2006 UCF Golden Knights football team

American college football season February 2026 August 2023 2006 UCF Golden Knights football UCF Golden Knights logo.png 150px Conference USA East C-USA 4–8 3–5 George O'Leary 3rd Tim Salem 3rd Lance Thompson 3rd Camping World Stadium 2007 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 Camping World Stadium. 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,http://ucfathletics.cstv.com/genrel/050407abn.html UCF Athletics Reveals New Logo and Font 2009-08-03 UCF Athletics Association https://web.archive.org/web/20100111110933/http://ucfathletics.cstv.com/genrel/050407abn.html 2010-01-11 dead 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 eight 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 thumb|The Florida Citrus Bowl, the Knights home field 2006 AP Eastern September 2 6:00pm w y Villanova Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL 35–16 29,398 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100319980/golden-knights-end-opener-hex/ The Naples Daily News Golden Knights end opener hex September 3, 2006 April 23, 2022 Newspapers.com September 9 6:00pm l y y Florida 7 Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL PPV 0–42 90,210 September 16 2:30pm l y South Florida Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL rivalry CSTV 17–24 46,708 September 26 7:30pm l Southern Miss Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL ESPN2 14–19 23,540 October 4 7:30pm w y Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium Huntington, WV ESPN2 23–22 27,572 October 13 8:00pm l y Pittsburgh Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL ESPN 7–52 35,858 October 21 4:00pm l Rice Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL 29–40 30,307 October 28 3:30pm l y Houston Robertson Stadium Houston, TX CSTV 31–51 13,242 November 4 4:00pm l y East Carolina Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL 10–23 31,414 That same old feeling, this time, UCF falls to ECU November 5, 2006 The Orlando Sentinel https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109355189/that-same-old-feeling-this-time-ucf-fa/ September 11, 2022 Newspapers.com November 11 8:00pm w y Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN CSTV 26–24 20,611 November 18 2:00pm l y Tulane Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA 9–10 15,341 November 25 12:00pm w UAB Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL CSS 31–22 23,755 References UCF Category:UCF Knights football seasons UCF Golden Knights football Category:2006 in Orlando, Florida