The UCF Knights and the Penn State Nittany Lions have scheduled a 2013-14 home-and-home football series, the Orlando Sentinel has reported.
UCF will travel to face Penn State at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 14, 2013. The Knights will then host the Nittany Lions at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando on a date to be announced in 2014.
The 2013 game will be the third overall meeting between the schools. Penn State won both previous meetings in 2002 (27-24) and 2004 (37-13), but the victories were vacated due to NCAA sanctions.
In order to add the series with Penn State, UCF has dropped previously scheduled home games against Bethune-Cookman in 2013 and Jacksonville State in 2014.
UCF’s 2013 non-conference schedule also includes home games against Akron (Aug. 29) and South Carolina (Sept. 28) and a trip to Florida International (Sept. 7). In their first season in the Big East, the Knights will host Connecticut, Houston, Rutgers, and USF and travel to Louisville, Memphis, SMU, and Temple.
Penn State was scheduled to host Virginia on Sept. 14, 2013, so that game will obviously be moved to a different date or season. The Nittany Lions traveled to Virginia last season in the first game of the home-and-home series, so it’s not likely that the game will be canceled unless the Cavaliers buy out the contract.
The series with UCF tentatively completes Penn State’s non-conference schedule in 2014. The three other games currently on the schedule are home contests vs. Temple, Akron, and UMass.
Update (2/6/13)
The series has been officially announced by Penn State and UCF. The first game will be played at Penn State on Sept. 14, 2013. The second game will be played at UCF, possibly in the 2014 or 2015 seasons.
“We are excited to have UCF returning to the Penn State schedule,” said PSU director of athletics Dave Joyner. “We’re pleased that we can bring Bill O’Brien and (UCF coach) George O’Leary, one of his mentors, together on the playing field this fall. We are in discussions with Virginia about finding a date to play in Beaver Stadium.”
“It will be a great honor to play against UCF and Coach O’Leary,” Penn State Coach Bill O’Brien stated. “UCF is a good football team. Coach O’Leary has done a fantastic job at UCF and obviously he has meant a lot to my career. This will be a great game for our fans and I’m really looking forward to it.”
“We are very excited about this home-and-home series with Penn State,” UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury said. “It is our goal to put together a schedule that will be exciting and entertaining for UCF fans. Traveling to State College in 2013 will be a memorable experience, and we are certainly looking forward to hosting the Nittany Lions at Bright House Networks Stadium in the near future.”
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View Comments (32)
Won't the Rutgers game be a conference game in 2014?
No
Yes, or they won't play. Was in the process of editing that.
Or mayb the big east chains rutgers until the 27-month rule expires
Which would be 2015
It is refreshing to see a school drop D1AA games to play real non-conference games. UCF should be proud.
Proud they left Bethune-Cookman with a hole on their schedule?
Proud they will create a budget deficit at the school they agereed to play?
Proud they signed a contract and then broke it?
Yes they should be really really proud.
Robert, I agree with you. I wish the NCAA would eliminate cross division games at all levels. They do nothing for the quality of the product on the field. Definitely kudos to UCF.
No Div I-A school has the responsibility to prop up the athletic department of a Div I-AA school.
They are getting a big pay day to play Penn State... So dont be too quick to commend them. Dont get me wrong, I would do it too if I was UCF, but they are not doing it just for sake of a respectable schedule.
TB I do not know the contract between Penn State and UCF but normally when teams do a home & home no one gets a big payday like they do when teams such as Colorado doing a one game series at Ohio State or Washington State coming to Auburn with no return trip.
I was referring to TV money. I'm sure that after the year that Penn St had and with all of the rumors surrounding Obrien about leaving for the NFL will bring a lot of televised games for the Nittany Lions next season. UCF will have a better chance of getting some TV time with this deal than with Bethune Cookman and JVille St. Just saying...
If Virginia and Penn St have a contract to play in 2013, why would Virginia have to buy out of the contract. Seems to me, that would be Penn. State's responsibility. It's very late to be cancelling contracted games. Would put Virginia in a bind finding another opponent for 2013.
It should be Penn St. forking over cash to UVa.........unless this game is moved to 2015, etc......
John S.,
Agreed ... Penn St. would have to buy out Virginia. However, I don't see that happening. The game with UVA will be played at some point if not this year.
Also, don't be shocked if Penn St. cancels their game with Eastern Michigan on Sep. 7 and slides the UVA game to that date. Bill O'Brien wants to jettison the MAC games on the schedule this year and future years.
Agreed!
Mayb Bethune can play at uva
My boss is a BIG donor and told us a week ago they were going to move back the UVA game a few years to make room for UCF. One other thing he said was they wanted to bring in "name" teams and "destination" ie warm weather teams to keep recruits. They felt they could get a name team they could beat beat while the penalties are still in place. They are moving back the Kent State series a couple years to make way for a 2 for 1 with BYU The week before conference play opens with Indiana.
We still get a home game with them in 2015 This game is the neutral game at Heinz Field and he said it is NOT part of the season ticket package. State will have an allotment of 32,000 tickets and then have an option to buy if BYU doesn't sell out their tix. So, its like a bowl game for us, but in Sept and in the 'Burgh.
PNB,
You are probably right, but I was actually referring to TV money. I’m sure that after the year that Penn St had and with all of the rumors surrounding Obrien about leaving for the NFL will bring a lot of televised games for the Nittany Lions next season. UCF will have a better chance of getting some TV time with this deal than with Bethune Cookman and JVille St. Just saying…
You would be right about the TV money for UCF. Between the Big 10 Network, ESPN and ABC it is a good chance all of Penn State's game will be on TV
I had heard about dropping a MAC team to get BYU for Sept 28th. Should be a virtual home game for PSU, and the cheapest ticket supposed to be $50. You can get in cheaper at the Beav, but you also have to sit way higher up.
I guess my surprise is that we dropped an ACC team to add UCF???
UCF has been as good or better than Virginia for years (except 2011), UCF is a respectable opponent.
Sorry G of F, No disrespect intended. You make some valid points, it just surprised me that's all.
No worries, I'm not a UCF fan. I was simply pointing out its not a bad swap of games. Now if they had scheduled say UTSA I would fully agree with your response.