Unfortunately, the success of the UCF Knights’ (8-5; 6-2 C-USA) regular season didn’t translate over to their appearance against Rutgers (9-4; 3-4 Big East) in the St. Petersburg Bowl yesterday. The Knights struggled offensively and defensively against the Scarlett Knights, who were able to capitalize on several UCF turnovers and dice-apart UCF’s passing defense. Despite a return all the way to the 50 yard-line in the first drive of the game, Senior Quarterback Brett Hodges’ interception took the wind out of UCF’s sails early and gave Rutgers a scoring drive.
While UCF would answer back, down just 4 points going into the half (and less than 2 minutes remaining), Hodges threw another interception, resulting in an immediate Rutgers’ touchdown. UCF struggled during the second half as well, scoring just once. The final score was 45-24. UCF now looks to preparations in the off-season and prepares to return to C-USA competition in 2o10. Out-of-conference games next season include a road trip to Kansas State and a home game against the NC State Wolfpack. Despite the bowl loss, UCF had a fantastic season with their first ever win over a ranked opponent (#13 Houston).