Latavius Murray rushed for 94 yards and scored two touchdowns Saturday to lead Central Florida to a 17-7 victory over Southern Methodist in the Conference USA championship game.

The Knights (10-3) won their second league title and a trip to the Liberty Bowl in their seventh season under George O’Leary, the former Georgia Tech coach who’s led a dramatic turnaround since taking over a struggling program and going 0-11 in his first year on the job.

Jeff Godfrey completed 15 of 19 passes for 167 yards, including a 5-yard TD throw to Murray to finish a long scoring drive in the opening quarter. Murray also scored his 10th rushing TD of the season, breaking a 36-yard run to make it 17-0 in the third quarter.

SMU (7-6), which was trying to win its first league championship since sharing the Southwest Conference crown, scored on Kyle Padron’s 22-yard pass to Aldrick Robinson early in the fourth quarter.

Padron was 18 of 34 for 220 yards passing, but he also was intercepted twice and sacked five times. He drove his team into UCF territory in the closing minutes, only to have the Knights stop the threat on downs with their final sack.

UCF won for the eighth time in nine games, including three in a row since a 31-21 loss to Southern Mississippi ended a brief stay in the Top 25.

The first national ranking in the program’s 30-year history lasted one week, yet accentuates just how far the Knights have come since going 0-11 in 2004 — O’Leary’s first season, and the year before UCF joined Conference USA.

SMU’s turnaround in three years under former NFL and Hawaii coach June Jones has been just as impressive. Finally showing signs of recovering from being hit with the NCAA death penalty for rules violations, the Mustangs are headed to bowl games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1983 and 1984.

Fast Facts

UCF set the tone for a dominating performance, marching 73 yards in 13 plays following the opening kickoff to take a 7-0 lead on Godfrey’s short TD throw to Murray. Nick Cattoi’s 29-yard field goal made it 10-0 on the final play of the first half.

The Knights held the ball for more than 13 minutes of the first quarter, and the combined 10 points for the teams were the fewest scored in an opening half in the six-year history of the Conference USA championship game.

Murray’s second touchdown finished an eight-play, 85-yard drive that extended UCF’s lead to 17 heading into the fourth quarter.

The 6-foot-3, 221-pound running back was voted the game’s most valuable player. He carried 22 times while sharing the workload with Ronnie Weaver and Godfrey, one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks.

Darius Johnson had nine receptions for 105 yards for SMU. Zach Line rushed for 94 yards on 18 attempts for the Mustangs.

Source: ESPN,

One season would be good. The next would be bad.

Until now.

The Knights (9-3) have posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since O’Leary took over in 2004. What’s more, they have earned the first poll ranking in school history and host SMU (7-5) in the Conference USA title game Saturday — their third appearance in the game since 2005.

But beyond all that, UCF has put together a better season than in-state big shots Florida and Miami. If FSU loses to Virginia Tech and the Knights win, then UCF would be the only ranked team in the polls from the state.

“The biggest thing that we fight right now is that we just don’t have that 80, 100-year tradition that the other schools have where the kids may grow up being another fan of another school,” O’Leary said at a news conference in Orlando this week. “That’s the fight that we have to fight, but I think the one thing that really has helped us has been the stadium on campus and then the factor that when they come on campus we have great facilities from a time management standpoint.”

The other fight, of course, is being outside one of the automatic qualifying conferences. Miami, Florida State, Florida and USF all have that advantage. UCF would love an opportunity to join the Big East, and has lobbied for that chance for years. Having back-to-back years of success obviously helps, and so does over $200 million in upgrades on facilities, stadiums and dorms.

The potential has always been there for UCF to rise up because of its location, and its access to top recruits. But the progress has been slow to come.

“I think it took probably a year or two longer than I would have liked, but we are getting depth in the program,” O’Leary said. “That is what the key is, playmakers coming up. Most of the playmakers, when you look at the offensive line there are two guys gone out of 10 so there [are] a lot of people back. The running backs are all back and Brynn Harvey, who didn’t play this year. The receiving corps we have some good young kids coming up, the quarterbacks are back so I think there are a lot of things to work with.”

The first task, of course, is winning the conference championship, something UCF did in 2007. If the Knights win one more game, they would tie that 2007 team and the 1990 team for most wins in FBS school history with 10.

“We’re not going to let this one slip away,” UCF linebacker Derrick Hallman said. “I don’t want my last memory of Bright House Networks Stadium to be me walking off the field with my head down and I don’t want another team celebrating on my field with a championship trophy.”

Beyond that, UCF will be making its fourth bowl appearance since 2005, all under O’Leary. But the Knights are 0-3, and got embarrassed by Rutgers last year in the Beef ‘O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl. If they win C-USA, they would most likely play an SEC team in the Liberty Bowl. The next step would be getting a bowl win, and beating teams from the AQ conferences.

UCF is 2-45 against teams from those automatic qualifying conferences since it joined FBS in 1996, and is winless against in-state teams Miami, Florida and USF. The Knights lost to Florida State in 1995, the year before it moved up to the highest level.

So there is much more work to be done. But first, they must win a conference title.

Source: ESPN, by Andrea Adelson,

Having already locked up a spot in next week’s Conference USA title game, UCF went out in the regular-season finale and took care of business against Memphis and continued to carry the belief that if it can keep winning it can be back in the Liberty Bowl again in a month.

UCF used another spectacular day from freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey and two-touchdown efforts from wide out Jamar Newsome and tailback Latavius Murray to pull away from Memphis 37-17 before a crowd of 14,992.

The victory ensured that the Knights (9-3 overall and 7-1 in Conference USA play) will head into Saturday’s Conference USA title game against SMU (7-5 and 6-2) with plenty of positive momentum. UCF has won seven of its last eight games with a home loss against Southern Miss being the only blip since Sept. 25.

Win next Saturday and the Knights could be back in Memphis for the Dec. 31 Liberty Bowl for the second time in school history. Several of UCF’s seniors admitted that nothing would be sweeter than ending the season in the same place many of them did in 2007.

“I’m not going to lie, I’ve definitely thought about coming back here to the Liberty Bowl,” said UCF senior linebacker Derrick Hallman, who recorded his first interception of the season on Saturday. “But I’m extremely excited about going to play next week so we can have that opportunity to play (in another Liberty Bowl).”

The Knights actually secured a spot in next Saturday’s Conference USA title game and clinched the East Division crown for a third time in six years the day before when SMU beat East Carolina in overtime and Southern Miss lost to Tulsa. The Knights and Mustangs haven’t played since 2008, a UCF 31-17 win. The two teams are slated to meet again next season in Dallas.

“There were some guys running through the hallways (at the team hotel) when we found out we were in the title game, but we knew that we still had to come out and play hard (on Saturday),” said UCF standout senior defensive end Bruce Miller, who became the school’s all-time leader in sacks (32) with two QB drops on Saturday. “Our goal is the conference championship, but it’s also to go out and win every game. But there was a sigh of relief knowing we were going to get into that game. We’re expecting a full house and a great atmosphere and it’s going to be a great game.”

Tickets for the C-USA title game at Bright House Networks Stadium are on sale for $30 at TicketMaster.com, UCFAthletics.com or by calling (407) 823-1000. UCF also hosted the game in 2005 and 2007, losing to Tulsa in 2005 and defeating the Golden Hurricane in 2007.

UCF’s nine wins are tied for the second-most in school history, trailing only the 10 in 1990 and 2007. And on Saturday, UCF won its school-record fifth road game of the season. The Knights had never won more than four times away from Orlando before this season.

UCF coach George O’Leary said there was great satisfaction in his team closing out the regular season with a convincing victory even though there was little to play for. O’Leary is also proud that the Knights set a goal before the season of winning the conference title and now they are in position to do just that.

“We came away from here with a good win, a conference win and we secured the Eastern Division. Now, all that is left to do is go play SMU in the conference championship game,” O’Leary said. “I know our fan base will be excited about it and our players are very excited about it. … We’ll have our hands full and I’m looking forward to playing SMU.”

Godfrey, who breathed life into UCF’s offense with his dazzling play-making skills on the ground and through the air, closed his first regular season as a Knight by completing 14 of 17 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns. With a 245.79 efficiency rating, it is his third game this season with a rating of 232 or better.

“I started off kind of slow where I wasn’t making the right reads, but in the second half I picked it up, the O-line did a good job protecting and we played better in the second half,” Godfrey said. “We set this goal at the beginning of the season all through camp. Now, we want to win it.”

Newsome, UCF’s blossoming wide receiver, had touchdown catches of 56 and 23 yards early in the fourth quarter to break open the game. Newsome had the third 100-yard game of the season with 118 yards on nine catches. And his first touchdown catch extended UCF’s streak of consecutive games with a 40-yard touchdown catch to six games.

“It’s a lovely feeling (being in the title game),” Newsome said. “Our coach has been saying that it’s not often you get a chance to reach your goals and we have that opportunity now. It’s a lovely, lovely feeling.’

UCF freshman Jordan Ozerities, who returned an interception 100 yards a week ago at Tulane on the game’s final play, opened the second half by forcing a fumble on the kickoff. Two minutes later, Murray was in the end zone for a touchdown that put the Knights up 23-7.

UCF muddled through a sloppy first half and led 16-7 at the break. The lead certainly could have been much more substantial had the Knights not had a touchdown wiped out by an illegal pick penalty, a fumble inside the 20-yard line and a hooked extra point.

The Knights scored first for the 11th time in 12 games when Godfrey scampered around left end for a nine-yard touchdown run. It was his 10th rushing touchdown of the season, extending his UCF record for rushing scores by a freshman quarterback.

But a Memphis team that had mustered very little offense all season immediately responded with a score of its own to tie the game at seven-all. Coming into the game, UCF had allowed just 20 points in the first quarter all season, while the Tigers had just scored 35 first-period points.

Miller secured his place in the UCF’s history books by becoming the Knights’ all-time leader in sacks with 32. Miller dropped Memphis’ quarterback Ryan Williams twice in the first half to unseat previous record-holder Darrell Rudd (1981-84).

Said O’Leary: “I’ve been around a lot of good football players and Bruce Miller is as good as any of them. He just does so many things well. He’s kind of playing out of position for us, but it’s because he’s so unselfish.”

Miller said he savored setting the record, but he was even prouder of the fact that the Knights are a win away from accomplishing their goal of a second league title in four years. And that, he knows, could put UCF back in the Liberty Bowl again.

“I’ve been to the title game before and I know what it takes to get there and these guys have done that and more,” Miller said. “Ending the season 7-1 with the best record in the conference, we deserve it because we’ve put in so much work. This year has been a grind and our guys have done a good job all season of playing how we know we’re supposed to play.”

John Denton’s Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.

UCF was able to survive some defensive difficulties against East Carolina (a 49-35 win) and Houston (a 40-33 victory), but the troubles spelled doom last Saturday against Southern Miss (a 31-21 defeat).

Up next for UCF (7-3 overall and 5-1 in C-USA) is a Tulane team that beat Rutgers earlier in the season and whipped Rice on Saturday by scoring 54 points. The Green Wave ranks 47th in the nation in passing yards (238.7) and 68th in scoring offense (26.2). And Huxtable is determined that his defense will solve its recent struggles.

“My job is to get this defense playing and it starts with me, not the kids,” Huxtable said. “I take total, absolute responsibility for what’s happened the last three weeks, but we have to pull it all together and go out and perform on Saturday and perform.”

Huxtable said that it’s almost been like a tale of two seasons defensively what with UCF facing mostly running, smash-mouth teams early in the season and hurry-up, pass-happy teams the past three weeks. UCF handled the former just fine, ranking atop Conference USA and in the nation’s top 15 early on. But it’s the latter that has challenged UCF’s conditioning, depth and play-making abilities of late.

To wit: In the first seven games of the season, UCF allowed just 97 points (13.8 points per game). But in the past three games, the Knights have yielded 99 points (33 points per game).

“It has been different (facing the run-and-shoot offenses), but it’s been different from our standpoint because we’re not doing the same things that we were doing early in the season,” UCF standout defensive end Bruce Miller said. “We were shutting people down and we were Top 10 in the country and we’ve gotten away from those things. We have to get back to doing that.”

UCF has to get back to doing that because it can’t afford to lose again if it still wants to accomplish its goals of winning the C-USA title. The Knights, who are ahead of East Carolina because of their head-to-head win, must beat Tulane and Memphis on the road to lock up the East Division and host the C-USA title game on Dec. 4. Their margin for error much smaller now, the Knights know that turning around their defensive issues must start Saturday against Tulane in the Louisiana Superdome.

“We can’t have any more letdowns because East Carolina is right there,” outside linebacker Derrick Hallman said. “We lose a game and they are in the championship and we’re not. So we can’t lose any more games and we know how big this week is and next week,too.”

UCF can take a major step toward clearing up its defensive issues by making improvements on third down. Southern Miss was able to wear down UCF’s defense by converting time and again on third down to keep long drives going. The Golden Eagles converted 11 of 16 times on third down, including three times on what proved to be the go-ahead scoring drive. The third down woes kept the Knights on the field for 72 plays.

“We have third-and-seven, we’re about to get off the field and we get a pass interference call. We’ve got a third-and-10 and we have the coverage that we want and we don’t keep our eyes on the quarterback and he escapes for the first down,” Huxtable recalled. “There were so many third downs where it’s just us shooting ourselves in the foot and not letting us get off the field on third down. It’s frustrating right now for me and everybody else and we’re putting a big emphasis on third downs. I know these guys want to do right and we’re working hard to get it corrected.”

Again, the third-down problems is a relatively new issue for the Knights’ defense. In the first seven weeks of the season, UCF foes converted on third down just 37 percent of the time (37 of 100). In the past three weeks, East Carolina (12 of 17), Houston (eight of 16) and Southern Miss (11 of 16) have converted 63.2 percent of the time (31 of 49).

“Third down that’s the money down. That’s when you have to get off the field,” senior safety Reggie Weems said. “It’s the most important play of the series. The coaches have been stressing it. We have to get off the field and the quicker that we can get the ball back to the offense, the quicker they can score points.”

The Knights could use another defensive gem like the one they put up last season against Tulane at Bright House Networks Stadium. In that game, UCF won 49-0 in the most-lopsided shutout in C-USA history. Also, UCF limited Tulane to -30 yards rushing and surrendered 50 yards in 51 plays, the fewest yards ever allowed in a C-USA game.

Dominating like that again will be very difficult because of Tulane’s growth, Huxtable said.

“They’re a no-huddle offense again, but not quite as fast a tempo (as Southern Miss),” he said. “They’re much improved from last year and a totally different from last year. They have a lot of gadget plays, so we’ll have to be on target.’

John Denton’s Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.