The University of Central Florida faced the University of Colorado on Saturday in arguably the Knights’ most eagerly anticipated home game since joining the Big 12 Conference last season.Â
The game, featured Florida native and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders on the Buffaloes sideline, drew a national audience. The total turnout in the stadium was over 45,700 people. The game was featured on the Fox Sports Big Noon Kickoff pregame show, which started at 10 a.m.
UCF was fresh off a thrilling victory on the road against the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs on Sept. 14. The Knights trailed 21-7 at halftime but rallied in the second half with a last-minute touchdown from KJ Jefferson to Kobe Hudson securing the Knights a 35-34 win in their Big 12 season opener.
The Knights flashed their offensive ability against TCU, rushing for 289 yards and 230 passing for 230 yards. Powered by RJ Harvey, the Knights have rushed 1,127 yards this season. Harvey was named Doak Walker Award National Running Back of the Week on Tuesday, Sept. 17 after rushing for 180 yards and two touchdowns.
The Knights entered the Colorado contest at 3-0, having previously beaten Sam Houston State University and the University of New Hampshire. In their home opener against the UNH Wildcats, UCF picked up a 57-3 victory and followed that with a 45-14 win over the Bearkats.Â
The Big Noon Kickoff brought national attention to UCF and showed the nation what this the university brings to the conference. The Fox sports show first premiered Aug. 31, 2019, and acts as a pre-show for the correpodnign football game The show stars long-time sports broadcaster Rob Stone with co-hosts Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram II, Chris Fallica, Bruce Feldman, and Urban Meyer.Â
Leinart won the Heisman Trophy playing quarterback for the Southern California Trojans in 2004. He was a three-time All-American, making him the second player in school history to do so. Brady Quinn had an incredibly successful career with Notre Dame, finishing No. 1 all-time in school history for career passing attempts (1,602), completions (929), yards (11,762), touchdown passes (95), and 29 career wins. In 2007, Quinn was selected in the first round of the NFL draft by the Clevland Browns. He played seven seasons in the NFL with six different teams before retiring in 2013.
Just like his co-host Matt Leinart, Mark Ingram II is also a Heisman trophy recipient, winning in 2009. He helped bring the Alabama Crimson Tide back into the big names of college football. He was selected first round with the New Orleans Saints in 2011, where he had a satisfactory 12-season career in the NFL. As a long-time sports broadcaster, Chris “The Bear” Fallica is a multiple-time sports Emmy Winner. Most recently, The Bear was the 2022 circa Friday football invitational winner. New York Times’s bestseller and college football reporting veteran Bruce Feldman is another member of this star-studded cast.
Feldman has been working with Fox Sports since 2014 and before was a key player at ESPN.com and CBS. He has co-authored four best-selling books, with his most recent being The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. Urban Meyer has one of the best coaching records in all of college football history. Meyer was the 2004 winner of the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year trophy while coaching at the University of Utah. He also won the NCAA record of 30 straight conference games while coaching at Ohio State.
Not only did this show feature a star-studded cast of football legends, it will also welcomed DJ Khaled, who performed during the show.
The show started right at 10 a.m. on Memory Mall, with the fan gates opening at 8:30 a.m. Hundreds of students waited in line starting hours before the sun came up and thousands shortly packed the fan pit, resulting in what the announcer said was “the largest turnout in Big Noon history.”