2006 UCF Golden Knights football team

2006 UCF Golden Knights football
Conference Conference USA East
2006 record 4-8 (3-5 C-USA)
Head coach George O'Leary (3rd year)
Home stadium Citrus Bowl
(Capacity: 65,000)
2006 Conference USA football standings
Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
East Division
Southern Miss x   6 – 2         9 – 5  
East Carolina   5 – 3         7 – 6  
Marshall   4 – 4         5 – 7  
UCF   3 – 5         4 – 8  
UAB   2 – 6         3 – 9  
Memphis   1 – 7         2 – 10  
West Division
Houston x$   7 – 1         10 – 4  
Rice   6 – 2         7 – 6  
Tulsa   5 – 3         8 – 5  
SMU   4 – 4         6 – 6  
UTEP   3 – 5         5 – 7  
Tulane   2 – 6         4 – 8  
Championship: Houston 34, Southern Miss 20
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2006 UCF Golden Knights football team represented the University of Central Florida in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Their head coach was George O'Leary, in his third season with the team. They played in Conference USA, in the East Division.

After a surprise showing in 2005, where they went 7-1 in C-USA and 8-3 in the regular season overall, UCF suffered a bit of a letdown, going 4-8 in 2006 under the new 12-game regular season schedule, and 3-5 in-conference. Their sole non-conference win came against I-AA Villanova. Part of the problem was the transition from a pass-dominated offense led by graduated wide receiver Brandon Marshall to a run-dominated offense led by sophomore running back Kevin Smith.

2006 was the final season that UCF would play at the aging Citrus Bowl. Already under construction was a new 45,000-seat on-campus stadium, which would open in time for the 2007 season. It would also be the final year that UCF would play under the "Golden Knights" nickname. They would drop "Golden" before the 2007 season, becoming simply the UCF Knights,[1] and would soon unveil an updated logo.

One of the highlights of the season was a last-second, nationally-televised victory at Marshall on October 4. UCF kicker Michael Torres kicked a go-ahead field goal with 8 seconds left, but removed his helmet on the field of play, suffering an excessive celebration penalty. Despite the tense moment, the UCF special teams was able to hold off on the ensuing kickoff. The Golden Knights upset Marshall on the night they celebrated the release of the film We Are Marshall, with the film's star Matthew McConaughey in attendance.

Schedule

The Citrus Bowl, the Knights home field.
Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
September 2 6:00pm Villanova Wildcats* Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL W 35–16   29,398
September 9 6:00pm #7 Florida Gators* Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, FL PPV L 0–42   90,210
September 16 2:30pm South Florida* Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL (UCF–USF football rivalry) CSTV L 17–24   46,708
September 26 7:30pm Southern Miss Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL ESPN2 L 14–19   23,540
October 4 7:30pm Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV ESPN2 W 23–22   27,572
October 13 8:00pm Pittsburgh* Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL ESPN L 7–52   35,858
October 21 4:00pm Rice Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL L 29–40   30,307
October 28 3:30pm Houston Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX CSTV L 31–51   13,242
November 4 4:00pm East Carolinadagger Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL (Rivalry) L 10–23   31,414
November 11 8:00pm Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN CSTV W 26–24   20,611
November 18 2:00pm Tulane Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans, LA L 9–10   15,341
November 25 12:00pm UAB Citrus Bowl • Orlando, FL CSS W 31–22   23,755
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

References

  1. ↑ "UCF Athletics Reveals New Logo and Font". UCF Athletics Association. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, June 11, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.