For UCF Knights Football, November's a Wild Card

Since 2002, the UCF Knights football squad has gone just over .500 in November with 16 wins and 13 losses. There seems to be no consistent rule of thumb for the eleventh month of the year; in 2003 and 2004. The black and gold were winless in their November games, however, in 2007, they went undefeated for the entire month.

At Marshall in November, since 2002, the Knights lead the series 2-1, and are 4-3 against the Thundering Herd since 2002.

In Conference USA play in 2009, the Knights are 2-2, fifth in the C-USA's East Division. Marshall is second in the East Division with a 3-1 overall C-USA record.

Overall in 2009, the Thundering Herd has only one more win than the Knights, making tonight's nationally televised matchup between the two teams crucial for bowl contention.

UCF has flip-flopped between wins and losses so far this year, but they are coming off of an extremely impressive 49-7 victory over fellow C-USA team Rice.

Last week's win has the entire Knights squad confident coming into a Sunday night home game, and it also proved that the offense, when they want to, has the power to dominate—a key that they cannot forget tonight.

Key players

Brett Hodges

When is Hodges not crucial to the successful outcome of a Knights game? Hodges has been doing an admirable job of harmonizing the offense, having completed thus far 95-for-165 passes for 1216 yards, and eight touchdowns.

UCF's Wide Receivers

WR's Rocky Ross, A.J. Guyton, Jamar Newsome, Brynn Harvey, and Kamar Aiken have a total of 15 touchdowns and over 1,400 yards.

As recently discussed in my Marshall preview article , if the Knights can pull out a win against Marshall tonight on ESPN, they will have an excellent chance of winning C-USA's East Division. Without the W, Marshall will most likely slip into first place in the East Division come the end of November.

The question is, will the Knights make the most out of month number eleven in 2009?