(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
The University of Central Florida announced Thursday afternoon that it has added another game to their schedule. On Oct. 28, the Knights will host Austin Peay State University for UCF’s sixth home game.
The NCAA approved a waiver on Thursday that allowed Austin Peay to add another game to its schedule to go to Orlando and take on UCF. Adding the game will give UCF 11 games this season following the cancellation of two games because of Hurricane Irma.
“I can’t thank Oliver Luck and the staff at the NCAA enough for their help and understanding of our situation,” UCF athletic director Danny White said, per the team’s press release. “We greatly appreciate Austin Peay being willing to visit Spectrum Stadium. We’re thrilled for our student-athletes, who deserve every opportunity they can get to go out and compete. I know our fans will be excited about the opportunity to have another Saturday at Spectrum Stadium.”
The Knights will give up their bye week in order to get another game. UCF was originally scheduled to play the University of Maine on Sept. 30, but that game was cancelled so that UCF could reschedule its game against the University of Memphis for that date. To make up that lost game, the Knights scheduled Austin Peay. UCF head coach Scott Frost is glad that his team will be able to play another game.
“Our guys work really hard for the payoff of a finite number of games. Losing two of those was going to be tough for them,” Frost said, per the team’s press release. “I know our fans would have been disappointed as well. I give tons of credit to Danny White and our administration for the effort they put in to give our student-athletes another opportunity to go out and compete in front of our great fans.”
Austin Peay is so far 1-2 on the season, losing its first two games by a combined score of 57-24. That run included a 26-14 loss to the American Athletic Conference’s Cincinnati Bearcats in Week 1. In Week 3, the Governors defeated Morehead State University 69-13 for their first win of the season.
Before UCF faces Austin Peay, though, the Knights will go on the road to take on the University of Maryland this Saturday at 3 p.m.
For more on the Knights, as they prepare for Maryland and their first road game of the season, follow Ryan Weiss on Twitter at @NDR_RyanWeiss.
