The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • C1

Orlando Sentinel: PRODUCT: OS DESK: SPT DATE: 12-04-2005 EDITION: FLA ZONE: FLA PAGE: C1.0 DEADLINE: 23.0 OP: rsimmons COMPOSETIME: 00.24 CMYK Magic fall to Bucks by 20, C3 Saints face uncertain future, C6 Sports Orlando Sentinel OrlandoSentinel.com Sunday, December 4, 2005 Section Aloha, Knights UCF loses C-USA title but wins Hawaii Bowl trip 11 GARY W. GREENORLANDO SENTINEL UCF's advancement to the C-USA Championship Game helped attract a home-record crowd of 51,978 fans, including Dan Beck. By ALAN SCHMADTKE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER A shoe lace. A yard line. A brush from a safety.

So close. Two fumbles. Two interceptions. Zero points in the second half. So far.

And really far: UCF lost a tale of two halves Saturday, falling to Tulsa 44-27 in the inaugural Conference USA Championship Game, but it secured the program's first bowl bid. The Golden Knights will be in Hawaii for the holidays, having accepted a bid to the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl, likely against Nevada. The school will announce the invitation this afternoon. "Are you serious?" asked sophomore defensive tackle Keith Shologan.

"How does that work? We lose, and we go to Hawaii? That's pretty cool." That's about the best way to describe Saturday from a UCF perspective. Because the Knights (8-4) were stung by Tulsa's tenacity and stunned by their own inability to answer in the second half. They were soothed somewhat by a record 51,978 fans PLEASE SEE UCF, C1 1 'Are you serious? How does that work? We lose, and we go to Hawaii? Thafs pretty cooV KEITH SHOLOGAN, SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE TACKLE Big-game loss will help build Knights The school-record crowd sat stunned. Sad. Silent.

All those hand-made placards Miracle Season! Moffettfor Heisman! Give me Liberty (Bowl) or Give Me Death! had been crumpled up and tossed aside. One disgusted fan threw a beer on the field after Tulsa scored with six minutes left to go, up by two touchdowns. UCF found out Saturday what happens when you take that monumental step of playing big games in front of big crowds for the big prize. The bigger the game, the harder the fall. "Losing a championship, man, this is the worst feeling in the world," UCF freshman corner-back Joe Burnett said after Tulsa crushed the Knights 44-27 Satur- Mike BIANCHI SENTINEL COLUMNIST day in the inaugural Conference USA championship game.

"It's a good sign that these guys aren't laughing and slapping hands," UCF Coach George O'Leary said, standing in the middle of a somber locker room. "Losing a championship game is supposed to hurt." PLEASE SEE BIANCHI, CIO GARY W. GREENORLANDO SENTINEL Golden Knights senior wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who finished with 7 receptions for 109 yards, watches the final minutes in frustration. Upset puts FSU in Orange The Seminoles snap their slump in a big way, beating Virginia Tech in the ACC title game. OTHER KEY GAMES SEC: Georgia won its 2nd conference championship in 4 years with an easy 34-14 victory over third-ranked LSU.

BIG 1 2: Second-ranked Texas embarrassed Colo- rado 70-3 in the Big 1 2 championship game. PAC-10: Reggie Bush and top-ranked Southern Cal overpowering cross-town rival UCLA 66-1 9. I Bowl projections and results from other games, C13 have predicted before the awful month of November. Back when this team was thought to have an explosive freshman quarterback, a punishing defense and a spot among the five best teams in the country. But because things had been going so horribly of late, this win registers not as predictable, but as a shocking upset of an unran- PLEASESEE ACC, CI 2 Bowden's son at Clemson, hadn't embarrassed itself on its biggest rival's home field in a loss so ugly fans started turning on their legend of a head coach.

This, a 27-22 Seminoles win over Virginia Tech in the inaugural ACC Championship Game, is exactly what everyone would By EMILY BADGER SENTINEL STAFF WRITER JACKSONVILLE It was almost as if the last month had never happened. As if Florida State hadn't lost at home on senior day to North Carolina State, hadn't been smoked by Bobby STEVE CANNONTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS FSU's Willie Reid races to an 83-yard touchdown on a punt return in the 3rd quarter of the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night. COLORSTRIP: I.