UCF Knights football

UCF Knights football
File:Ucf-knights-newlogo.jpg
First season	1979
Head coach	3rd season, 10–21 (.323)
Stadium	Bright House Networks Stadium (capacity: 45,000)
Field surface	Grass
Division	East
All-time record	152–146–1 (.510)
Bowl record	0–1 (.000)
Colors	Gold and Black
Fight song	UCF Fight Song
Marching band	UCF Marching Knights

The UCF Knights are a mid major (non-BCS) NCAA Division I FBS college football program. The team began playing in 1979 as a Division III program and completed their ascension to Division I-A, now Division I FBS, in 1996. The Knights are a member of Conference USA and their current head coach is George O'Leary, who formerly led the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team.

The team was known as the "Golden Knights". UCF officially unveiled their new logo and dropped "Golden" from their nickname on May 4, 2007. [1]

Home field

The Knights have always played their home games at the Citrus Bowl. In 2005, the school proposed putting a stadium on campus for the first time. Bright House Networks Stadium, formerly known as UCF Stadium, was originally planned to open in time for the 2006 football season, but neighborhood opposition delayed the time frame.

Stadium construction began in 2006 and is scheduled to be finished in time for the September 15, 2007 home game against the Texas Longhorns. When it opens, the stadium is expected to seat 45,000. Plans for the stadium include the ability to expand the venue to a capacity of 65,000 in the future.

Program history

File:Ucf logo.gif

Logo as the UCF Golden Knights, 1993-2007

The program began at the Division III level in 1979, when the school was known as Florida Technological University. Don Jonas, a former professional football player and Orlando dignitary, became UCF's first head football coach on a volunteer basis. UCF would move up to Division II in 1982.

Gene McDowell took over as head coach and athletic director in 1985. During his tenure, the program moved up to Division I-AA in 1990 and was a playoff team in 1990 and 1993.. In 1996, the program made its foray into Division I-A. In the wake of a federal fraud scandal revolving around improper cellular phone benefits and use[2], McDowell resigned as head coach on January 20, 1998 and was replaced by Mike Kruczek on an interim basis. He would receive the position permanently later in 1998.

Kruczek guided the team as a Division I-A independent until 2001 and the Golden Knights proved to be a scary team on the road. Close losses included 6-10 at Auburn in 1998, 23-24 at Georgia in 1999, and 17-21 at Georgia Tech in 2000. Kruczek's biggest victory would come in 2000 against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, winning 40-38 on a last-second field goal by Javier Beorlegui.

UCF played its first season as a member of the Mid-American Conference in 2002 and finished runner-up in the East division with a 6-2 record. The Golden Knights finished the season 7-5 overall, completing their 14th winning season in the past 17 years.

After signing a three-year contract extension to begin the 2003 season, Kruczek was fired following a 3-7 start. He was replaced on an interim basis by Alan Gooch before the program hired George O'Leary for the start of the 2004 season.

In 2005, UCF started their first season as a member of Conference USA. Not expected to do much after a 0-11 record in their last MAC season, they won their first conference game against Marshall 23-13, and finished 7-1 in Conference USA games, winning the East Division and hosting the first ever Conference USA Championship game, which they lost 44-27 to Tulsa.

In 2006, UCF finished the season with a record of 4-8 and were not eligible for a bowl game.

Conference Championship appearances

2005 Conference USA Football Championship

Bowl appearances

2005 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl

Retired numbers

• 8 Daunte Culpepper - Quarterback, 1995-98

Knights in the NFL

• Atari Bigby - Safety, Green Bay Packers
• Daunte Culpepper - Quarterback, Miami Dolphins
• Steve Edwards - Offensive Tackle, Chicago Bears
• Travis Fisher - Safety, St. Louis Rams
• Doug Gabriel - Wide Receiver, New England Patriots
• Michael Gaines - Tight End, Carolina Panthers
• Cornell Green - Offensive Tackle, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Alex Haynes - Running Back, Carolina Panthers
• Brandon Marshall - Wide Receiver, Denver Broncos
• Elton Patterson - Defensive End, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Asante Samuel - Cornerback, New England Patriots

Rivals

UCF, being a relatively young Division I-A team, has yet to establish any major long-term rivals. Nevertheless, many see the Marshall Thundering Herd as UCF's main rival due to the amount of meetings and the comparable size of the programs. Both teams also joined Division I-AA a year apart and made the switch to C-USA from the MAC in 2005. The similarities and histories between the two programs gave UCF's football victory over Marshall in 2005, which ended the Golden Knights' 17-game losing streak, even more significance.

Due to close geographic location, UCF hopes to develop an out-of-conference rivalry with the University of South Florida (USF), a member of the Big East Conference. Both programs are relatively new to Division I-A football and are large state colleges in Florida. It appears unlikely that the current 4-game series between the two teams will be continued after 2008. USF, instead is on the verge of signing an annual rivalry game with the University of Miami, to be played on Thanksgiving day, according to St. Pete Times reports. http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/

According to the report: the Thanksgiving-week series between USF and Miami could be announced within the next month. A Miami official told the Times that "hopefully" an announcement can be made by then -- the two teams are already on the books for games in 2009, 2012 and 2013, and there's openings on both schedules to allow for November meetings in 2010 and 2011.

External links

• Official Bright House Networks Stadium website

Notes

• ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete history of the Game (ISBN 1-4013-3703-1), pp.194-198.