Linam and Weaver grabbed the Captain’s Awards after the seniors were voted as captains by their teammates during the season. Linam also was named as UCF’s Outstanding Linebacker and the winner of the Academic Excellence Award, while Weaver was the Knights’ Outstanding Offensive Back.

Murray secured the Outstanding Offensive Player and MVP awards thanks to leading the team with 860 all-purpose yards – 549 rushing and 242 receiving along with a 69-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at Southern Miss. Along with eight rushing touchdowns, he posted the fourth-best rushing performance in UCF history when he raced for 233 yards at UTEP. In that victory over the Miners, Murray accounted for three overall touchdowns as that effort is now up for the Marines National Running Back Performance of the Year presented by Intersport.

On the defensive side of the ball, Ishmael carried home the Outstanding Defensive Back and Outstanding Defensive Player trophies. UCF’s free safety paced the Knights in tackles for the second-straight year, recording 81 in 2011. That was highlighted by four games where he amassed 10 tackles or more. Ishmael also had three break-ups and one forced fumble.

Voted on by the coaching staff, the complete list of awards is below.

2011 UCF Football Awards

Majoring in sports and fitness, Linam currently carries a cumulative grade-point average of 3.36, and he was one of just three members of this year’s C-USA All-Academic Team who were repeat selections (ECU’s Matt Milner and Tulsa’s G.J. Kinne are the others).

Linam and former UCF defensive back Sha’reff Rashad are the only two Knights who have appeared on both the Academic All-District Team and the C-USA All-Academic Team twice during their careers since UCF moved to C-USA in 2005.

In all, the Knights have earned six spots on the C-USA All-Academic Team under head coach George O’Leary: Rashad (2006 and 2007), Keith Shologan (2007), Rocky Ross (2009) and Linam (2010 and 2011).

A native of Tavares, Fla., Linam started 25 of UCF’s last 26 games at middle linebacker, ranking third on the team in 2011 with 66 tackles, including a season-high nine vs. East Carolina and UTEP. He also collected 10 tackles for loss, two sacks and a pair of interceptions. Linam received College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention National Linebacker of the Week honors for his effort against UTEP, which featured 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception.

For his career, Linam registered 165 tackles with 20 tackles for loss and three interceptions in 50 games played.

Murray also is up for the Intersport National Running Back Performance of the Year. Fan voting determines the winner at Facebook.com/All Star Football, as voting will end Sunday, Dec. 4, at 9:59 a.m. ET.

The Running Back Performance of the Year is part of a four-month competition that lets fans decide which individual performances reign supreme during the 2011 college football season. The winners will be revealed during the two hour All-Star Football Challenge special airing at 7 p.m. ET Feb. 3 on ESPN2. In addition to recognizing the season’s top performances, the All-Star Football Challenge will feature college football’s biggest stars in a live skills challenge.

By earning the College Football Performance Awards National Running Back of the Week, Murray beat out David Wilson (Virginia Tech), Trent Richardson (Alabama), Terrance Ganaway (Baylor), Chris Nwoke (Colorado State), Montee Ball (Wisconsin), Giovani Bernard (UNC), Ronnie Hillman (San Diego State), De’Anthony Thomas (Oregon), Zac Stacy (Vanderbilt), Bernard Pierce (Temple), Isaiah Pead (Cincinnati), Bobby Rainey (Western Kentucky), Alfred Morris (FAU) and Vick Ballard (Mississippi State) who all received honorable-mention status.

Murray’s 233 rushing yards were the fourth-most by a Knight in school history, and it was just the 11th 200-yard game by a UCF running back. He racked up those yards on only 21 carries for an 11.1 average, putting him in second place on UCF’s single-game list (Murray holds that record at 13.1 against Tulane in 2010).

Moving up to fifth on UCF’s all-time chart, Murray rushed for two touchdowns against UTEP to give him 22 for his career. His first of the game occurred on the Black and Gold’s second drive of the contest, a 38-yard burst to put UCF up 7-0 with 9:31 left in the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, Murray had six rushes for 45 yards and an 18-yard reception to help set up a 1-yard TD run by quarterback Blake Bortles. To close out the half, he pulled in a 6-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter to make it 24-0, marking his second touchdown catch as a Knight in his career.

When the second half got underway, Murray needed just two carries to collect 76 yards, capped off by a 40-yard touchdown run. He finished by accounting for 257 all-purpose yards and three total touchdowns.

Last year’s Conference USA Championship Game MVP and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl MVP, Murray completed 2011 with 549 yards on 98 carries for a 5.6 average, compiling eight touchdowns in the process. He also had 17 receptions for 242 yards, and a team-high 860 all-purpose yards.

Meanwhile, senior Josh Linam earned CFPA Honorable Mention Linebacker of the Week honors for his effort against UTEP. The Tavares, Fla., native had nine tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception in the victory over the Miners, who had only 66 rushing yards in the game.

With a career-best rushing day from junior tailback Latavius Murray and some smothering play from its defense, UCF totally overwhelmed UTEP 31-14 at Bright House Networks Stadium in what proved to be the season finale for both teams.

Unfortunately for the Knights (5-7, 3-5 Conference USA), the resurgence came too late and there will be no bowl game in December. UCF was an impressive 5-1 at home this season, but its downfall was a 0-6 mark on the road. Six of the Knights’ seven losses this season were by seven or fewer points, leaving them wondering what could have been this season had a few extra plays gone their way.

“This win means everything in the world to us because me and my teammates fought hard this year but lost some games by close margins. But for us to play like this in the last game means a lot to me,” senior wide receiver A.J. Guyton said. “Everything happens for a reason and it just wasn’t our year this year. But at least we ended on a positive note.”

UCF head coach George O’Leary said a game as good as Friday’s made him think even more about how the season could have transpired differently. O’Leary said he was happy most of all that the most successful senior class in school history went out with a victory in its last game.

“I’m happy for the senior class on Senior Night to go out winners. As I told the team, I thought they played hard all year, but we just weren’t as successful as we’d have liked to have been,” O’Leary said. “We just came up a possession short or a stop short in each of those games. But our kids executed today and made plays.”

Murray, who made another late-season charge similar to last season when he earned Most Valuable Player honors in both the Conference USA title game and the Liberty Bowl, ran for 233 yards and two scores and caught another touchdown in the lopsided victory.

Murray’s rushing total ranks as the fourth most in school history and was UCF’s first 200-yard rushing day in two seasons. He vowed early in the week that UCF would play hard in the final game to honor the 15 seniors who have meant so much to the program.

“I wanted to help the seniors a lot because I would hope if I was a senior the underclassmen would do the same for me,” said Murray, who will return next season as the starting tailback. “We did what we had to do, and the seniors did what they had to do, and we went out on a great note.”

UTEP (5-7, 2-6 C-USA) entered Friday’s game with with a bowl bid on the line, but the Miners never stood a chance against a determined UCF team. Because UTEP did not reach six wins, Conference USA is unable to fill its six bowl slots. Remarkably, the Miners have never won a game played in the Eastern Time Zone. They are 0-17-1 all-time in such games with the tie coming in 1949 against West Virginia.

UCF pitched a shutout for three-plus quarters before allowing a meaningless 2-yard touchdown pass with 11:23 to play in the game. The Knights were hoping to post their third home shutout of the season, which would have been the most of any team in the country.

The game was the final one at UCF for noted seniors Josh Linam, Cliff McCray, Darius Nall, Adam Nissley, Nick Pieschel, Ronnie Weaver and Guyton. Linam had nine tackles and a third-quarter interception. Nall registered the 16th sack of his career and tipped a pass and Guyton added a 29-yard reception. McCray, Pieschel and Nissley opened holes all night for Murray. That senior class helped UCF reach two bowl games (2009 and ’10) and win two C-USA titles (2007 and ’10).

“Looking at this game, this was about the best thing that could have happened for the seniors,” said McCray, whose younger brothers – twins Jordan and Justin – return next season. “Me and the seniors have been talking a lot, all of us who have played here since 2007. … The main thing that I wanted to do was tell the guys that I played with that I love them. I said a little prayer to myself thanking God because UCF has meant a lot to me and I was so grateful.”

Sophomore Jeff Godfrey started at quarterback, and redshirt freshman Blake Bortles ended the game. Bortles threw for 158 yards and a TD, while Godfrey hit on five of six throws for 53 yards. O’Leary said he fully anticipates using both quarterbacks next season.

Wide out J.J. Worton had three more catches, giving him 41 for the season and the new UCF record for receptions by a freshman. He broke the previous mark of 40 set in 1987 by Sean Beckton, now UCF’s defensive backs coach.

Fellow redshirt freshman Josh Reese had a 43-yard grab in the second quarter, while true freshman Rannell Hall had two grabs for 17 yards. The position with the most question marks prior to the season, UCF heads into next season knowing it has plenty of returning playmakers at wide receiver.

“For three guys coming in, they really did play well,” O’Leary said. “Reese made a great catch on that broken play that we threw deep and Worton continues to catch everything near him. They’re only going to get better. And Rannell Hall really needs to come on this offseason and understand the game better and what’s going on. But they had terrific freshman years in terms of catching balls and making plays.”

UCF opened the game with its most dominant half of football in weeks, racing to a 24-0 lead by intermission. The Knights held a whopping 303-94 advantage in yards in the first two quarters and held the Miners to just five first downs.

The Knights started the game well with a 38-yard touchdown sprint from Murray and closed the half with a 6-yard touchdown lob from Bortles to Murray. In between, Bortles had a touchdown dive from one yard and a 23-yard field goal from senior kicker Nick Cattoi.

Raved UTEP coach Mike Price, referring to Murray: “Number 28 was fantastic. He looked like Eric Dickerson the way he was running the ball all over us.”

Bortles was spectacular in the first half, hitting on seven of eight passes for 139 yards. He got plenty of help from Worton and Josh Reese. Reese had a dazzling 43-yard catch in the second quarter, while Worton had a diving 34-yarder to get the Knights inside the 10-yard.

Murray, a starter at tailback the past two weeks, rumbled off left tackle in the first quarter and ran untouched past the secondary for a 38-yard score to put the Knights up 7-0. Murray’s run was set up by a 29-yard catch and run by Guyton.

Said Murray: “I know the line was doing a great job and there were some big holes there. As a back you just have to hit the holes when they are blocking like that. We just got it going early and kept it rolling.”

UCF pushed the lead to 14-0 when Murray ripped off runs 13 and 20 yards to set up Bortles’ 1-yard sneak.

But this night was all about UCF’s senior class. After weeks of frustration and close losses, the seniors were finally able to walk off the field with a feeling of happiness.

“It finally hit me Thursday night because I was quiet all day and had some alone time,” Nall said. “Coming into this game, I had so many emotions running through my head. … I’m disappointed with how the season went, but I’m just so happy with us pulling out this last win.”

There was the fumble just before halftime and the botched punt return against FIU. There was the kickoff return allowed and another muffed punt return against BYU. Then, came the last-second field goal allowed in the two-loss loss at UAB. UCF couldn’t convert from the 5-yard line against Tulsa and didn’t hit on a two-point pass at Southern Miss, both miscues resulting in two more losses. And finally, UCF twice tied the score in the second half last Saturday, but couldn’t get a key stop in the final three minutes of the game and lost yet again to East Carolina.

Only the SMU loss where UCF was overwhelmed on both sides of the ball and fell 38-17 was the lone game that the Knights didn’t push for a win in the fourth quarter. What was left was six losses by a combined 31 points, leaving the Knights to wonder what could have been this season had they been able to make a few more plays and get a few more defensive stops.

“I think it’s a very frustrating season,” O’Leary said. “I think the kids have played very hard, but I think when you build a program on not making mistakes, no penalties, not beating yourself, we really — I’m talking about coaching staff and players and I’m not pointing at the players — but we really haven’t gotten that accomplished.

“Every game has been like the old saying, `Same movie, different movie theater,” O’Leary continued. “That’s very frustrating as a coach because these things are being covered, but we’re just very immature at some areas. We’ve just hurt ourselves in a lot of areas.”

The pain of a frustrating season will end Friday when UCF (4-7 overall and 2-5 in Conference USA play) hosts UTEP (5-6 and 2-5) at 7 p.m. at Bright House Networks Stadium. The Knights were eliminated from having any shot of winning the C-USA title two weeks ago and were knocked out of contention for a bowl game with last Saturday’s loss. UTEP is playing for a bowl game, while the Knights are left simply hoping to end the season with a victory.

“After our meeting on Sunday, coach told us that the team was going to try and win this game and send the seniors out on a positive note. That would be nice,” senior wide receiver A.J. Guyton said. “(Fellow senior) Darius Nall asked me how I was feeling and I don’t even know how to feel. This is our last week out here on the practice field. We just have to make the most of it now and try to go out with a positive note.”

UCF’s 15 seniors will head into the finale with a 27-23 record with two bowl appearances over the past four seasons. Because many of the players redshirted in 2007, they were technically a part of C-USA championships in 2007 and 2010. They helped the Knights author the finest season in school history last year, one in which they won 11 games, captured a C-USA crown and beat Georgia in the Liberty Bowl.

“I feel like our Knights family here has left a legacy and a good impression in these first five years of Bright House Networks Stadium,” said senior tailback Ronnie Weaver, one of the team captains along with linebacker Josh Linam. “We’ve set an example for the young guys to carry into the future. This program can still grow in leaps and bounds. It’s up to the guys to take heed to the coaching and get better from this season.”

Some of UCF’s seniors, such as Adam Nissley, Nick Pieschel, Weaver and Guyton, have been on hand for just about every home game at Bright House Networks Stadium over the past five years. They all said that running onto the field for the final time on Friday will be emotional.

“The emotions will be mixed. I’ll be excited to play, but it will be bittersweet because of the season that we’ve had,” Linam said. “I’ve had a lot of good memories in there. I’m just hoping that (the last game) will be good overall.”

Added Guyton: “It’ll be crazy knowing that it’s my last time to play on that field, especially since I was one of the first ones to play on that field back in 2007 against Texas in that first home game. I’ll try to hold my emotions in and just go out and play.”

Weaver, who rose from being a walk-on to one of the Knights’ two team captains, said it will take him some time to get over how sour this season has turned. UCF entered the year with hopes of being a BCS-buster, and those beliefs were buoyed early on by a 30-3 whipping of Boston College. But too many missed opportunities resulted in close losses that sabotaged UCF’s season.

“I think back on this past season and try to figure out what we could have done better, but hindsight is 20/20. You can always correct things when you see them on film, but games come down to execution,” Weaver said. “We didn’t execute when we needed to. A play here and a play there and this season could have been drastically different for us.”

Unfortunately for UCF, its chances of becoming the fourth team to pull off a C-USA repeat ended Saturday night at the hands of Southern Miss and a heart-breaking final play on a failed two-point conversion pass.

UCF redshirt freshman quarterback Blake Bortles fired a 25-yard touchdown on the final play of regulation, but his potential game-winning two-point conversion pass was swatted down to end the game and resulted in a heartbreaking 30-29 loss to Southern Miss.

With momentum clearly on the Knights’ side at the end of the game, UCF coach George O’Leary decided to go for the victory instead of the tie at the end. Bortles completed 24 of 34 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns. But his final pass of the night was batted down by Southern Miss safety Jacorious Cotton to set off a wild celebration scene.

“We made the decision two minutes before that if we scored that we were going for two points to win this game,” O’Leary said. “We came to win the game and that gave us the best opportunity to win. But we came up short.”

UCF’s players seconded O’Leary decision to go for the victory rather than chance it in overtime.

“I loved the call because we had the momentum at the time and we had just put together a great drive,” said tailback Latavius Murray. “We punched it in for the touchdown, but we didn’t finish it off with the two-point conversion. But I was happy that we went for it and I was excited.”

Added senior linebacker Josh Linam: “I loved it and I thought that’s what (O’Leary) should do. We had a chance to win a game, but we didn’t finish it.”

UCF rallied to take a one-point lead with 8 minutes to play, but it was eliminated from contention for a third C-USA East Division title in the past five years Saturday night when Southern Miss marched for a go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown. Austin Davis, repeatedly a UCF killer throughout the past three years, threw a 4-yard TD pass and a two-point conversion to down the Knights at M.M. Roberts Stadium. His two-point pass-lateral to Lamar Holmes on a tackle-eligible play proved to be the game-winning points.

UCF (4-6 overall and 2-4 in C-USA play) must now win its final two games to become bowl eligible for a third consecutive season. Southern Miss (9-1 and 5-1) has only UAB and Memphis ahead of them before playing in the C-USA title game against either Houston or Tulsa.

The Knights play their final road game of the season next Saturday against East Division-rival East Carolina. The kickoff is at 7 p.m. and will be televised by Fox Sports. UCF closes the regular season at home on Nov. 25 against UTEP.

“From a morale standpoint, I feel like we came together as a team. But I’m still not happy about the loss,” tailback Ronnie Weaver said. “We’re going to do what we can now to get that sixth win and get to a bowl game.”

Added Victor Gray, who had four pass breakups from his defensive tackle position: “We play the way we did tonight in the next two games I feel we’ll get them and get to a bowl game.”

UCF took a 23-22 lead midway through the fourth quarter when redshirt freshman quarterback Blake Bortles found Ronnie Weaver for the first touchdown pass of the senior tailback’s career. But the lead would be short-lived for UCF as Davis and Southern Miss marched 80 yards in just 2:32 to go back ahead.

Bortles, who played the entire second half in relief of starter Jeff Godfrey, was effective throughout, but was intercepted by defensive tackle Deddrick Jones with 4:58 to play.

Undeterred, Bortles drove UCF’s offense down the field by completing seven consecutive passes. Facing a fourth-and-six with two seconds to play, Bortles hit J.J. Worton for a dazzling 25-yard touchdown that he went high into the air to haul in despite heavy traffic all around him.

“Blake has ice water in his veins,” gushed Weaver. “We were all depending on him to make plays for us and he came through. He came in with some adversity and in a tough situation playing here at “The Rock” and he played really well.”

Whereas UCF’s offense struggled most of the night in the red zone, the defense seemed to play its best football when Southern Miss drove into scoring territory. UCF’s defense, statistically ranked first in C-USA, held Southern Miss to five Danny Hrapmann field goals to stay within striking distance.

Said Linam: “The way our defense played speaks to the resolve that we have as a team. We came up short in this game, but we played our butts off.”

As they have all season, special teams’ woes again hurt the Knights. Trailing just 16-9 early in the fourth quarter, Worton fumbled a punt return deep in UCF territory. UCF’s defense held tough, but four plays later Southern Miss had a fourth field goal that pushed the lead back to 19-9.

“When J.J. came off the field (after the touchdown catch) he said he had to get one back because of the fumbled punt,” O’Leary said. “That was a great catch by Worton on the touchdown. There were a lot of momentum changes and the kids played their hearts out.”

Worton finished the game with a career-high 11 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown to lead the UCF receiving corps.

UCF responded with a big play of its own on the ensuing kickoff, making Southern Miss pay for its decision to pop up the kick. Junior Latavius Murray ran through a tackle and broke into the clear for a 69-yard return to draw UCF back to within 19-16.

UCF has now returned at least one kickoff for a touchdown in each of the past five seasons.

Senior kicker Nick Cattoi booted three field goals, the final one getting the Knights within 16-9 late in the third quarter. UCF moved the ball up and down the field all night, but repeatedly stalled near scoring position because of penalties and struggles in pass protection.

UCF got a bad break late in the third quarter despite a replay ruling going in its favor. Referees wiped out a pass interference call when a UCF challenge showed that a pass was tipped at the line. However, referees retroactively called UCF safety Kemal Ishmael for defensive holding on the play prior to the pass interference, resulting in a Southern Miss first down.

UCF and Southern Miss were flagged for a whopping nine penalties in the third quarter alone. Southern Miss had six penalties in the period, four of them for holding.

UCF drove across the 50-yard line and into Southern Miss territory on four of its first five drives, but managed just two field goals and trailed 13-6 at the half. The Knights drove inside the 35-yard line four times, but had to settle for Cattoi field goals of 48 and 38 yards.

Southern Miss had scoring drives of 96, 80 and 67 yards in the first half. The final one just before the half was kept alive when Southern Miss caught UCF off guard with a fake punt. Punter Peter Boehme hit Emmanuel Johnson for a 28-yard gainer. Strangely, Southern Miss didn’t convert a third down on six tries in the first half, but twice converted on fourth downs.

As promised by O’Leary earlier in the week, UCF rotated quarterbacks in the first half, alternating series with Godfrey and redshirt freshman Blake Bortles. Godfrey completed seven of 10 passes for 68 yards in the first half, while Bortles hit on six of eight throws for 49 yards. Worton set a career high for catches in the first half alone with five grabs for 49 yards.

The noise inside Roberts Stadium clearly got to the Knights early in the game. UCF’s offensive line was whistled for four false start penalties in the first quarter alone. The first two penalties stalled a drive, while the fourth one preceded a fourth-and-inches play and forced the Knights to punt.

UCF punter David Bohner pinned Southern Miss down at the 4-yard late in the first period, but it didn’t matter to a Golden Eagles offense that has made a habit out of stringing together long drives. Davis completed five passes on a 96-yard drive – first on a 60-yard fly route down the middle of the field and lastly on a 1-yard touchdown throw to Bruce Johnson that put Southern Miss up 7-3. It was Southern Miss’ fifth scoring drive of the season of at least 90 yards.

UCF jumped to a 3-0 lead early in the game when Cattoi booted a 48-yard field goal, the second-longest kick of his career. UCF drove to the 28 yard line, but set itself back with three false-start penalties. Godfrey had a 9-yard screen pass to Ronnie Weaver on third down to get the Knights in position for Cattoi’s boot from 48 yards out. Coincidentally, Cattoi’s career long kick of 50 yards came at Southern Miss in 2009.

By that, O’Leary means that they have to hit campus with the physical tools as far as size, strength and speed to compete at the major-college level. They have to learn on the fly, and be above making the mistakes that often befell young players. And, of course, while they can have the occasional bad plays, they aren’t allowed to have bad days in O’Leary’s system.

When UCF kicks off the 2011 season Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Bright House Networks Stadium against Charleston Southern no fewer than 11 freshmen are expected to see action at some point in the game. And including junior college transfers and position switches, some 17 players will be taking their first snaps at UCF at their current positions.

The fear of the unknown is what keeps football coaches up at night, but O’Leary is comfortable that UCF’s newcomers will be ready to play in the season-opener. The game plan, at times, will be distilled down to just the basics so that young players react without being bogged down with adjustments and new techniques. O’Leary is eager to see how that group reacts to the pressure of the first game, and he has already vowed that the group will be closely evaluated.

“They better be excited. I’m wanting to see how they play to the pace and speed of the game assignment-wise,” O’Leary said following the Knights’ practice on Thursday. “I want to see how they take care of their responsibilities offensively, defensively and on special teams.”

Leilon Willingham, the prized recruit of last fall’s new crop of talent, is the only true freshman expected to start for the Knights. The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder will open at outside linebacker after impressing coaches in training camp with his toughness, football smarts and nose for the football.

“He’s so excited and isn’t scared at all,” raved senior linebacker Josh Linam, who has been somewhat of a mentor to Willingham in camp. “We’ve still got to get in the film room together and make sure we’re doing our assignments. We’re going to mess up, but we understand that it’s all about the next play and running to the ball.”

UCF lost three starters at linebacker following last season, necessitating an injection of youth and newcomers this season. In addition to Willingham, freshmen Terrance Plummer and Troy Gray are expected to see time at linebacker.

It will also be the first game at linebacker for converted tailback Jonathan Davis and former şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Florida basketball player Ray Shipman. Davis opened last season as UCF’s starting tailback, but has returned to his high school roots as a playmaking linebacker.

“I was surprised at how fast both of them picked things up. They’ve both been in the film room and taking coaching and transferring it over to the field,” Linam said. “The big thing is being able to take it from the film room to the field and they’ve been able to do that.”

On the offensive side of the ball, UCF is in search of playmakers at wide receiver after losing the top three targets from last season. Quincy McDuffie and A.J. Guyton will be the top go-to receivers this season, but they are being pushed by a talented crop of freshmen wide outs.

J.J. Worton and Josh Reese red-shirted last season and made great strides in training camp this year. Worton has some of the best hands on the team, while Reese already has a chemistry with star quarterback Jeff Godfrey after being teammates in high school.

And another true freshman, Rannell Hall, has caught O’Leary’s eye with his playmaking abilities. Hall is affectionately referred to as “Speedy” by coaches and teammates because of his ability to run past people, but it’s his maturity that has impressed O’Leary.

“We’ve been rolling six receivers in there and I’ve been impressed with the young kid from Miami, Rannell Hall, with his speed. He has great concentration to the ball and he can go up and get it,” O’Leary said. “He keeps his poise and doesn’t panic when something’s not right. Those are the freshmen who can help you. He’s a fairly tough kid as far as contact speed. He’ll have a chance to play and help us. And Worton and Reese, I think they’ve had good preseasons and will get a chance. I’m comfortable with the rotation.”

O’Leary said one reason that the Knights are playing so many young players is because the team lost 19 seniors off last season’s C-USA championship and Liberty Bowl-winning squad. But another more significant reason is that the Knights are seeing the fruits of consecutive elite recruiting classes, and those players are more ready to play earlier.

And, of course, they are playing because they don’t act like freshmen.

“You’re looking to get athleticism on the field and this freshman class has that,” O’Leary said. “So it’s about us getting them enough experience now so that they can help us this year.”

It is the first C-USA award of either’s career. It marks the third time in UCF’s Conference USA history that Knights have won this weekly award for both offense and defense in the same week, joining Oct. 31, 2005 when Mike Sims-Walker (offense) and Augustus Ashley (defense) were honored after a 30-20 win over East Carolina and Nov. 26, 2007 when Kevin Smith (offense) and Cory Hogue (defense) each received accolades for their role in a 36-20 win over UTEP.

UCF has been no stranger to these awards in 2010. This marks the second week in a row that a Knight has won the offensive honor after tailback Ronnie Weaver claimed the prize last week. It is the team’s fourth defensive honor as Linam joins Kemal Ishmael (Oct. 11) and Darius Nall (Sept. 20 and Oct. 25) as 2010 recipients.

Godfrey completed 15-of-19 passes for 294 yards and a pair of touchdowns while also rushing for 105 yards and a touchdown, giving him 399 yards of total offense in the win, UCF’s 11th consecutive victory in conference play. Godfrey’s 243.66 passing efficiency on the night was a UCF FBS-era single game record and narrowly missed UCF’s overall benchmark. It was just the second 100-yard rushing game by a UCF quarterback in school history, a feat that Daunte Culpepper never accomplished. Godfrey’s rushing touchdown was his sixth of the year, topping Culpepper’s UCF freshman quarterback benchmark. His 105 rushing yards give him 499 on the season which is a UCF record for a quarterback in one season.

Houston is tough at home and Godfrey is the first true freshman quarterback to win a game there since Cincinnati’s Gino Guidugli in 2001. With his efforts against Houston (243.66) and ECU (232.97), Godfrey now has two of the Top 33 games in the nation this year for passing efficiency. Only Andy Dalton (TCU), Cam Newton (Auburn) and Denard Robinson (Michigan) also have two games this year with at least a 232.97 efficiency rating. Known for its defense the past few years, Godfrey has helped the Knights average 41.4 points per game in their first five C-USA outings, all wins.

Linam played nearly the whole game in both UCF’s base and nickel packages and was all over the field. The first-year starter at middle  linebacker led UCF with 17 tackles against the Cougars. Linam also added1.5 tackles for loss and broke up a pass for the Knights on Friday night. The 17 tackles were not only six better than UCF’s previous seasonal high as a team (11 by Josh Robinson last week) but more than doubled his previous career high of seven. The sum was the most by a Knight since Atari Bigby stopped 17 Hokies on Aug. 31, 2003 at Virginia Tech. It was also the fourth-best total in the C-USA this fall.

Linam entered 2010 with just 21 career tackles over his first two seasons as a Knight. He is now third on the team with 54 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss.

The Knights (7-2, 5-0 C-USA) will play host to Southern Miss (6-3, 4-2) on Saturday for Senior Day. The Golden Eagles received a pair of votes in the coaches poll today. Tickets are still available, including the special “UCF Fan Pack Built by Centex” which gives fans a very specially-priced $20 package of a game ticket in sections 217-219, a hot dog, a box of popcorn and a soft drink, a value of $35 for just $20. The special “UCF Fan Pack Built by Centex” can be purchased either online at UCFAthletics.com or over the phone at (407) 823-1000 while supplies last.

The game could also prove historic for the Knights as well. If UAB were to defeat East Carolina on Thursday night, then UCF would be able to clinch the C-USA East Division with a win over the Golden Eagles on Saturday at Bright House Networks Stadium.

Media Contact: Leigh Torbin; ltorbin@athletics.ucf.edu, mailto:ltorbin@athletics.ucf.edu; (407) 823-0994

FINAL SCORE

TEAM NOTES

INDIVIDUAL NOTES