GAME 1 • UCF VS FLORIDA A&M 10 BOWL APPEARANCES • 4 BOWL WINS • 6 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS • 14 CONFERENCE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR GAME INFORMATION (17/17) UCF KNIGHTS (0-0, 0-0 AAC) Date ______________________Thursday, Aug. 29 Head Coach: Josh Heupel (Oklahoma, 2001) Time _________________________7:30 p.m. ET Record at UCF: 12-1 (2nd Season) Site __________________________Orlando, Fla. Overall Record: 12-1 (2nd Season) Stadium __________________ Spectrum Stadium VS Surface _____________________Bermuda Grass FLORIDA A&M RATTLERS (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) Capacity ___________________________ 44,206 Head Coach: Willie Simmons (Clemson, 2002) TV _____________________CBS Sports Network Record at FAMU: 6-5 (2nd Season) Play-by-Play _________________ Rich Waltz THE MATCHUP Overall Record: 27-16 (4th Season) Analyst ____________________Aaron Taylor Sideline _________________ John Schriffen UCFACTS Radio ____________ AM 740/FM 96.9 The Game 8 The UCF football team returns to action after suffering its first loss in 745 days to end the 2018 Play-by-Play _______________ Marc Daniels campaign, which snapped a nation-leading 25-game winning streak. The win streak was a UCF and Analyst _____________________ Gary Parris American Athletic Conference record, marked the 22nd longest in FBS history, and was the fourth longest Sideline ___________________ Scott Adams since 2000 (Miami, 34 - 2000-03; Florida State, 29 - 2012-14; Alabama, 26 - 2015-16). Sideline ________________ Leger Douzable Twitter _____________________ @UCF_Football 8 UCF won its second straight American Athletic Conference Championship in 2018, giving the Knights Hashtag ________________________ #ChargeOn six conference championships since first joining a conference in 2002 and four conference titles since 2013, one of just four programs in FBS to achieve the feat (Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma). SCHEDULE/RESULTS 8 UCF is in its second season under head coach Josh Heupel, who led the Knights to a 12-1 record in his Aug. 29 Florida A&M (CBSSN) 7:30 p.m. first season in Orlando. Heupel was named FWAA First-Year Coach of the Year after becoming just the Sep. 7 at FAU (CBSSN) 7 p.m. third FBS coach in history to record an undefeated regular season in his first year as a head coach (Larry Sep. 14 Stanford (ABC/ESPN/2) 3:30 p.m. Coker - Miami, 2001; Chris Peterson - Boise State, 2006). Sep. 21 at Pittsburgh TBA Sep. 28 UConn* TBA 8 UCF played in the 2019 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl last season. The Knights’ men’s and women’s Oct. 4 at Cincinnati* (ESPN) 8 p.m. basketball teams both played in the NCAA Tournament last season. UCF and Michigan were the only Oct. 19 ECU* TBA schools in the nation in 2018-19 to have their football team in a New Year’s Six Bowl and both basketball Oct. 26 at Temple* TBA teams in the NCAA Tournament. Nov. 2 Houston* TBA Nov. 8 at Tulsa* (ESPN2) 7 p.m. 8 For the last two full seasons, every sport that plays a head-to-head schedule at UCF has finished with Nov. 23 at Tulane* TBA a winning record. The Knights are the only FBS athletics program in the nation to do this in 2017-18 and Nov. 29 S. Florida* (ABC/ESPN) TBA 2018-19. CBS Sports ranked UCF as the 17th best athletics department in the nation for the past year and Dec. 7 AAC Championship (ABC) 3:30 p.m. Director of Athletics Danny White was named the NACDA AD of the Year this past summer. *American Athletic Conference contests RECORD BREAKDOWN SERIES BREAKDOWN Overall _______________________________ 0-0 Overall: ________________FAMU, 1-0 The Knights and the Rattlers have only met one time on The American _________________________ 0-0 the football field in the history of the two programs, back Home ________________________________ 0-0 in Tallahassee: __________FAMU, 1-0 in the 1987 season. Florida A&M won the contest 19-14 in Tallahassee. Away ________________________________ 0-0 in Orlando: __________________ n/a Neutral ______________________________ 0-0 at Neutral location: ___________ n/a UCF was still NCAA Division II in 1987 and still three seasons away from jumping to NCAA Division I FCS. The Knights A UCF WIN WOULD Streak: ________________ FAMU, W1 didn’t join FBS until 1996. • Be better than a loss Last meeting: _____ FAMU 19, UCF 14 In 1987 UCF went 9-4 overall with wins over Bethune- Cookman, Savannah State and Liberty, and losses to Eastern • Snap the Knights’ current one-game losing streak, their Nov. 14, 1987 Kentucky, Georgia Southern and Troy. longest losing streak since the 2016 season Last UCF win: ________________ n/a • Even the series with FAMU at 1-1 The Knights’ leading rusher was Mark Giacone, the • Be the Knights’ school record 16th straight home win quarterback was Darin Slack, and top receiver was Bernard Ford. • Give UCF four straight wins in season openers WEEKLY MEDIA SCHEDULE: FLORIDA A&M 24 SAT 25 SUN 26 MON 27 TUE 28 WED 29 THU 30 FRI Press Conference Post Practice - 11am Post Practice - 11am Post Practice - 11am No Availability Game #1 No Availability Coach Heupel - Defensive Coaches Offensive Coaches Coach Heupel vs. FAMU - 7:30 pm 12:15pm Student-Athletes Student-Athletes CBSSN Student-Athletes AAC Teleconference Postgame Coach Heupel - 12:40pm Coach Heupel Student-Athletes GAME NOTES | GAME 1 | FAMU | 1 GAME 1 • UCF VS FLORIDA A&M QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE RATTLERS GENERAL INFORMATION • Florida A&M went 6-5 in 2018 in its first season FLORIDA A&M SCHEDULE School University of Central Florida under head coach Willie Simmons. The Rattlers A29 at #17 UCF (CBSSN) 7:30PM City, State, Zip Orlando, Fla., 32816 started out 6-2, before falling in their final three Founded 1963 S14 Fort Valley State (ESPN3) 6PM games, including a 33-19 loss to Bethune-Cookman Enrollment 67,000+ in the Florida Classic. S21 Southern (ESPN3) 6PM Nickname Knights S28 at Norfolk State 1PM School Colors Black and Gold • The Rattlers return their top two rushers and their Stadium Spectrum Stadium O5 NC Central (ESPN3) 2PM Capacity 44,206 quarterback from a season ago. Deshawn Smith O12 at SC State 2PM and Bishop Bonnett combined for over 1,000 yards Surface 419 Bermuda Grass O19 NC A&T (ESPN3) 6PM rushing, while Ryan Stanley threw for 2,519 yards Affiliation/Conference NCAA DI - FBS/American O26 at Morgan State 3PM Interim President Dr. Thad Seymour Jr. and 17 touchdowns in 2018. N2 Delaware State 4PM Director of Athletics Dr. Daniel J. White Ticket Office Phone 407-UCF-1000 • Elijah Richardson, the team’s top tackler from last N16 Howard (ESPN3) 4PM season, also returns to lead the defense. Richardson N23 vs. Bethune-Cook (ESPN3) 3:30PM STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS had 75 tackles and 9.5 tackles-for-loss in 2018. Sr. Associate AD John Heisler Email [email protected] TALE OF THE TAPE Cell 574-532-0293 Assistant AD Daniel Forcella UCF (12-1, 8-0 AAC) FLORIDA A&M (6-5, 5-1 MEAC) Email [email protected] Team Statistics UCF OPP Team Statistics FAMU OPP Cell 207-650-6790 Points Per Game 43.2 22.7 Points/Game 26.4 22.1 Press Box Phone 207-650-6790 First Downs 347 307 First Downs 232 188 Website UCFKnights.com Rushing Yards/Game 265.2 222.3 Rushing Yards/Game 158.3 151.9 Twitter @UCF_Football Passing Yards/Game 257.5 211.4 Passing Yards/Game 232.9 202.9 Facebook /UCFFootball Total Off. Yards/Game 522.7 433.7 Total Off. Yards/Game 391.2 354.8 Instagram UCF.Football Third Down Conv. 50% 42% Third Down Conv. 36% 32% Penalties Yards/Game 65.2 74.2 Penalty Yards/Game 87.6 104.1 UCF FOOTBALL STAFF Time of Poss. 25:25 34:35 Time of Poss. 30:31 29:29 Head Coach Josh Heupel (DN) Turnovers - INT/Fumbles 14-7/7 28-14/14 Turnovers - INT/Fumbles 17-12/5 14-10/4 Asst. HC for Off/Offensive Line Glen Elarbee (DN) Asst. HC/Secondary Willie Martinez (DN) Individual Leaders Individual Leaders Offensive Coordinator/QBs Jeff Lebby (UP) Rushing Att Net Avg TD YPG Rushing Att Net Avg TD YPG McCrae 133 1182 8.9 10 90.9 Smith, D 96 640 6.7 4 58.2 Defensive Coordinator/LBs Randy Shannon (UP) Killins Jr. 147 715 4.9 4 55.0 Bonnett 74 533 7.2 3 48.5 Cornerbacks Corey Bell (DN) McGowan 71 470 6.6 8 36.2 Henrilus 70 239 3.4 2 21.7 Defensive Line Shane Burnham (DN) Tight Ends Jon Cooper (UP) Passing C-A-I TD YPG Passing C-A-I TD YPG Special Teams Coordinator Nick Toth (DN) Milton 171-289-6 25 266.3 Stanley 205-342-12 17 229.0 Running Backs Anthony Tucker (DN) Mack 51-100-1 3 61.9 Wide Receivers Darrell Wyatt (DN) Receiving Rec Yds Avg TD YPG Chief of Staff/Director of Ops Billy Ray Johnson Receiving Rec Yds Avg TD YPG Smith, X 52 727 14.0 4 66.1 Asst. Director of Ops Cameron Coffman Davis 53 815 15.4 7 62.7 Hunter 43 555 12.9 6 50.5 Dir. of Player Personnel Brandon Lawson Snelson 43 688 16.0 5 57.3 Williams 31 434 14.0 4 39.5 Ast. Dir. of Player Personnel Austin Steele Nixon 40 562 14.1 4 43.2 Dir. of Player Development Steve Smith Defense U-A-TT TFL INT FF-FR Defensive Quality Control Tony Gilbert Defense U-A-TT TFL INT FF-FR Richardson 35-40-75 9.5 0 1-0 Defensive Quality Control Ian Scott Grant 69-40-109 3.0 6 3-1 Mayweather 39-31-70 5.5 1 0-0 Offensive Quality Control Joey Halzle Evans 55-44-99 10.0 0 1-2 Miller 33-29-62 13.0 1 0-0 Special Teams Quality Control Cliff Odom Gibson 57-33-90 5.5 1 2-1 Jefferson 31-26-57 3.5 0 1-0 Dir.