Game Week: #21/23 UCF at UConn

ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – It’s finally here. Game week. For the first time since the Knights left Atlanta with the 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Trophy in hand, UCF is ready to prepare for an opponent. The #21/23 Knights will open up away from home for the first time since 2014 when they play at UConn in an American Athletic Conference contest, Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, Aug. 30
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: ESPNU
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Live Stats: http://uconnhuskies.com  

UCONN GAME - NOTES TO KNOW
• The Knights own the longest win streak in the nation, having gone 13-0 en route to a National Championship in 2017.
• UCF opens up the season ranked 21st in the AP Top 25 Poll and 23rd in the Amway Coaches Poll. It is the first time in program history that the Knights have been ranked prior to the start of the season.
• The last time UCF started the season away from home was in the Croke Park Classic in 2014. The Knights’ last true road game to start the season was at Akron in 2012.
• UCF has won 10 of its last 12 season-openers, dating back to the 2006 season, and the Knights are 25-14 all-time in season-openers.
• Thursday marks the first time the Knights have started the season with a conference game. UCF is 4-1 in conference openers since joining The American and 9-7 all-time in conference openers.
• The Knights led the nation in scoring last season, putting up 48.2 points per game.
• UCF leads the all-time series against UConn, 3-2, but in each team has won once in games played in Connecticut.
• Last season, the Knights won 49-24 over the Huskies in Orlando.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL GAME NOTES - UCF AT UCONN

At head coach Josh Heupel’s first weekly press conference at the helm, he started out speaking on how difficult it is for both teams to gameplan for the first game of the season.  

“It is difficult, because they’ve had almost an entire calendar year to kind of change who they are,” Heupel said. “They’ve done the same things that we’ve done. You go back, you scout yourself, you look at your personnel, you’re going to tweak what you do, you’re going to have core principals of who and what you want to be, but you can be dramatically different. In week one, there’s a depth chart of where personnel is for them. A lot of those guys haven’t been on the field for them, or didn’t start for them. They’ve had a year to get better too, so you’ve got to be ready to make a lot of adjustments during the course of the ball game.”

When asked about his personal feelings heading into his first game as a head coach, Heupel acknowledged he’d be excited, nervous, anxious and more.

“You’ll have all those feelings,” he said. “You put eight months into something you should have all those feelings if you care deeply about it. That’s the great thing about this game. You work a lot of hours for a very few, limited amount of opportunities…12 that are guaranteed. I’m excited to get out there and compete with our players. It’s week one for us. We’ve talked through the inevitable ups and downs that happen during the course of a 60-minute game; how we’re going to operate, how we’re going to communicate, but ultimately, we’ve got to go do it one play at a time.”



PURCHASE 2018 TICKETS
Season tickets are going fast for the highly anticipated 2018 campaign. Fans can purchase theirs today and learn about all of their options by calling (407) 823-1000 or visiting us online at ucfknights.com/fbtix.