Add A-10 to the list of top conferences which UCF has defeated on this young season! It wasn’t a pretty game, but we sure are learning how to win in a variety of ways. Marcus Jordan appeared to be on his way to missing the game due to injury but talked Donnie into inserting him with about 15 minutes to go in the 2nd half and then he never came out. It was great to have his calming presence in there!

For those that missed, here are highlights of the game from the UMass Athletics site on YouTube:

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Earlier this year the UCF football team became the first to ever be ranked at UCF, well the basketball team followed suit today as they were ranked #24 in the AP Top 25! UCF now has both major sports ranked in the Top 25 which is something that only 5 schools in the nation can claim, none of the others being from Florida. Additionally UCF can surely claim State Champs in Florida for basketball considering they’ve beaten UF, Miami, and USF among others.

Obviously this is creating some great national publicity for the team, and here is a nice article that is on the front page of CBSSports.com

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What a great year for the Knights, winning their 2nd C-USA Championship on a beautiful sunny Orlando day. Not just a great overall year, but an incredible week when combined with the basketball victory over UF…it’s a week that likely could be considering the best in UCF Sports history!

In the Championship game the defense, lead by Bruce Miller and Josh Robinson, played their best game in well over a month to help deliver us back to Memphis and this time for a New Years Eve Bowl Game! Ironically the Liberty Bowl will pit the two best Freshman QBs against each other with Jeff Godfrey trying to lead us to our first bowl victory and Aaron Murray trying to lead the Bulldawgs to a winning season.

Here are a few pics from the tailgate and some crowd shots at game

Additionally here is a not so great video mash of Fox 35′s Jim Van Fleet catching Knight Fever & giving us some love the day before the game and then some celebration clips I took at the end of the game. Sorry for the crappy sound at the start.

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UCF’s Marcus Jordan escapes the shadow of his father

When word got out that Michael Jordan’s son was going to play basketball at the University of Central Florida, the news spread quickly around campus. But very few students knew what he looked like, which allowed Marcus Jordan to enjoy a sense of anonymity he had never experienced in Chicago, where his NBA legend father is still considered royalty.

He remembers sitting on a bench outside a classroom last fall, overhearing people talking about Marcus Jordan, not realizing they were sitting right next to him. He smirked. Those days are over.

The UCF Knights are 8-0 for the first time since the school went Division I in 1984, Jordan is a big reason, and he can’t hide anymore. There is a buzz on campus, and crowds of 6,000 fans (including Michael Jordan) are showing up at games.

Continue reading here…

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Nothing special but maybe some folks who didn’t make it to the game would care to watch. This is the 9 sec timeout and then a little bit after the game. What a great moment for UCF fans! Thanks so much to Donnie Jones and the entire basketball team for putting in the hard work to make this happen!

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While my computer was taking a vacation and the football team was busying dominating C-USA, we’ve had a pleasant surprise with the basketball team so far! They are 7-0 to start the Donnie Jones era with big wins over past, current, and future rivals with Stetson, USF, and then #16 Florida. That is how you generate buzz and build momentum within the fan base!

As someone who was a huge supporter of Kirk Speraw I was not thrilled with what happened last year,but Donnie has made me a believer with his incredible recruiting pickups, up-tempo style of play, and most importantly the wins on the court. This team is a blast to watch and if Marcus Jordan keeps going at his current pace he’ll likely replace, or at least join, Daunte and Kevin as the face of the UCF sports program. He is helping us get love from national media that our basketball team has never seen. In case you live in a cave here are the two plays that have generated the greatest buzz so far:

Two looks at the drive vs the Gators, the top video I think shows the best angle:

Then there is the play I’ll refer to as “The Dunk & Salute” vs Stetson:

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Wohoo! So I had to replace my home desktop with a new PC as it went rogue on us and we off course that is the PC I use to update the site in terms of pictures so I’ve been a little out of luck. Finally got the new desktop ordered and running and I just uploaded a swarm of pictures since my last update. Here are some back logged football pics:

Southern Miss (final regular season home game)
http://www.ucfpride.com/pictures/2010/FB-USM/index.html

Tulane Road Trip (Nawlins fun!)
http://www.ucfpride.com/pictures/2010/FB-NewOrleans/index.html

It’s been an incredible run this year with the Championship, 10-3 record, and Top 25 standing. Looking back at these pictures the USM game was a real disappointment, but to be honest I had a bad feeling going in. Hopefully the team learned a lesson from that game about remembering what it took to get them to that ranking in the first place.

The trip to New Orleans for the Tulane game was an absolute blast. Nawlins is absolutely one of my favorite cities in America! Sure Bourbon St is good times, but I love what we found beyond it! We hit two new major things on this trip with the live music on Frenchman St, which was simply brilliant and then we also hit the WWII Museum which was one of my favorite museums ever.  Can’t wait to make it back to both those places, not to mention the delicious Cajun food! Never hurts when your team wins by 47 either…

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Polls came out today and our 7-2 Knights have been ranked in the 25 for the first time in history and in both official polls. In the USA Today Coaches Poll we are the top ranked team in the state of Florida at #23, just edging the Florida Gators who are at #24. In the AP Top 25 Poll we just squeaked in at #25!

Very rewarding for those Knight fans like myself that have been around for 20+ years and used to watch the Knights play in Division II in stadiums smaller than many high schools. It’s been a long and sometimes difficult journey, but it only makes the rewards that much sweeter! The best part is this is JUST THE BEGINNING as are best times are surely ahead and I believe in the near-future!

Thanks to all the coaches and players for their hard work, …now get back to work and let’s BEAT USM! We need to win out and host the C-USA Championship!

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Last two C-USA teams undefeated in conference play. Latest a pair of undefeated teams in conference play have ever squared off in C-USA. A heated and hatred rivalry alive and cooking on message boards. The top two teams in C-USA in terms of attendance and overall fan support.

Yes this is a game of great anticipation as the 5-2 Knights face off against the 5-2 Pirates of ECU this Saturday at Bright House Network Stadium. A comparison of national stats shows one of the top ranked offenses (ECU) squaring off against one of the top ranked defenses (UCF) who are top 15 in 4 major statistical categories.

Big game, in fact John Denton puts it up there with Texas stadium opener, 2007 C-USA Championship Game, USF 2008, Miami 2009, and Houston 2009. I’d have to agree and I think I’d rank it 5th on that list above the Houston game just because of the implications to win another C-USA title are really on the line. Here’s hoping we draw a crowd fitting for significance of the game!

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I’m a little late with this as my home desktop is having HW issues, but here are tailgate pictures and crowd shots from the UAB @ UCF Wednesday night ESPN showdown. I have to give it up to the UCFAA that filled the place up very well for a midweek game by pushing the student angle hard. Well done!

As for the team, you have to love back to back beat downs on national TV the past two weeks. The defense is looking nasty while the offense seems to be clicking, although the loss of Rob Calebrese could be a big blow as he was really playing well in the Wild Knight role. A big four weeks are coming up with Homecoming vs Rice then the 3 games that will determine our season: ECU, Houston, and USM. ECU is coming off a big victory over NC State at their place so it looks like they are going to be a tough touch challenge. I think this team will be up for it, but first we need to beat Rice who took down Houston in a surprise upset this weekend.

UAB @ UCF Tailgate & Crowd Pics

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