UCF football exited Conference USA in impressive fashion, both on and off the field. On Thursday, the Knights earned the C-USA Sport Academic Award for the second straight season, finishing 2012-13 with the highest team grade-point average of all 12 football programs in the league.
With a 3.024 team GPA, UCF became the first school in C-USA history to record at least a 3.0 or better in football. It also was the highest team GPA in school history for the football program.
Both fall (3.095) and spring (2.954) terms last year were the highest for those respective semesters under Head Coach George O’Leary, who took over the program in 2004. A total of seven Knights had a 4.0 in the fall, while three posted a 4.0 in the spring.
When the latest Academic Progress Rate report was released in June by the NCAA, UCF ranked 15th in the country with a 975, which also was ninth among public universities and first among public institutions in the state of Florida. The 975 was 26 points above the national average.
Meanwhile, UCF’s Graduation Success Rate (GSR) stands at 81%, a total of 13% above the national average and the highest in school history.
Not only were the Knights dominating the classroom in 2012-13, they delivered with a 10-4 record and their second consecutive bowl victory. The 10 wins were just one victory shy of tying the school mark. They now look ahead to their first season in the American Athletic Conference with the 2013 campaign kicking off at home Aug. 29 against Akron.