The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • C3

Orlando Sentinel: PRODUCT: OS DESK: SPT DATE: 11-13-2005 EDITION: FLA ZONE: FLA PAGE: C3.0 DEADLINE: 22.21 OP: rsimmons COMPOSETIME: 23.04 CMYK SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2005 C3 Orlando Sentinel UCF THE BUZZ $65 million for stadium is high estimate, Orsini says When UCF in January first acknowledged a renewed idea to build an on-campus football stadium, the cost was between $40 million and $45 million. More recently, costs were estimated at $50 million. Yet when UCF's Board of Trustees added the stadium to the school's master plan and approved its construction last week, the budgeted cost was $65 million. UCF Athletic Director Steve Orsini hopes never to see that cost. "That's a high estimate.

We have high and low estimates, and that's the high end," Orsini said. "They trustees OK seeing that at this stage. Now what they've told us is, get us the real cost." A stadium advisory committee Orsini chairs hopes to present a business plan to trustees next month. Nothing magic about it It was fitting for the locale Birmingham, Ala. and UCF defensive coordinator Lance Thompson knew it.

After all, Thompson is a former Alabama assistant. "Bear Bryant had a saying," Thompson said in UCF's winning locker room. 'Football's about players making plays. It's not There ain't no magic in ball." UAB converted seven of its first 1 2 times on third down but missed its final four tries. Moffett's streak snapped QB Steven Moffett's streak of 1 2 games with a touchdown pass, the third-longest in school history, ended at UAB.

The closest Moffett got to throwing into the end zone came on UCF's two-point conversion early in the fourth quarter. "I'm not worried about that," said Moffett, who was 1 5-for-24 passing for 1 83 yards. "We're about winning. Everyone here just wants to find ways to win." More than football UCF President John Hitt used the trip to Birmingham, to show the possibilities for the medical school he wants for UCF. Hitt, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty were among a small group that took a four-hour tour Friday of UAB's vaunted medical school.

Dyer and Crotty returned to Orlando on Friday. Hitt stayed for Saturday's game. Etc. UCF may be on C-USA's postseason radar, but the Knights weren't a hot commodity Saturday: There were no bowl reps at the game. UCF's streak of games with an interception reached eight.

The defense has 15 interceptions over the past eight games. On the other hand, UCF also has a streak of two for games giving up long scoring passes. UAB's Reggie Lindsey's was 70 yards and followed ones of 54 and 76 yards by Houston last week KMatt Prater's four field goals and one extra point moved him to No. 4 in the school's career scoring list (231 points), ahead of RB Willie English (228) and behind Ed O'Brien (263) Aaron Home recorded his two longest punts of the season, 62 and 60 yards UAB QB Darrell Hackney, a senior, has 9,400 career yards, passing former Tulane QB Patrick Ramsey ALAN SCHMADTKE RAINIER EHRHARDTTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS UCF tight end Antonio Eldemire weaves past UAB's Julius Wainwright in the first half of Saturday's Conference USA matchup in Birmingham. Another good Knight Now they're making it difficult on anyone who wants to see them win.

Prater's first field goal, from 47 yards, came on the final play of the first half and allowed UCF to take a 10-7 lead to the locker room. But midway through the third period, the Knights were getting gashed and UAB led 2 1-10. Instead of panicking, the 11-point deficit triggered a memory. Two weeks earlier UCF had seen a lead dissipate in the third quarter at East Carolina. There, its 17-3 lead became a 20- 17 fourth-quarter deficit.

On this day, UCF got aggressive and took from UAB (4-5, 2-4 C-USA East). Travonti Johnson's interception at mid-field, Jason Peters' resulting 14-yard touchdown run and Steven Moffett's two-point pass to Mike Walker was where the game swung. The game was suddenly tied 21- 21, and just as suddenly Glenroy Watkins dove on a snap fumbled by Darrell Hackney. That takeaway and another when Joe Burnett stepped in front of a Hackney pass, led to two more field goals by Prater. "We're doing a lot of good things at the right time," defensive tackle Frisner Nelson said.

"We have our lulls, but we come back, too." With this team, such a statement covers a lot of ground. Alan Schmadtke can be reached at aschmadtkeorlandosentinel.com. goals. That's a team game right there." UCF QB Steven Moffett. ALAN SCHMADTKE With one regular-season game remaining, UCF is 7-3 after beating UAB.

By ALAN SCHMADTKE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER BIRMINGHAM, Ala. "He'sbaaaaaack!" Amid the elated din of UCF's locker room came John Brown's crow at Matt Prater. Prater is back, returning from a season-long funk Saturday to help UCF bite off a piece of Conference USA history. Prater kicked four field goals, and the Golden Knights forced four late turnovers to beat UAB 27-21 and stay the course in C-USA's Eastern division. A four-year starter, Prater this season has moved in and out of a kicking rotation with Brown because of inaccuracies on the field and a suspension (for missing a meeting).

He may have changed all that before 1 2, 1 99 at Legion Field. "I went back and watched film from last year and the year before, then compared it to this year to see if I'd changed anything," said Prater, who was 7-for-14 kicking field goals in 2005 and was 4-for-5 on Saturday. "I saw a couple things I needed to correct, so I did. It helped." The performance was an obvious relief for a team robbed of energy by field goal misses throughout the year. Brown's Oct.

1 game-winning field goal at Louisiana-Lafayette snapped UCF's long losing streak on the road, but since then, Prater and Brown both have been hot and cold. "The strange thing about this season for Matt is, we know how good he is," center Cedric Gagne-Marcoux said. "We just want him to kick like we know like he knows he can." Now UCF (7-3, 6-1 C-USA East) has another vignette for its remarkable football chapter. The 11 -point comeback was their largest in a season getting crowded with similar feats. Saturday's triumph assured UCF of overtaking Louisville as C-USA's best turnaround team.

Louisville went from 1-10 in 1997 to 7-5 a year later, a six-game improvement. UCF's is at seven with one game left. Check that: At least one game left. After Saturday, a conference title game and bowl game are more than possible. "It's a great season for UCF, the student body, the fan base and the players," UCF Coach George O'Leary said, hinting that a seventh victory will cover a lot of mileage with bowl directors.

"I'm happy the players are able to experience this success. They've been through a lot with last year, and they put in a lot of hard work to get to this point." Defense for UCF rattles QB By PAUL BEAUDRY SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Defensive end Glenroy Watkins knew if UCF's defense got enough pressure on UAB quarterback Dar-rell Hackney, then he could crack. That's not an easy assessment of the fourth-leading passer in Conference-USA history. But it proved accurate.

A series after UCF's Tra-vonti Johnson picked a Hackney pass that turned into the tying touchdown, Watkins came off the blitz and picked up a gift from the UAB quarterback a loose ball at UAB's 41. Coupled with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play, the turnover gave the Golden Knights the ball at the Blazers' 26 and, six plays later, a 24- 21 lead on Matt Prater's 25- yard field goal. "From the game films I've seen on him, it looked like he was off tonight and I think that was from the pressure," Watkins said. "From the games we've seen, he hasn't got that much pressure. Coach said to bring the pressure and that's what we did." In most games, it would be tough to say that a quarterback hitting 20-of-39 passes for 240 yards didn't respond.

"My three turnovers hurt us," said Hackney, who was intercepted twice and had one of the Blazers' two lost fumbles all in the fourth quarter. "I take the blame for that because the ball is in my hands and you have to deliver. I didn't deliver tonight. I was rushing my throws and worrying about my protection." The loss was difficult for the Blazers to absorb. They led 21-13 heading into the final quarter.

But the team that had eight turnovers in the first eight games had four in the last 14 minutes on Saturday. RECAP UCF stamped itself as a program making the biggest one-season turnaround in Conference USA history, rallying to beat UAB 27-21 at Legion Field. The Golden Knights (7-3, 6-1 C-USA East) are assured of at least a seven-game turnaround from last year's 0-1 1 season. UAB hadonlyeight turnovers in eight previous games, but the Blazers (4-5, 2-4) had four on Saturday all in the decisive fourth quarter. UCF was out-gained 430 yards to 358 but came backfroma21-10deficit.

The turning point Travonti Johnson stepped in front of a pass by Darrell Hackney at midfield, returning it 1 9 yards to UAB's 31-yard line. It set up the tying touchdown. Unsung heroes CBs Joe Burnett and Johnell Neal had their hands full keeping up with UAB's receivers and Neal got beat for a long touchdown but their sure tackling on the edges was crucial. Key injuries LB Jordan Richards re-injured his left shoulder in pregame warmups and did not play. DE Chris Welsh broke his left thumb.

Looking ahead Before concentrating on a trip to Houston to play Rice, the Knights will watch tonight's Southern Miss-Houston game. If Houston wins, UCF would be in the driver's seat in the East division with one game to play. Final word "We've talked all year about playing like a team, and that's what it was in the fourth quarter. The defense made big plays, the offense made big players and the special teams made field FIRST QUARTER UCF Smith 9 run (Prater kick), 13:15. Drive: 61 yards, 5 plays, 1:45.

Key play: Walker 41 pass from MottetttoUAB24. SECOND QUARTER UAB Elliott 22 run (Mullins kick), 2:36. Drive: 86 yards, 10 plays, 3:56. Key plays: Hackney third-down completions of 8 and 12 yards to Cook, Chaney 22 run to UCF's 43. UCF FG Prater 47, 0:00.

Drive: 36 yards, 10 plays, 2:29. Key plays: Walker 14 pass from Moffett to near midfield, Wilcox 3 run on fourth-and-1 from UAB's 43. THIRD QUARTER UAB Lindsey 70 pass from Hackney (Mullins kick), 13:27. Drive: 84 yards, 4 plays, 1:27. Key play: Lindsey 12 pass from Hackney on third-and-8.

UAB Elliott 52 run (Mullins kick), 8:44. Drive: 77 yards, 6 plays, 2:46. Key play: Hackney 3 run on third-and-1 from UAB's 32. UCF FG Prater 38, 0:38. Drive: 62 yards, 12 UCF INDIVIDUALS RUSHING UCF UAB 1st downs 21 19 Rush-Yds 44-175 30-190 Passing C-A Int.

Return Yds 183 240 15-24 20-39 0 2 69 7 Punts-Avg. Fumbles Pen-Yds 2-1 3-2 3-37 31:31 4-40 28:29 Time plays, 4:43. Key plays: Marshall 18 pass from Moffett to UAB 47. FOURTH QUARTER UCF Peters 14 run (Walker pass from Moffett), 13:01. Drive: 31 yards, 3 plays, 1:02.

Key play: Johnson 19 interception return of Hackney pass to UCF's 31. UCF FG Prater 25, 5:31. Drive: 18 yards, 6 plays, 4:17. Key play: Watkins recovers Hackney fumble at UAB's 26. UCF FG Prater 23, :50.

Drive: 16 yards, 6 plays, 1:40. Key play: Burnett 27 interception return of Hackney pass to UAB's 22. UAB INDIVIDUALS RUSHING Player Atl Yds Avg Player All Yds Avg Peters Ke.Smith Wilcox Moffett D.Johnson 15 84 5.6 17 67 3.9 6 20 3.3 5 5 1.0 1 -1 1.0 Elliott 8 116 14.5 White 11 46 4.2 Chaney 4 31 7.8 Drinkard 1 5 5.0 Hackney 6 -8 1.3 PASSING PASSING Player Player A I Yd Moffett 15 24 0 183 Hackney 20 39 2 240 RECEIVING Player Atl Yds Avg Player All Yds Avg Walker Marshal D.Johnson Eldemire Peters Wilcox 4 71 17.8 4 46 11.5 4 34 8.5 1 17 17.0 1 9 9.0 1 6 6.0 Lindsey Rhodes Cleveland Jh.Cook Duncan Drinkard Chaney White Elliott 86 28.7 43 14.3 33 11.0 27 9.0 20 6.7 14 7.0 8 8.0 5 5.0 4 4.0 DEFENSIVE STATISTICS Player UT TT Int. Sck Venson Neal Ashley Burnett Shologan Johnson Welsh Watkins Nelson Hogue Carrington Cook Williams 8 12 0 0 8 9 0 0 4 7 0 0 DEFENSIVE STATISTICS Player UT TT Int. Sck 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Smith 5 10 0 0 4 9 0 0 8 8 0 0 3 7 0 0 Cosper 4 Hendricks 8 King 3 Henderson 4 Fuqua 2 Mark 1 Williamson 3 Wainwright 2 McSwain 3 Williams 1 Register 1 Respress 1 Dunbar 1 McElveen 1 Johnson 1 Guyton 0 Hackney 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Tackle: Dozier, Malatesta, Francis, Shakespeare, Kelly RAINIER EHRHARDTTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS UCF kicker Matt Prater, who was battling John Brown for the starting job, chats with Coach George O'Leary before Saturday's game.

Prater made 4-of-5 field goals as the Golden Knights gained a big C-USA victory. The Bottom Line: From zero to at least 7 victories in one season deserves praise nationwide..