COLLEGE FOOTBALL: UCF Knights to Host New Hampshire in Season Opener Thursday Night
By UCF Knights // August 28, 2024
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ORLANDO, FLORIDA – For the fourth consecutive year, UCF will open its season on a Thursday night at home, as the Knights welcome New Hampshire to Orlando on August 29.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. inside FBC Mortgage Stadium in the first meeting between the programs, and the contest will air live on ESPN+.
UCF is one of just two schools to open each of the last four seasons on a Thursday. The Knights join Minnesota as the nation’s lone teams to begin the season on Thursdays the last four years.
Now in his fourth season leading the Knights, UCF head coach Gus Malzahn is 3-0 in season openers with the Black and Gold and 11-1 overall in 12 seasons as a head coach. Malzahn was 7-1 at Auburn and 1-0 at Arkansas State, in addition to his mark with the Knights.
As a program, UCF owns a 34-10 all-time record in season openers. The Knights have their first game of the year in each of the last eight seasons.
UCF was the only Big 12 Conference newcomer to make a bowl game last season, as the Knights finished with six wins and earned an invitation to play in the Gasparilla Bowl. It marked a program-record eighth consecutive postseason bowl appearance, 11th in the last 12 seasons and the 15th in 19 years.
Malzahn has seen his teams qualify for postseason bowl games in all 12 years he has been a head coach, including seven appearances in New Year’s Day games.
Malzahn is one of four active coaches that has led his team to bowl eligibility in each of the past 12 seasons.
Entering the 2024 season, Malzahn owns 101 career wins, as he is the only coach to ever win 100 career games as a high school coach and 100 career games at the FBS level as a collegiate head coach. UCF is one of just 13 programs to earn bowl eligibility in each of the past eight seasons and the only team from the state of Florida.
The Knights head into 2024 with two new coordinators—offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Tim Harris Jr. and defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who won a National Championship alongside Malzahn in 2010 when the two coached at Auburn.
UCF returns eight players who received all-conference recognition on at least one all-league team from a publication in 2023, including leading rusher RJ Harvey, second-leading receiver Kobe Hudson and third-leading tackler Lee Hunter.
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