The UCF football team (2-1, 0-0 AAC) comes off its open week and gets set to return to the road this weekend. The Knights take on Navy (0-3, 0-1 AAC) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. with coverage on CBS Sports Network and FM 96.9 The Game.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, Oct. 2
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Live Stats: click here
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE GAME NOTES - UCF AT NAVY
A UCF WIN WOULD...
• Be better than a loss
• Be Malzahn's 80th win as a head coach
• Total 177 FBS wins for UCF in program history
• Give UCF a 3-0 lead over Navy in the all-time series
• Mark the seventh time in UCF's FBS era that the Knights have started 3-1 or better
SERIES BREAKDOWN
| Overall | UCF, 2-0 |
| in Annapolis | UCF, 1-0 |
| in Orlando | UCF, 1-0 |
| at Neutral Location | -- |
| Last Meeting | UCF 35, Navy 24 - 11/10/18 |
| Streak | UCF won 2 |
ABOUT THE MIDSHIPMEN
• Navy is in its 14th season under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who holds an overall record of 101-70 with the Midshipmen.
• Last season, Navy went just 3-7 in the shortened season after going 11-2 the year prior. The Midshipmen failed to appear in a bowl game for just the third time in Niumatlolo's tenure.
• Navy has opened up the 2021 campaign 0-3 with home losses to Marshall and Air Force, as well as a road loss at Houston this past weekend.
• Xavier Arline leads the offense with 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Diego Fagot has totaled 28 tackles and 4.5 TFLs in two games for the defense.
TEAM NOTE
AWESOME ACADEMICS
• This past spring, UCF Athletics extended its streak to 27 consecutive semesters with a department average GPA of 3.0 or better and it marked the ninth straight semester of a 3.2 or better as a department.
• The UCF football team put 49 student-athletes on the AAC All-Academic Team this past spring.
• A total of 37 football student-athletes earned Dean's List honors over the course of the 2020-21 school year, with Derek Gainous, Anthony Montalvo and Alex Swenson earning the accolades both semesters.
• Gainous, a senior safety for the Knights, also received CoSIDA Academic All-District honors this past year.
OFFENSE NOTE
THE BIG BOYS ARE BACK
• UCF returns its an entire offensive line from last season, which includes six different o-linemen that started games in 2020.
• Both Matthew Lee at center and Edward Collins at tackle started all 10 games a season ago, while Cole Schneider started nine times at guard, Samuel Jackson started eight times at both guard and tackle, Lokahi Pauole started eight times at guard, and Marcus Tatum started five times at tackle.
• Between the six of them, the offensive linemen have now combined for 102 career starts at UCF and 113 total collegiate starts, including Tatum's 11 starts at Tennessee.
• Schneider leads the pack with 37 career starts in his time at UCF, but got his first start at center at Louisville, filling in for the injured Lee.
DEFENSE NOTE
THE LINEBACKER LINE
• The one area of the defense that UCF returns all of its experience from a year ago is linebacker, bringing back starters Eriq Gilyard and Tatum Bethune, as well as key reserve Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste.
• Jean-Baptiste and Bethune have started the first three games of 2021. Jean-Baptiste is third on the team with 17 tackles, while Bethune grabbed his second-career pick in the win over Bethune-Cookman.
• UCF newcomer and former FCS All-American Bryson Armstrong is a two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Year and has totaled 40 tackles for loss and 18.5 sacks in his career. He's currently second on the team with 18 total tackles in three games.
DID YOU KNOW?
True freshman Mikey Keene led Chandler High School to a 10-0 record as a senior in 2020.