On Saturday, the UCF Knights (4-2, 2-0) will try and remain undefeated as they take on the Memphis Tigers (1-5, 1-1) at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. This will be the Knights' third trip to the Liberty Bowl in the last three seasons for the Knights. The last time the squad traveled to Memphis it defeated Georgia in the 2010 Liberty Bowl 10-6.

The Knights are 7-1 all-time against the Tigers and UCF is 7-0 against Memphis since O'Leary became the head coach. That only loss came during UCF's first season as a FCS program. This will also be the first future Big East member the Knights will face this season. UCF and Memphis are in their final season in Conference USA. Both will head to the Big East in 2013.

Sophomore quarterback Blake Bortles will lead the UCF offense into the River City. In the last five games, Bortles has thrown for a career high in passing yards. Last week against Southern Miss, the Oviedo native threw for 272 yards. On the season, the 6-foot-4 gunslinger has completed 67.5 percent of his passes for 1,476 yards and 10 touchdowns.

On the ground, sophomore running back Storm Johnson is coming off a career-high 94 yard and one touchdown performance against the defending Conference USA Champion Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Johnson leads the Knights in rushing this season with 464 yards and four touchdowns.

This is the first of two consecutive road trips for the Knights and four of the next five games will be away from Bright House Networks Stadium.

 

Weather:

Saturday's forecast includes a zero percent chance of rain and it's expected to be sunny all day. The forecast high is 70 degrees and the low is 50 degrees.

Game Notes:

Want to go in-depth to learn more about the matchup between UCF and Memphis? Click on the links below for media notes, distributed by the communications staff of both squads.

UCF

Memphis

Articles:

- UCFAthletics: BLOG: Knights Working Hard and Improving at Halfway Point

- UCFAthletics: BLOG: The Knight In Shining Armor

- Orlando Sentinel: UCF is Huge Challenge for Rebuilding Memphis

- Orlando Sentinel: UCF Stresses Lessons Learned from Overtime Game as it Prepares for Memphis

- Memphis Commercial Appeal: University of Memphis football team bracing for tough home test vs. UCF

Radio/TV/Video:
Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. eastern standard time. The game will be broadcast on CSS/Bright House Sports Network and the UCF-IMG College Radio Network. At the top of this blog is a quick preview of Saturday's game with "The Voice of the Knights" Marc Daniels and UCF color analyst Mike Gruttadauria.