GAME INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, Sept. 7
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN+
Talents: James Westling, Leger Douzable
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Spanish Radio: UCFKnights.com, YouTube.com/UCFKnights
Live Stats: click here
A UCF WIN WOULD...
• Mark the 200th FBS win (since 1996) in program history.
• Give the Knights a 2-0 start to the season for the third time in four seasons under head coach Gus Malzahn.
• Give UCF its fourth consecutive home win dating back to the 2023 season.
• Be better than a loss
FIRST AND 10
- After opening the season with a win for the ninth consecutive year, UCF welcomes Sam Houston to Orlando on Family Weekend. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at FBC Mortgage Stadium in the first meeting between the programs, and the contest will air live on ESPN+.
- In conjunction with the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, the Knights will recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness Month leading up to and during the Sept. 7 game against Sam Houston.
- The Black and Gold will also don special UCF helmet decals created and designed by the pediatric patients from the hospital, which the Knights wore during their spring game earlier this year.
- Now in his fourth season leading the Knights, UCF head coach Gus Malzahn is 4-0 in season openers with the Black and Gold and 12-1 overall in 13 seasons as a head coach. Malzahn was 7-1 at Auburn and 1-0 at Arkansas State, in addition to his mark with the Knights.
- In a dominant 57-3 victory against New Hampshire last Thursday, the Knights rushed for 454 yards, the second most in program history behind the 461-yard mark UCF recorded against Gardner-Webb on Sept. 5, 1992. The 454 yards rushing are the most by any team in the nation this season and the most by a power four conference team since 2022.
- The Knights have ranked among the nation’s top 10 in rushing offense each of the past two seasons and averaged 8.4 yards per rush in the season opener, the second-best mark in program history.
- UCF had eight different players record a rushing attempt in the game and 14 rushing plays went for 10 yards or more, headlined by a 60-yard rush from RJ Harvey.
- The Knights’ 639 yards of total offense are the eighth most by a team this season and the second most by a Big 12 Conference team.
- UCF’s defense forced two turnovers against the Wildcats and limited UNH to just nine first downs and four through the first three quarters. The Knights also held New Hampshire to 2-of-15 on third downs, the best mark by any Big 12 defense in week one and the ninth best in the country.
- Malzahn owns 102 career wins, as he is the only coach to ever win 100 career games as a high school coach and 100 career games at the FBS level as a collegiate head coach. UCF also is one of just 13 programs to earn bowl eligibility in each of the past eight seasons and the only team from the state of Florida.
SCOUTING SAM HOUSTON
The Sam Houston Bearkats are in their second year as an FBS team and first season of bowl eligibility after reclassifying. Sam Houston defeated Rice, 31-14, in its season opener last Saturday after jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the contest.
Quarterback Hunter Watson threw for 229 yards and two TDs and had 57 yards rushing, despite being sacked six times. Their top wide receiver Ife Adeyi is back this year after missing most of last season with an injury. He caught a 32-yard TD in the Rice game.
Head Coach K.C. Keeler, now in his 10th season at SHSU, has compiled an 89-36 overall record with the program and is 263-109-1 overall in 31 years as a head coach. He is the only coach in FCS history to win national titles at multiple schools (Delaware 2003; Sam Houston 2020). He won the Eddie Robinson Award (FCS top coach) in 2016 and owns the highest number of postseason wins among all active FCS head coaches.
CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS GAME
The UCF football team, in conjunction with the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, will recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness Month leading up to and during Saturday’s game.
After a successful spring game, which featured pediatric patients from the hospital creating their own UCF helmet logos for the game, the two organizations will now showcase these brave patients once again during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month as they continue in the fight for their lives. The football team will again don specially designed logos on each side of their helmets.
RUNNING WILD
After ranking among the nation’s top 10 in rushing offense the past two seasons, the UCF football program is poised to have another strong year on the ground in 2024. The Knights rushed for 454 yards, the second most in program history, last Thursday night to earn a 57-3 victory against New Hampshire in the season opener.
Additionally, UCF’s 8.4 rushing yards per carry were the second most in a single game in program history. The Black and Gold had eight different players carry the football in the contest with five Knights rushing for at least 40 yards. UCF had 14 rushes of 10 yards or more, headlined by a 60-yard rush from running back RJ Harvey.
The Knights were fourth nationally in rushing offense with 228.2 rushing yards per game last season. UCF rushed for 200 or more yards in nine of its 13 games in 2023 and has picked up where it left off to start the 2024 season. The Knights have rushed for 140 or more yards in each game the last two seasons, the only team in the nation to accomplish the feat.
ANOTHER 100-YARD GAME FOR HARVEY
UCF running back RJ Harvey surpassed 100 yards rushing for the ninth time in his career in the Knights’ season opener with 142 rushing yards on 11 carries. He averaged 12.9 yards per rush in the victory, the second most by an individual in program history.
Dating back to 2023, the Doak Walker Award Preseason Watch List selection has rushed for 100 or more yards in three consecutive games and in nine of his last 10 games.
MENTOR VS. MENTEE
Knights head coach Gus Malzahn will notice a familiar face on the Sam Houston sidelines Saturday, as the Bearkats’ first-year defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity was a student assistant for Malzahn at Auburn in 2016. He assisted with the Tigers’ recruiting and offense during his time as a student.
OFFENSIVE GURU
Known as one of the best offensive minds in college football, not only have UCF offenses ranked among the nation’s best each season under head coach Gus Malzahn, but also several of the nation’s other top offenses have connections to Malzahn.
North Carolina, which ranked seventh nationally in total offense (491.2) last season, is led by offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who spent the 2022 season as UCF’s offensive coordinator and also worked under Malzahn at Auburn. Texas State head coach GJ Kinne had the Bobcats ranked 15th in total offense last year. Kinne accepted the head coaching job after spending the 2021 season as the Knights’ offensive coordinator.
SMU, which was 16th in the nation in total offense in 2023, is coached by Rhett Lashlee, who Malzahn coached at Springdale High School in Arkansas and then later hired at Auburn.
ELITE TERRITORY
UCF head coach Gus Malzahn is the only coach to ever win 100 career games as a high school coach and 100 career games at the FBS level as a collegiate head coach. Malzahn was the head coach at Hughes High School from 1992-1995, Shiloh Christian High School from 1996-2000 and Springdale High School from 2001-05 with all three located in the state of Arkansas.
Malzahn’s first collegiate head coaching job was at Arkansas State in 2012, before spending the next eight seasons at Auburn and then taking over at UCF.