The UCF Knights (2-1; 0-0 C-USA) were handed a shocking defeat Saturday night against the FIU Panthers (3-0; 0-0 Sun Belt) at a sold-out FIU Stadium in Miami. Both programs were coming off of huge wins. UCF obliterated Boston College (1-2; 0-0 ACC) 30-3 last week at home while FIU knocked-off Louisville (2-1; 0-0 Big East) at Papa John’s Stadium in Kentucky. With that win, the Knights knew they would have a tough battle ahead of them. But in the end, they doomed themselves with two very costly turnovers and the inability to stop FIU’s potent blitzing defensive scheme. Quarterback Jeff Godfrey was rattled the entire game. While he hadn’t been sacked all season, the Panthers somehow managed to sack him 7 times during the game. The 5,000+ Knights fans who made the trek down to South Florida for the game were left perplexed at how UCF made so many costly mistakes and hope the effect will not be felt this week amid rabid conference expansion talks.
UCF has worked long and hard to bring their program into serious consideration for a BCS AQ bid. To perhaps make matters worse, the Knights won’t get much of a break. The team travels into Provo, Utah on Friday to take on the Cougars of BYU (2-1), who are coming off a crushing loss to Utah 54-10. The Knights are hoping to make some major improvements to prevent the same errors that occurred Saturday against FIU from recurring. The UCF vs. BYU football game will be nationally televised on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 8:00pm. Photo: UCF QB Jeff Godfrey fumbles late in the second quarter, giving FIU an instantaneous touchdown return. Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.