Following one of the best recruiting classes in school history last year, UCF football signed 19 players for the 2012 season, with 13 players hailing from the state of Florida.

With the Knights set to join the Big East in 2013, this year’s recruiting class filled a lot of needs with the addition of formidable size, speed and depth. While the names aren’t as high profile as last year, the Knights filled plenty of holes on the roster and prepared themselves for entering a BCS conference.

“We fulfilled our needs. We signed 19. It was an offensive class to start; we brought in lineman, quarterbacks and receivers. I think we brought in a lot of talented players. Defensively, we helped ourselves where we needed to help ourselves,” UCF head coach George O’Leary said.

Headlining the 2012 class was wide receivers Drico Johnson and Dareen Owi, and lineman Chester Brown.

Johnson is a 6’2″, 200-pound hometown receiver who was rated No. 87 nationally at the position by Rivals.com. The Agape Christian Academy product earned Class 2A Second-Team All-State honors last season after leading the Central Florida-area in receiving with 1,052 yards.

Johnson will provide solid height in the receiving corps after the Knights had to rely primarily on smaller receivers last season with Josh Reese (6’0″) and Quincy McDuffie (5’10″) being undersized.

Owi was highly recruited from Miami Norland High School and also brings in much-needed size to the receiving corps at 6’3″. He received interest from big-name schools, such as West Virginia, Wisconsin and Cincinnati after helping Miami Norland win the 2011 Class 5A State Championship. Owi could end up being the star of UCF’s 2012 class.

Brown is currently listed as both on offensive and defense lineman at 6’5″ and 340 pounds. The Samoa-native is ranked 48th nationally at his position by Scout.com and comes in with high praise from Coach O’Leary, who said the lineman told him he can bench press 445-pounds five times.

“I think hes a lineman…He has all the tools. He’s a big person and a great kid. When you watch him on film, he has great food speed, moves really well for a big guy. I could see him playing either side,” O’Leary said.

After losing out on the highly-touted Jonathan Wallace to Auburn after he originally verbally committed to UCF, the Knights still landed two quarterback prospects in Tyler Gabbert and Troy Green.

Gabbert, the brother of Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert, could immediately compete for the starting QB spot with incumbent starter Blake Bortles. The redshirt sophomore sat out last year after spending his freshman campaign at Missouri.

Green is a 6’1″ QB from New York, who was regarded as a top quarterback in the state. He garnered interest from Syracuse and Connecticut after throwing 34 touchdowns his senior season.

With the departure of Jeff Godfrey, the Knights will have an open spot under center that will see a lot of competition as the team enters Spring ball. Although Godfrey, who led the Knights to the 2010 Conference-USA Championship as a freshman, had a somewhat ugly ending with the team, O’Leary didn’t think that affected the program’s Miami-based recruiting.

“Miami Herald said we signed the best receiver out of Miami (Dareen Owi). I think a lot of that stuff with Jeff Godfrey was of his own doing,” O’Leary said. “I don’t think that was the feeling I got when I was running around Miami, talking to the coaches down there in high school.”

Other notable recruits are tight ends Cal Bloom and Blake Davis, as well as WR Taylor Oldham, cornerback Jacoby Glenn, and OT Colby Watson.

Bloom is a 6’5″ TE from Minnesota and a three-sport athlete. Davis is a 6’4″ TE from South Florida, who received interest from Georgia, Maryland, Miami, NC State and Boston College.

Oldham, a 6’1″, 195-pound receiver from Daytona Beach, was listed at No. 17 on Orlando Sentinel’s 2012 Central Florida Super60. He is a versatile player who Coach O’Leary compared to sophomore-to-be wide receiver J.J. Worton. Worton had a stellar redshirt freshman campaign, posting a team-high 531 yards and four touchdowns and was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team.

Glenn is a big-play defender who was rated the No. 34 overall prospect on Rivals.com Alabama Postseason Top 40 list and has a chance of replacing star cornerback Josh Robinson, who opted to enter the NFL draft.

Watson is a 6’5″, 310-pound offensive tackle who was noted as one of the most dominating prospects in Northern Florida. ESPN.com rates him as the No. 16 guard in the nation and No. 46 overall prospect in the Sunshine State.

Overall, UCF had a successful Signing Day with the depth and size they added to the roster. The Knights didn’t have one player who was under six-feet tall, and added three top lineman, who were all over 300 pounds.

“We wanted to get some range. We brought in more size at wide receiver, which I thought was needed. We brought in more range at the defensive back. The offensive line average was probably 6’5″ or 6’6″,” O’Leary said. “I thought we did a good job of securing the talent that we were looking for as far as from a height, speed and weight standpoint.”

The Knights will begin the 2012 season on Aug. 30 with a matchup against Akron at Bright House Networks Stadium.

AJ Allmendinger driving the Michael Shank Racing No. 60 Daytona Prototype car past the checkered flag winning the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona International Speedway on January 29, 2012 (Kurt Rivers/KnightNews.com)

Drivers of the No. 60 Daytona Prototype Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley celebrate in Victory Lane after winning the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona International Speedway on January 29, 2012 (Kurt Rivers/KnightNews.com)

The No. 60 Daytona Prototype Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley leads the pack during the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona International Speedway on January 29, 2012 (Kurt Rivers/KnightNews.com)

The Porsche GT3 took the top three spots in the GT class with the No. 44 Magnus Porsche 911 GT3 taking the win ahead of the No. 67 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 by 17 seconds with the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche 911 GT3 taking third place.

GT class winner No. 44 Magnus Porsche 911 GT3 during the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona International Speedway on January 28, 2012 (Kurt Rivers/KnightNews.com)

Drivers of the No. 44 Magnus Porsche 911 GT3 after winning the GT class in the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona International Speedway on January 28, 2012 (Kurt Rivers/KnightNews.com)

Australian guitarist Orianthi performing at the Sprint FANZONE during the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona International Speedway on January 28, 2012 (Kurt Rivers/KnightNews.com)

Marcus Jordan led the the Knights, who were in desperate need of a victory, with 17 points, 15 coming from three-point buckets, to go along with three assists, two rebounds and two steals.

The win was the 20^th-straight non-conference home victory for UCF.

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UCF head coach Donnie Jones was happy to get back on track.

“We’re just happy it’s over with, we pulled out the win there,” Jones said.

The Sailfish did all they could to keep up with the Knights in the first half, not trailing by more than 12, and pulling within five points, before the final three minutes of the half when UCF was able to pull away.

It was only a matter of time before the athleticism and talent gap between the Knights and their Division II opponent became apparent.  The Knights started a run that would continue through halftime and leave the Sailfish gasping for air.

UCF shot 47 percent compared to PBA’s 29 percent in the first half and went into the locker room with a safe 18-point lead at 43-25.

Just to put in perspective the amount of fun the Knights were having, Isaiah Sykes was shooting three’s, and Bobby Horodyski got playing time.

The Knights emerged from halftime on a mission to put away the Sailfish with a surge of three-point shots from Marcus Jordan, who tied a season high for three-point field goals. Thunderous dunks from Keith Clanton, who posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Kasey Wilson (15 points) kept the short-manned Knights’ fans rowdy throughout the contest.

Wilson had a career night and made the best of his 20 minutes of playing time, shooting seven-of-10 from the field and added five rebounds.

“We got a chance to play some young guys tonight, like Kasey Wilson. We’re really happy with him and to see his improvement,” said Jones.

The Knights saw playing time from the little used Horodyski, as well as freshman Wayne Martin and Rod Days. The Sailfish made an attempt to capitalize on UCF putting in their inexperienced players and went on a 16-0 run, turning a 77-49 point blowout into a 77-65 point ballgame.

Coach Jones saw enough and put the cavalry back in to seal the deal.

Marcus Hardy and Dante Valentine led the Sailfish in scoring with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

The UCF starters took care of business and finished out the game, winning 84-69 in front of a small, but very satisfied crowd.

Sykes finished with a solid 14 points, seven boards, five assists and two steals.

The Knights now have five days off to rest, and return to Conference-USA action for a road game against SMU, a venue the Knights have never won at. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. on Feb. 4.

It was the second straight loss overall for UCF (15-6, 5-3 C-USA), who now moves down to fifth place in the conference.

The Knights largest lead of the game was with four minutes remaining in the first half 31-19, but then Southern Miss ended the half with a 12-0 run, capped off by a buzzer-beating three pointer to end the half. This seemed to deflate the Knights as they went to the half.

“With four minutes to go there, we were up 12, and you gotta be able to hold those leads especially with a team that’s explosive,” UCF head coach Donnie Jones said. “They got a lot of guys that can score the basketball.”

“I think they got a lot of momentum off of that, but we still had the lead going into halftime,” UCF forward Keith Clanton said. “We should’ve kept our composure and played harder.”

Jones noticed that his team wasn’t the same in the second half after Southern Miss made that run to end the half.

“I thought we were in a pretty good rhythm, but we didn’t respond in the second half the way we needed to, and Southern Miss did,” Jones said. “There’s the reason why they are in first place by the way they played tonight.”

Southern Miss carried the momentum from the first half into the second half, pulling away to a 10-point lead midway through the half. UCF wasn’t able to get back in the game due to a lack of defensive rebounding. Southern Miss was able to get easy putbacks off of offensive rebounds, and they made their free-throws down the stretch when UCF had to foul.

USM (19-3, 6-1 C-USA) out-rebounded the Knights 35-33 and shot 19-for-27 at the free-throw line. The Golden Eagles had two players to share the scoring load. Forward Darnell Dodson scored 22 points with eight rebounds, and Neil Watson had 23 points with six assists.

UCF came into the contest ranked next to last in three-point percentage and shot just four-of-14 tonight from distance. Leading the team was Clanton, who finished with 21 points on nine-of-12 shooting with six rebounds. Marcus Jordan’s struggles continued tonight. He finished with 11 points on four-of-11 shooting.

The Knights will have another chance to bounce back from this loss and get right back into action on Monday night as they will face Palm Beach Atlantic University at the UCF Arena at 7 p.m.

UCF ANNOUNCES 2012 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Knights to host Missouri, FIU at Bright House Networks Stadium.

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) – The 2012 UCF Football schedule has been announced and fans are in store for one of the most exciting seasons in school history. Several must-see games appear on the schedule including Missouri, the very first SEC opponent to take on UCF in Orlando, as well as a trip to hallowed football grounds when the Knights take on Ohio State at the “Horseshoe.”

UCF opens the 2012 season on the road at Akron, Thursday, Aug. 30, with a trip back up to the Buckeye State the following weekend to face Ohio State, Saturday, Sept. 8. The Knights will then open Bright House Networks Stadium for the 2012 home-opener on Saturday, Sept. 15, vs. state-rival FIU. After a bye week, the Missouri Tigers travel to Orlando for a highly-anticipated showdown at the Bright House on Saturday, Sept. 29.

The Conference USA schedule is set to open in Orlando in 2012 with back-to-back home games vs. C-USA East Division rivals East Carolina (Oct. 6) and Southern Miss (Oct. 13). The Knights also will host C-USA West Division power SMU (Nov. 3) and East Division foe UAB (Nov. 24) in the regular-season finale. C-USA road games include: Memphis (Oct. 20), Marshall (Oct. 27), UTEP (Nov. 10) and Tulsa (Nov. 17).

Homecoming 2012 is tentatively slated for the Nov. 3 game against SMU, while the home-opener on Sept. 15 vs. FIU will be the annual Family Weekend and College Open House events across the UCF campus.

2012 UCF Football Schedule

Aug. 30 – at Akron (Thurs.)

Sept. 8 – at Ohio State

Sept. 15 – Florida International (Family Weekend/College Open House)

Sept. 29 – Missouri

Oct. 6 – East Carolina*

Oct. 13 – Southern Miss*

Oct. 20 – at Memphis*

Oct. 27 – at Marshall*

Nov. 3 – SMU*

Nov. 10 – at UTEP*

Nov. 17 – at Tulsa*

Nov. 24 – UAB*

*Conference USA game.

– Game times are TBD.

– All C-USA game dates are subject to change during the upcoming television selection process.

The Conference USA league office will release television schedule information at a later date. It is not uncommon for presently scheduled C-USA games to change dates to accommodate a national television appearance. Please continue to check UCFAthletics.com for updated football schedule information prior to making game day plans. It will be the final season for the Black and Gold in C-USA before UCF heads to the BIG EAST in 2013-14.

The UCF Athletics Ticket Office is currently collecting season tickets deposits. Renewal information and invoices are scheduled for mailing on Feb. 8. Season tickets for 2012 also will go on-sale to the general public on Feb. 8. For more information regarding the 2012 UCF Football season, please call(407) 823-1000 or visit UCFAthletics.com.

Ticket office staff will be on-site at the UCF Arena, Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the fan-favorite UCF Football Signing Day Show. The event is open to public and free for all fans to attend.  Doors to the UCF Arena will open at 5 p.m. with the show getting underway starting at 6 p.m.

Schedule Notes:

• ·         With Missouri (SEC) and Ohio State (Big 10) on the 2012 schedule, UCF has now played at least two schools from automatic-qualifying BCS conferences in 16 of 17 seasons since moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1996.
• ·         With Missouri coming to Bright House Networks Stadium in 2012, the Knights will have hosted at least one school from an AQ conference at home since the 2006 season and eight of nine seasons under head coach George O’Leary.
• ·         All four 2012 non-conference opponents hail from FBS conferences: Missouri (SEC), Ohio State (Big 10), Akron (MAC) and FIU (Sun Belt).
• ·         The 2012 campaign will be the first in which UCF opens up on the road since 2007, when it defeated NC State, 25-23. That also was the last time all four of the Knights’ non-conference games were against FBS opponents.

Akron Zips – AWAY – Thursday, Aug. 30

UCF has not faced Akron since 2004, when the Zips pulled out a 26-21 MAC win at the Florida Citrus Bowl in what was Jim Fleming’s first year as Akron’s defensive coordinator. Fleming worked for the Zips from 2004-09, spent a year at Kent State in 2010 and was hired at UCF in December 2011 as the defensive coordinator. Akron, which was 1-11 in 2011, holds a 5-2 all-time lead in the series with UCF, and Aug. 30 will mark the first game for Akron’s new head coach Terry Bowden. Having served as head coach at Auburn from 1993-98, Bowden boasted a 47-17-1 record during his career with the Tigers.

Ohio State Buckeyes – AWAY – Sept. 8

The Knights return the following week to the Buckeye State to battle Ohio State for the first time in school history, and they have a 0-6 record against current Big Ten programs (including a 1997 trip to Nebraska). The seven-time national champion Buckeyes finished 2011 with top-25 victories against Wisconsin and Illinois en route to a berth in the Gator Bowl. OSU will be under first-year head coach Urban Meyer, who began his head coaching career in Ohio at Bowling Green from 2001-02. He then went on to lead Utah from 2003-04 before guiding Florida to two national championships in 2006 and 2008.

FIU Panthers – HOME – Sept. 15

FIU will be making the return journey to Orlando after UCF visited Miami in 2011, falling to the Panthers, 17-10, in what was the two schools’ first meeting. FIU completed last year with an 8-5 record, including a 3-0 mark to end the regular season, and earned a spot in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.

Missouri Tigers – HOME – Sept. 29

Wrapping up 2011 on a four-game winning streak, Missouri was 8-5 with a 41-24 victory over North Carolina in the Independence Bowl. Running back Henry Josey was 12th in the nation with 116.80 yards per game as a sophomore, while classmate James Franklin started all 13 games under center, throwing 21 touchdowns and averaging 220.4 passing yards per game. Meanwhile, the Tigers ranked 12th in the FBS in total offense, and the defense registered 27 sacks. It will be the first meeting between UCF and Missouri.

East Carolina Pirates – HOME – Oct. 6

Led by C-USA Freshman of the Year in linebacker Jeremy Grove, East Carolina went 5-7 overall and 4-4 in C-USA. Grove was 10th in the country in tackles per game, however ECU will lose quarterback Dominique Davis who was second in the league in total offense during his senior season. The Pirates won a close 38-31 decision over UCF in Greenville last year to take a 9-2 series lead.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles – HOME – Oct. 13

Finishing as high as No. 19 in the 2011 national rankings, Southern Miss topped then-undefeated Houston for the C-USA title and also took down Nevada in the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl. The Golden Eagles were 12-2 on the year (6-2 in the league), but they also lose their starting signal-caller as Austin Davis was third in C-USA in total offense as a senior. In the two teams’ last get together, Southern Miss edged UCF in dramatic fashion, 30-29, in Hattiesburg and carries a 6-1 advantage in the series.

Memphis Tigers – AWAY – Oct. 20

Memphis went 2-10 in 2011 with its lone C-USA victory coming against Tulane, and that record also includes a 41-0 loss to UCF in Orlando as the Knights are 7-1 all-time vs. the Tigers and have won seven-straight meetings. Memphis was seventh in the FBS in turnover margin, and suffered three losses by just seven points or less.

Marshall Thundering Herd – AWAY – Oct. 27

The Thundering Herd closed out their season with a 20-10 win against FIU in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, posting a 7-6 overall record and a 5-3 C-USA mark. Defensive end Vinny Curry will be missed on the Marshall defense, as he grabbed C-USA Defensive Player of the Year honors in his final year in Huntington. Freshman quarterback Rakeem Cato threw for 15 touchdowns, but had just 87 passing yards in UCF’s 16-6 win during a rainstorm last year. The Knights have a seven-game winning streak in the series, which they lead 7-3.

SMU Mustangs – HOME – Nov. 3

Thanks to a 28-6 thumping of Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl, SMU was able to cap off the 2011 campaign with an 8-5 record (5-3 in the league standings). Running back Zach Line was seventh in the FBS with 122.40 rushing yards per game, and has 34 rushing touchdowns in three seasons in Dallas. On defense, SMU was second behind only UCF in rushing and total defense in C-USA. The Mustangs registered a 38-17 win over UCF in Texas last season, but the Knights boast a 3-1 record in the series.

UTEP Miners – AWAY – Nov. 10

Just one win shy of earning a bowl berth, UTEP was 5-7 with a 2-6 C-USA record in 2011. Special teams shined for the Miners as they were sixth in the nation in net punting and fourth in kickoff returns. UTEP also was fifth in C-USA with 26.6 points per game. The 2012 meeting between the Knights and the Miners will be UCF’s first trip to El Paso since 2008, and the Black and Gold carries a 2-1 advantage in the series.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane – AWAY – Nov. 17

Tulsa sported an 8-5 overall record in 2011 highlighted by a 7-1 mark in C-USA. The Golden Hurricane suffered a close 24-21 loss to BYU in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. Senior quarterback G.J. Kinne was third in the league in passing efficiency as he helped Tulsa place third in C-USA in scoring offense and total offense. UCF fell in last year’s edition, 24-17, as the Golden Hurricane are 3-2 all-time vs. the Knights.

UAB Blazers – HOME – Nov. 24

All of UAB’s victories in 2011 came during league play as it defeated UCF, Memphis and Southern Miss to go 3-12 overall. It finished the campaign with a 2-1 record in its final three outings. The Blazers’ victory over the Knights in Birmingham moved the series record in favor of UCF to 7-2.

The Magic blew a 21-point halftime lead, the largest blown halftime lead in franchise history, and the shorthanded Celtics overcame the absences of Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen to shock Orlando, 91-83, at the Amway Center Thursday night.

“I think some things were deflating and we didn’t handle those well. We had a loss of composure, and it’s a very difficult loss to take,” Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We’ve got 48 games left to go and we need to get a lot better. We’re embarrassed as much tonight as we were the other night, but that’s not productive…We’ve got to get to where we can just play the game.”

Orlando appeared to be cruising to victory after a dominating first half, in which the Magic held a large advantage in points in the paint (26-6), second- chance points (13-4) and free throw attempts (17-7), as well as leading the turnover battle (10-3) and outrebounding (28-15) the Celtics in the opening half.

“It almost defies logic that we would score 58 points in the first half with Dwight playing six minutes, and then with Dwight playing the whole second half we can’t score,” Van Gundy said.

Then, the second half happened.

Boston, who won its third straight game and four of the last five, came alive in the second half, outscoring the Magic 54-25 and limiting them to eight-of-25 (23 percent) shooting from the floor. With the Celtics defense clamping down, Orlando’s offense absolutely sputtered, even going a period of 18 minutes and 10 seconds without making a jump shot.

It got even worse for the Magic in the fourth quarter, when they were limited to eight points on a woeful two-of-17 shooting from the floor, which allowed Boston to go on a 15-1 run and take a 79-76 lead- their first lead since the first quarter of the game.

The Magic looked like a completely different team in the final half, where a lack of ball movement, poor shot selections and shut down Celtics defense translated into frustration.

With less than four minutes left in regulation and the game already spiraling out of control for the Magic, both Ryan Anderson and Dwight Howard were hit with technical fouls within 21 seconds of each other. From there, it was clear the Celtics had smelled blood.

“We lost composure. We didn’t do what we needed to do when it was time to get down and play,” former Celtics and current Magic forward Glen Davis said. “You could see things unravel. And Boston smelled blood, they smelled pressure, and we didn’t do a good job of countering.”

Dwight Howard, who became the Magic’s all-time leading scorer last Tuesday at Indiana, posted a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds, but was limited to just six shots in the second half.

“We thought it was going to be easy after the first two quarters. We can’t allow that. We have to change,” Howard said.

Jason Richardson contributed 13 points, while Ryan Anderson added 12 points- all in the first half, and Jameer Nelson chipped in 11 points, five assists and five rebounds for the Magic. Hedo Turkoglu had a solid game with 10 points, seven assists and five boards.

It was a puzzling game for the Magic, who took control on both sides of the ball in the first half and seemed poised to win against a shorthanded Celtics team. Orlando shut down Paul Pierce in the first half, limiting the All-Star to five points and no field goals. Pierce didn’t have his first field goal until 20 seconds into the third quarter.

However, Pierce was able to take control in the second half, scoring 19 points, as well as dishing out seven assists and grabbing five rebounds. He finished with 24 points, 10 assists and six rebounds on the night.

“We picked up our defense. We picked up our ball pressure. We played a little bit more physical,” Pierce said. “In the first half, you saw us get out-hustled, they were getting the offensive rebounds…We said we were going to stick with it.”

Rookie E’Twuan Moore came up big for Boston, going a perfect four-of-four from the three-point line to finish with 16 points. Kevin Garnett and Mickael Pietrus added 12 points a piece, and former Magic forward Brandon Bass chipped in 10 points and five boards.

The Celtics looked like the championship contender they have been over the past four years with the fight and poise they showed in overcoming a 27-point deficit on the road.

Just a week ago, there were murmurs of Boston potentially breaking up the core of Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen after five straight losses earlier this month. Since the Celtics loss to Oklahoma City on the Jan. 16, Boston has won four of five games and moved into the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference.

Now, the Magic find themselves searching for answers after two devastating defeats at the hands of the Celtics. Orlando has the benefit of having a relatively easy schedule upcoming, with contests against Indiana, Washington and Cleveland to regain their confidence.

The Magic will look to rebound Friday against the New Orleans Hornets on the road. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

Enter Brian Tewes, who happened to be granted the special privilege of flaunting the inaugural Stewie head in the student section of last Wednesday’s UCF men’s basketball game against Memphis. The UCF Athletics section has been handing out various “big head” posters of Knights basketball players, as well as cartoon characters and celebrities during basketball games.

The only problem was Tewes and the Stewie head poster were nowhere to be found after the postgame madness.

“I stormed the court like everyone else and took the cut out with me similar to how the other students who were given them did,” said Tewes.  “Afterwards, I didn’t see who gave it to me so I went home with It and hung it on my wall.”

UCF premiered five cut out heads, featuring Stewie, Darth Vader, Justin Bieber, The Most Interesting Man in the World, and Daniel Tosh.  During the circus that followed, collecting the heads was not easy.

“We went through the crowd to collect them and realized that Stewie was missing,” said Assistant Director of Fan Development Samantha Nemeroff.  “We thought it wasn’t going to be found, but by chance, our intern’s friend was taking pictures for Valencia’s newspaper and had taken enough of the crowd for us to spot him.”

Nemeroff and the UCF marketing team decided to make the search for the Stewie head fun by making a themed wanted poster of Tewes with a Wild West flair.  It featured several shots of him throughout the game with the Stewie head and offered a reward for its safe return.

Not even 15 minutes after the pictures were posted, with the help of UCF Nation, the culprit was found.  Dan Antonino, or “Knight Fan Dan”, is a friend of Tewes and spotted the picture of him as soon as it was posted on Facebook.

“I called him as soon as I saw it and posted a link to his Facebook of the picture,” said Antonino.  “Seeking the prize, I went with Brian to return the head and was awarded three t-shirts.”

The cut out heads of celebrities and cartoon characters was inspired by an Indiana Hoosiers basketball game that the UCF marketing team had watched.  The cut out heads are traditionally used to distract the opposing team during free throws and are a way of making the crowd even more raucous.

“Our goal is to have those five heads showcased at every game, but we encourage students to make their own as well,” said Nemeroff.

The marketing team is calling for even more crowd participation with the cut out heads and will look to collect them prior to the games completion to ensure this mishap does not happen again.  As for Tewes, he is happy things have returned to normal as his time as a UCF outlaw was short, but exciting.

“I couldn’t believe they went to such an extent,” said Tewes.  “It was very creative getting the poster out there, and this was definitely one of my best college moments so far.”

UCF will play their first home game since the Memphis thriller Saturday against Southern Miss at 7 p.m., where Stewie and the gang will make their triumphant return.  Hopefully this time he’ll make it home without any trouble.

Following four straight games that have been decided to seven points or less, including two games that have been decided by a point, the Knights’ (15-5, 5-2 C-USA) fell short to Tulsa, 66-61, at the Donald Reynolds Center in Oklahoma Wednesday night.

Even with all the dramatic and late-game nail biters that UCF has taken part in this season, Wednesday’s contest against the Golden Hurricane (12-9, 5-2 C-USA) may have been the oddest finish this season.

With Tulsa holding a consistent lead in a largely back-and-forth second half,  UCF was able to pull within three points after a pair of Marcus Jordan free throws.

With the Knights down three points and 27.6 seconds left in regulation, A.J. Rompza missed a potentially game-tying three-pointer, but Keith Clanton was able to grab the offensive rebound, dish it to Marcus Jordan, who banked a lay-up and appeared to have been fouled for the And-1, however the refs called on offensive foul on the junior guard.

Jordan, who struggled all night long from the field, was noticeably shocked by the call and subsequently got hit with a technical foul, ultimately draining the gas from the Knights and the game unraveled from there.

Less than a minute later, Clanton was also slapped with a technical foul for arguing a call, and UCF’s night ended in frustration.

“We had an opportunity (to win),” UCF head coach Donnie Jones said in a press release from UCFAthletics.com. “We need to keep our composure. We need to be able to handle that.”

UCF had plenty of chances to seize control, but were doomed by second chance points, missed rebounds and sloppy play.

With less than two minutes remaining, Steven Idlet missed two free throws that  could have given Tulsa a three-point lead. However, Joe Richard tipped in the miss and gave Tulsa a 59-56 lead. Less than a minute later, Idlet again missed a free throw, but Jordan Clarkson gave the Golden Hurricanes another offensive rebound.

Although late-game mistakes doomed the Knights, they didn’t play their best throughout the game. UCF started the game with a barrage of poor shooting, finishing the first half at 35 percent from the field only because of a late 12-4 run to finish the half.

They also turned the ball over 16 times in the game, including two crucial late-game turnovers.

Jordan shot just one-of-eight from the field in the game, finishing with just seven points in another poor shooting effort from the junior.

Clanton finished with 15 points and 11 boards for his seventh double-double of the season, but had four turnovers in the contest. Rompza chipped in 11 points, while Tristan Spurlock added 10 points and seven rebounds.

UCF was able to outrebound Tulsa 34-26, but couldn’t get the boards when they mattered most.

Scottie Haralson finished with 18 points on six-of-eight three-point shooting to lead all scorers. Haralson had nailed five shots from beyond the arc in the fist half alone.

With the loss, UCF fell out of first place in Conference-USA after Memphis and Southern Miss both picked up wins Wednesday night.

The Knights will have to put this one behind them quickly as they face a critical matchup against the Golden Eagles Saturday night at the UCF Arena.