UCF Football Game Notes - UAB Game in PDF Format
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Nov. 20, 2006
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF football team will close out its regular season on Saturday against UAB with a special "Senior Day" tribute, as well as say goodbye to the place it has called home for its first 27 seasons of existence. Nineteen Golden Knights will be honored before Saturday's contest with the Blazers, which will also be the final contest for UCF at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The team will move to its on-campus Bright House Stadium in time for the 2007 season.
Kickoff is slated for Noon and the game will be aired regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast. The television broadcast is the ninth of the season for UCF (3-8, 2-5 C-USA), marking a new single-season high for the program.
UCF Quick Hits
? The Golden Knights and Blazers will meet for the fourth time on the gridiron this Saturday on Senior Day at the Citrus Bowl. UCF owns a 3-0 mark in the all-time series, including a 24-7 home victory over UAB in 2001.
? The contest is also the final one for the Golden Knights at the Florida Citrus Bowl - the field the school has called home for 27 years.
? UCF will honor 19 seniors prior to the contest with UAB. The seniors will be suiting up for the final time in a Golden Knight uniform.
? UCF is 18-9 in home regular season finales, including a stretch of 10-straight wins from 1989-1998.
? This is the first time UCF will play a football game on Nov. 25. The Golden Knights have ended a regular season later only twice in school history - a Nov. 28 contest with Miami (Ohio) in 2003 and a Nov. 30 match-up with Ohio in 2002.
Facing Conference USA
? Since joining C-USA last season, UCF has a record of 4-3 at home and 5-3 on the road in regular season league games.
? UCF fell to Tulsa, 44-27, in last year's postseason C-USA title game at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
? UCF is a combined 12-15 all-time against the current C-USA line-up, having faced nine of the 11 other league teams in its football history.
? The Knights were former conference partners with Marshall when both schools were members of the MAC. Marshall held a 3-0 advantage in those contests, but UCF has won both contests against the Thundering Herd as a C-USA member.
UCF Breaks Home Attendance Mark After nearly setting a home attendance mark in 2005 (142,401), Golden Knight fans took only five games this season to break the record established in 1988 when 153,343 attended seven UCF home games. That total continues to rise through six games as 197,227 fans have come through the gates at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
With an average of 32,871 fans showing up for UCF games this season, the Golden Knights will easily surpass the 200,000 plateau for the first time in school history. UCF closes out its home schedule against UAB on Nov. 25.
So far this season, the third and seventh-largest crowds in program history have come out to the Citrus Bowl to watch UCF football. The 46,708 to attend the USF game topped last year's USF road game in Tampa (45,319) by 1,389.
The 76,108 in back-to-back home regular season games to start the 2006 year was 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 Louisiana-Monroe (25,093) games in 2000. Last year, 84,613 came out to the postseason C-USA title game and to the Houston game (32,635) just before that on Nov. 5.
UCF Football Televised a Record Amount in 2006
The UCF football team has played in front of a national audience a record seven times in 2006, surpassing the five national appearances the program made in 2005. Overall, the Golden Knights have nine televised games in 2006 - also a record total.
The next Knights' telecast is slated for regional coverage as Comcast Sports South, partnering with CSTV, will broadcast the regular season finale against UAB on Nov. 25.
So far this season, UCF has appeared nationally on CSTV four times, including one tape-delayed broadcast (USF, Houston, East Carolina and Memphis), ESPN2 twice (Southern Miss and Marshall) and ESPN once (Pittsburgh). The Knights have also appeared on Sun Sports (Florida).
Since moving up to Division I in 1996, the program has made 58 televised appearances, including 17 on national television.
UCF vs. Teams From Alabama
The UAB game will mark the 20th time UCF has played a team from the state of Alabama at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The Knights are 12-7-1 all-time in those contests with six of those wins coming against Samford. UCF has a three-game home winning streak against teams from Alabama, including its last win against UAB in 2001.
UCF is 12-11-1 all-time in games against teams from Alabama. The school's most memorable win was a 40-38 triumph of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2000.
Mike Walker Reaches The 1,000-Yard Receiving Mark in 2006
With his eight-catch, 63-yard receiving effort against Tulane, senior WR Mike Walker became the 11th Golden Knight in school history to record a 1,000-yard receiving season. David Rhodes leads the list having reached that plateau three times during his UCF career.
With one game remaining on the schedule, Walker is tied with Ryne Robinson (Miami of Ohio) for the national lead with 83 catches this season, while his 1,045 yards are second most in C-USA and rank eighth nationally. His average of 7.55 catches per game are tops in the NCAA along with Robinson. His 83 catches are the fourth most in a single season by a Golden Knight in school history.
Walker became just the ninth player all-time at UCF to surpass the 2,000-yard receiving plateau with career highs of 13 catches and 169 yards against Rice. The Orlando native's efforts at Tulane continued his ascent up the UCF career charts as his totals increased to 177 receptions (fourth) and 2,428 yards (sixth). He also registered his ninth 100-yard receiving game against Memphis, a total that ties him for fourth in school history. He has now caught at least one pass in 27 straight games.
Walker also had a 12-catch, 133-yard effort against USF to give him three games in his career where he has reached double-digits in catches.