2005 UCF Golden Knights football team

rdf:langString 2005 UCF Golden Knights football team

rdf:langString Lance Thompson

rdf:langString Tim Salem

rdf:langString C-USA East Division champion

rdf:langString Conference USA

rdf:langString East

rdf:langString football

rdf:langString

rdf:langString UCF Golden Knights

rdf:langString L 48–49 OT vs Nevada

rdf:langString L 27–44 vs Tulsa

rdf:langString C-USA

rdf:langString The 2005 UCF Golden Knights football team represented the University of Central Florida in the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. Their head coach was George O'Leary, in his second season with the team. It was their first year as a member of Conference USA, playing in the East Division. After going 0–11 in 2004, their final season in the MAC, and O'Leary's first season as head coach, many did not expect much from UCF in its first C-USA season. They dropped their first two games (non-conference games), and stretched their active losing streak to 17 games - the longest active losing streak in the nation. The Golden Knights broke the streak by defeating Marshall for their first C-USA intra-conference victory. From there, UCF would go 7–1 in-conference (8–3 overall) and won the East Division. It was one of the best turnarounds in Division I-A history at the time (+8 wins), and they became the first team ever to go to a conference championship game the year after going winless. UCF hosted the inaugural C-USA Championship, but fell 44–27 to Tulsa. Despite the loss in the conference championship game, the Golden Knights earned their first bowl invitation, going to the Hawaii Bowl against Nevada, the Western Athletic Conference co-champions. UCF fought the Wolf Pack hard and pushed the game to overtime. They lost the game 49–48 after a missed extra point. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall was named co-MVP of the game.