satellite company for broadcast information.
Sun Sports will re-air the game at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.
The game 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.
UCF-Florida Game Notes
? UCF's visit to Gainesville marks the Golden Knights' second game all-time against the University of Florida.
? The Florida game will mark 12th time UCF has faced an SEC opponent with all games coming on the road. UCF won just one of those 11 previous meetings, 40-38, at Alabama in 2000.
? UCF's combined margin of defeat against the SEC is 10.6 points (31.6-21.0) getting outscored 348-231 in those 11 contests.
? However, six of the 10 defeats to the SEC were somewhat close with UCF falling by only single-digit totals, including five that were within a touchdown.
? UCF's last trip to Gainesville in 1999 resulted in the largest margin of defeat against the SEC, 31 points, with the Golden Knights falling 58-27.
? If the crowd attending the UCF/UF game should near what attended the Gators' season-opener against Southern Miss (90,043), it would mark the third-highest total to watch a UCF football game trailing the two trips to State College, Pa. vs. Penn State (103,029 in 2002 and 101,715 in 2004).
? UCF has gone 0-15 against AP-ranked opponents all-time, including a 0-11 mark on the road and 0-4 at home. Eight of the 15 have come against the top-10. The last ranked opponent UCF came just about two years ago when it hosted West Virginia at the Citrus Bowl on Sept. 11, 2004.
UF/UCF Staff Connections
? UCF Director of Athletics Keith Tribble attended the University of Florida where he played offensive guard for three bowl teams. He graduated in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in journalism (public relations and marketing). His first foray into collegiate athletics came at his alma mater where he worked from 1981-89 working his way up to the position of associate athletics director. Later, during his tenure as the CEO of the Orange Bowl Committee, he hosted Florida twice in the FedEx Orange Bowl in 1999 (win over Syracuse) and 2002 (win over Maryland).
? UCF Senior Associate Athletic Director David Hansen is a 1992 University of Florida graduate and he worked at his alma mater as an assistant football equipment manager from 1992-94.
? UCF Director of Customer Service & Sales Matt DiFebo had also worked for UF Sports Information.
AP-Ranked Opponents
UCF has gone 0-15 against AP-ranked opponents all-time, including a 0-11 mark on the road and 0-4 at home. Eight of the 15 have come against the top-10. The last ranked opponent UCF came just about two years ago when it hosted West Virginia at the Citrus Bowl on Sept. 11, 2004.
Perhaps, the most difficult stretch in UCF football history came in 1999 when the Golden Knights opened the season against four consecutive ranked squads. In its last season in Division I-AA in 1995, UCF traveled to No. 1-ranked Florida State in Tallahassee - the highest ranked opponent ever faced in program history.
Notes After The Villanova Game
? The season-opener against Villanova marked the 120th first meeting in program history and the victory over the Wildcats pushed UCF's record to 58-61-1 (.488) in these games, along with a 3-5 record during the O'Leary era. The next first meeting this season is against Pittsburgh on Oct. 13. Not so many long-standing series on the 2006 schedule as UCF has only faced one of its foes at least five times (East Carolina). Combined, UCF has played 21 games against its 12 opponents.
? UCF is now 7-2 against schools currently playing in the Atlantic 10 football conference and 4-3 against schools from the Keystone State.
? The 35-16 win over Villanova in the season-opener pushed UCF's record to 15-13 all-time in 28 season-opening contests and broke a program-high seven game losing streak in the season's first game. The game also marked the first time UCF opened the season at home since 1999, six seasons ago. UCF is now 12-6 in 18 season openers at home last winning in 1996, its first season in Division I-A.
? George O'Leary moves to 6-4 in season openers as a head coach. He missed UCF's 2004 opener to attend the funeral for his mother.
? The Villanova game marked the first against a Division I-AA school during the George O'Leary era. The last DI-AA school UCF played against was Florida Atlantic (W 33-29 in Orlando) in the 2003 season, the Owls final season in Division I-AA.
? Since UCF made the move to Division I-A for the 1996 season, the Golden Knights have gone 14-0 against Division I-A opponents, including the FAU game.
? All-time, UCF is 64-52 (.552) against teams that are currently playing at the Division I-AA level.
Moffett Moves Up On UCF Career Lists in Villanova Game
Senior quarterback Steven Moffett threw for 199 yards and three touchdowns on 15-of-20 passing in the season-opener aganist Villanova. Already listed among UCF's career passing leaders in just about every category, Moffett was able to move past Dana Thyhsen (4,982; 1982-84) into fifth-place with 5,013 career passing yards on his 406 attempts.
He also moved past Thyshen on the career total offense list with 5,096 total yards, also good fifth all-time at UCF. His three touchdowns gave him 41 touchdowns responsible for, for his career, which moved him past Willie English (40; 1989-93) into sixth-place.
His string of 10 straight completions in the Villanova game was the third time in his career he had done so and ties for the sixth-best on the consecutive pass completions list. Last season, he threw for 10 consecutive completions against South Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Walker Returns, Leads Receiving Corps vs. Villanova
Senior Mike Walker, who played in the team's first 11 games last year before injuring a knee, returned to the starting line-up vs. Villanova and appeared to be back to all-conference form. 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).
Smith Rushes Into UCF History vs. Villanova
With his 20 rushing attempts against Villanova in the season-opener, sophomore running back Kevin Smith jumped past Gil Barnes (1985-89) into 10th place on the career list with 269 career attempts. It took him just 14 games to crack the list at 19.2 attempts per game.
His 86 yards rushing moved him to 1,264 for his career, which places him 176 yards shy of No. 10 on the career list ( Edward Mack - 1,440; 1996,98-00). He is also on top-10 pace with his 4.69 career per attempt average, which would land him seventh. However, he must log two complete years of service to be included. His fourth quarter, one-yard rushing touchdown against Villanova gave him 10 for his career, four behind No. 10 on the career list.
First-Timers in the Villanova Game
Willie Thornton, Marlon Williams, and Michael Torres each started for the first time in their UCF careers against Villanova. Thornton scored the first touchdown of the season for the Golden Knights, hauling in a 20-yard reception from Steven Moffett in the first quarter. It was the second career touchdown for the sophomore. Williams, a junior transfer from Reedley JC who did not play in 2005, started at free safety and had a pass break-up. Torres, a transfer from UMass, saw his first game action of his UCF career and went 5-for-5 on extra-point attempts and missed a 45-yard field goal attempt.
Leger Douzable and Randy Dozier each started for the second time of their respective careers. Douzable's last start was ironically in the 2005 season-opener at South Carolina. The junior from Tampa had a sack on Villanova's Marvin Burroughs. Dozier, a junior from Orlando, started last season's game at Rice and had nine tackles, including one for a loss.
Nine Golden Knight freshmen made their debuts vs. Villanova, including five true freshman. The five rookies who made their first UCF appearances were RB Phillip Smith, LB Chance Henderson, OG Jeramy DeVane, TE Corey Rabazinski and DT Travis Timmons. The four redshirt freshman making their debuts were DB Jayson Williams, FB Shane Smith, LB Alex Thompson and TE Travis Ferrer.
Ahead of Schedule (Notes)
The USF game on Sept. 16 marks the second consecutive game against a school from the state of Florida. Ironically, it will mark the first time in program history UCF will play two state schools back-to-back in the same season.
Last season in Tampa, UCF met USF for the first time dropping the inaugural cross-state rivalry game, 31-14, at Raymond James Stadium. With UF and USF on the 2006 schedule, UCF will be looking to record its first victory against a Division I-A opponent from Florida.
Only twice this decade has UCF played a Florida school, USF last season, and then-DI-AA Florida Atlantic (W, 33-29) in 2003. From 1981 to 1995, 15 seasons, UCF played Bethune-Cookman annually going 10-5 against the Wildcats. UCF's inaugural game was at St. Leo College in 1979.