Editor’s note: This is part of the Star’s ongoing “Big 12 Blitz” series, where we introduce U of A fans to the on- and off-field need-to-know details surrounding each member of the new 16-team Big 12. Today: UCF, located in Orlando, Florida.
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The University of Central Florida fittingly calls itself “SpaceU”; the institution was, after all, created 61 years ago to serve the space industry that’s long called the Atlantic coast 30-some-odd miles east of UCF’s campus home.
Just as appropriate: since 2017, the Knights football team’s annual “Space Game” is talk of the school’s Orlando campus each fall.
This year, another higher education brand with deep connections to NASA, space science education and astronomical exploration will visit Orlando for the game’s 2024 rendition: the Arizona Wildcats.
UCF head coach Gus Malzahn speaks during Big 12 football Media Days on July 10 in Las Vegas.
With Tucson known historically as an “astronomy capital of the world,” and the UA often among the highest higher ed recipients of annual NASA research funding, it’s a fitting duel, set for Saturday Nov. 2 at FBC Mortgage Stadium; a 2023 Big 12 newcomer will welcome a 2024 Big 12 newbie with a shared desire for victory on the football field, and a mutual goal of pushing boundaries away from Earth’s surface.
“The players love it. Gus (Malzahn, football coach) has done promos where he’s been in a spacesuit before,” Matt Murschel, college football reporter with the Orlando Sentinel, told the Star recently about the Space Game. “You’ll see fans dressed up in astronaut uniforms and everyone takes the space thing very seriously, and I think it just kind of adds a little extra element to the game itself.”
For UCF’s annual Space Game, the Knights don new, specialized uniforms that change each season.
The Space Game — complete with the Knights donning some of college football’s universally best and most unique on-field alternate kits — is one of a number of ways UCF has attempted to creatively put itself on the map, both in football and across the athletic and academic landscape.
Murschel chatted with the Star before the 2024 season began about UCF’s relatively rapid athletic growth — especially in the last two decades as the Knights have jumped four leagues; UCF has climbed the ladder to power-conference status, all while winning a ton of football games and building a sizable hometown fan base in the process.
Murschel
Here’s a portion of that conversation with Murschel, which has been lightly edited:
UCF is a relatively young institution. Is that a benefit as this massive change is going on in college sports, where it’s a little more pliable and can react more than one of these institutions that’s been doing things the same way for 150 years?
A: “Very much so. … When you look at them going from the Mid-American Conference to Conference USA and then transitioning into the American, then going from the American to the Big 12 last year — it seems like a quick transition.
Thanks to 'Big 12 Blitz' presenting partner Tucson Appliance Company, the Star's Michael Lev and Brett Fera chat with Orlando Sentinel college sports reporter Matt Murschel. Back in August, Murschel first introduced us to UCF (aka 'SpaceU') — Orlando's hometown team.
“They’ve (had) that pliability — being able to adjust on the fly — especially in the last year and and a half as they made the adjustment to the Big 12. They had to look at their athletic department, adding more staffing at times, they had to look at their budget, they had increased their budget, they had to look at how they were doing fundraising that kind of had to be changed a little bit going into the big 12.”
Where does UCF sort of fit amongst the old guard of big-time Florida college football and college sports as a whole?
A: “I think if you ask someone at UCF, they’ll tell you they’re right there at the top.
“You used to have Florida, Florida State and Miami, and they were playing for national championships or they’re playing for SEC titles or ACC titles. And that just hasn’t been the case for a while.
“Florida State just recently last year has bounced back … So UCF is saying ‘OK, we’ve been there. Look, we won in (2017-18). We went undefeated, we won a national championship and in 2019, we went to the Fiesta Bowl.’ They feel like they’ve put themselves in a good spot and should be in that top two or three conversation.”
UCF mascot Knightro performs in the end zone during the second half of a matchup between UCF and Boise State in Orlando, Florida, on Sept. 2, 2021.
You’ve posted on social media some video of the (FBC Mortgage Stadium, nicknamed “The Bounce House”) press box shaking; it’s literally like an earthquake.
A: “The first game (in 2007) was against Texas
“That was a big draw obviously and as the time has gone on, it’s gotten more popular. They’ve sold out games. I mean it is definitely something that I think is a unique experience (but) when the fans start bouncing up and down and it reminds a little bit what happens at Camp Randall in Wisconsin. When the fans start bouncing up and down, the stadium shakes.
“I took (a video) a couple of years back and it was in the press box and you have a water bottle. You can see the water bottle shaking.
“There have been (visiting) media writers who will sit in that press box sometimes and look around as it starts happening because they wonder ‘is this safe?’
“It’s been one of those things that the fans really enjoy. They love to get into it, especially the student section.
“When you put that together with the light shows they’ve added, the music they’ve added, it just makes an extra dimension.”
UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone talks to her players on the field during an NCAA softball tournament regional matchup against Villanova on May 20, 2022, in Orlando, Florida.
Football has elevated its profile at UCF. What would you say is the school’s next best sport?
A: “Softball has been up there (coached by Cindy Ball-Malone). They’ve competed well, getting to the NCAA Tournament and having opportunities there. Baseball brought in a new coach last year, Rich Wallace. He’s a former UCF guy and he was from Orlando, and they had a good run last year, the first year in the Big 12.
“You know, basketball has been there. They’ve have had moments. But again, they’ve had moments where they’ve also struggled at times. Last year, I would put basketball up high. Even though the record didn’t show it, I felt like that was a good year for them because to play the kind of level of competition they were playing in the Big 12 for the first time, to beat three ranked teams for the first time in program history, the Kansas win at home was amazing and the fans stormed the court — to get those kinds of opportunities, I think they were right there.
“Those are the major (ones). The cheerleading program has won four national championships, so we’ll toot the horn there when it comes to that.”
UCF has produced a number of solid NFL players over the last 25 years. Brandon Marshall (pictured trying to stop Marshall running back Ahmad Bradshaw during the first half of a matchup on Oct. 30, 2004 in Huntington, West Virginia) is one of them. A six-time NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver and UCF Athletics Hall of Famer, Marshall was also started seven games at safety as a junior in 2004 at UCF due to injuries to the Knights' secondary.
Notable alumni … Daunte Culpepper. Asante Samuel. Kevin Smith. The Griffin Brothers. Brandon Marshall. Michelle Akers is a big one from a couple of decades ago, was FIFA’s women’s soccer player of the century. … There is a history. It’s not ‘brand new’.
A: “Daunte’s had a unique history with UCF. He’s obviously one of the record setters. He did so much for the program and I don’t think anyone will argue that he’s not the godfather of the football program in many ways, from when they played back at the Citrus Bowl.
“A lot of former players come back.
“You know Gabe Davis, who’s a former wide receiver for UCF who’s now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he practices in the offseason of the UCF practice fields.
UCF's Andrew Williamson (11) celebrates his home run against Alabama during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional matchup on May 31, 2024, in Tallahassee, Florida.
UCF is one of the farthest spots in the conference from Tucson. But it’s not hard to get to. It’s Orlando. … If Arizona fans travel to UCF, what can they expect around the campus itself?
A: “The UCF campus has grown a lot over the years. It used to be considered kind of a commuter college — 70,000 students there, a lot of them live around the central Florida area.
“They have their own downtown campus as well. But the (main) campus where all the football, basketball and sports take place, it’s grown. It’s not a mega campus like you may get with some programs. But it definitely has the feel of a college town, inside a larger community in Orlando. Orlando, as a whole, has embraced UCF really well. They’ve actually over the last couple of years really kind of taken on the moniker of UCF being their hometown team.
“(Last year) a lot of (visiting) fans said ‘listen, we came a bit early, we went to Disney, we went to Universal, went down to the theme parks, all those things.
“There’s plenty of entertainment itself. The basketball arena sometimes hosts concerts, Camping World Stadium downtown, they host concerts sometimes. Kia Center, which hosts the NBA team, the Orlando Magic — we have so much of that going on that sometimes fans come down here and they’ll take in a Magic game maybe the night before going to the football game.
“And it’s all within relative ease driving distance-wise. It’s not like you have to go an hour to kind of see these things.”
There’s a good balance (in the Big 12). You can get that true college town experience in certain places … And you can get a little flavor of a bigger city in some of the other Big 12 destinations.
A: “In South Bend, Indiana, I grew up near Notre Dame.
“So I had an idea of exactly what a college town felt like. The American (Conference) wasn’t that way so much so. Temple was in Philadelphia, Memphis was obviously in Memphis. A lot of big towns or big cities.
“Orlando is not that. It’s a big city, but not to that extent. And the nice thing about Orlando … you’ve got the Magic, you’ve got Orlando City soccer, the MLS team. … You’ve got so many opportunities to do other things.”
UCF mostly unknown to Arizona, but opportunity for Cats to reach farther East in Big 12 | Greg HansenIn Arizona’s more than 100-plus years and 1,100-plus games of college football, the Wildcats have only played one game in the state of Florida. That changes with the Saturday, Nov. 2 "Space Game" at UCF.
Big 12 Blitz is the Star's way of introducing you — the discerning Arizona Wildcat season ticket holder, would-be road-tripper or cardinal and navy-clad die-hard — to the teams, towns, campuses and more UA coaches, athletes and supporters will get to know across the new Big 12 landscape.
