The UCF Knights athletics department had an amazing week last week. First, the UCF (7-0; 0-0 C-USA) basketball program secured their greatest victory ever over the #16 UF Gators (5-2; 0-0 SEC). Then, on Saturday the Knights (10-3; 7-1 C-USA) earned the Conference USA Championship Crown after their victory over the SMU Mustangs (7-6; 6-3 C-USA). UCF scored on the opening possession of the game, with freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey hitting Latavius for a 5-yard touchdown pass. The Knights steadily marched up the field on the 13-play, 73-yard drive. The points wouldn’t come quite as easily the rest of the game, forcing UCF’s defense to make a big stand against SMU’s vaunted high-scoring offense. The Knights led SMU 17-7 in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs got the ball back with 6:44 left in the game, plenty of time for the quick-strike SMU offense to mount a rally. Instead, the defense sacked SMU sophomore quarterback Kyle Padron three times on the final drive and shut down the Mustangs.
After the game, the Knights were awarded with the C-USA Championship trophy (pictured, above) and were offered a bid to play in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN on 12/31. UCF’s head coach George O’Leary gratefully accepted the bid on behalf of the University and on Sunday, the University of Georgia Bulldogs accepted their bid to represent the SEC in the Bowl. Also on Sunday, as the final season polls were released, the UCF Knights were ranked #24 in the Coaches Poll and settled at #25 in the BCS standings. Both were a first in the program’s 15-year history in IA. The Liberty Bowl pits Conference-USA’s #1 team against an SEC foe. Kickoff is set for 3:30pm on 12/31 and the game will be nationally-televised on ESPN. Below, watch the UCF Knights celebrate their C-USA Championship win with the UCF students: