Georgia will renew a rivalry with former Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary when it faces Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31. O'Leary, who coached the Yellow Jackets for the final three games of 1994 to 2001, has led the Knights to a 10-3 mark and the Conference USA championship this fall. Here are 10 facts about the UCF program.
1. NFL alumni: QB Daunte Culpepper helped Central Florida gain national prominence from 1995-98 before moving on to the NFL. He is the program's only first-round selection, but players such as WR Brandon Marshall and CB Asante Samuel have joined him in the NFL.
2. Big school: Central Florida, founded in 1968, is one of the country's largest universities with more than 56,000 students attending its main campus and 10 satellite campuses. The football team played its first game in 1979 and joined Division I-A in 1996.
3. Georgians on the roster: O'Leary knows the state of Georgia well. There are 15 Georgians on this year's team, including DE Bruce Miller (Woodstock), who holds the school's career sack mark with 34.
4. Bowl history: Central Florida has appeared in only three bowl games, losing all of them. They lost to Nevada in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl, Mississippi State in the 2007 Liberty Bowl and Rutgers in last year's St. Petersburg Bowl.
5. Playing the Bulldogs: Georgia won the only game the teams have played, taking a 24-23 win in 1999.
6. Home field: Central Florida played at the old Citrus Bowl for years, but moved into Bright House Networks Stadium in 2007. It seats 45,301 and is 13 miles northeast of downtown Orlando.
7. Young QB: Jeff Godfrey is a freshman from Miami who is 9-2 as a starter and has rushed for 546 yards and 10 TDs and completed 68.4 percent of his passes for 2,043 yards and 13 TDs with only six interceptions. He's eighth in the country in pass efficiency at 165.3.
8. On the ground: Ronnie Weaver has rushed for 11 TDs and Latavius Murray and Godfrey have 10 rushing scores each, making the Knights one of only two teams in the country with three players with at least 10 rushing TDs. Wisconsin is the other.
9. New to the polls: Central Florida cracked the Top 25 for the first time in history when the Knights were ranked No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches poll and No. 25 in the AP poll on Nov. 7. They are ranked 24th in this week's coaches poll and the first team receiving votes in the AP poll.
10. Weird trivia: The Knights become the first American college team to play a Russian team, when they defeated the Moscow Bears 42-6 in an exhibition on Oct. 3, 1992. The game filled a hole in the schedule left by a late cancellation.
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