Penn State will host Central Florida on Sept. 14, 2013, according to a release by the university.
Rumors circled as to who would fill the date when Virginia notified Penn State it would not be playing the Sept. 14 game in order to add another home game after the Nittany Lions traveled to Charlottesville, Va. last season.
With this addition of Central Florida, who went 10-4 last season and played in the Conference USA championship game, will be the eighth opponent on the Lions 2013 schedule that played in a 2012 bowl game. The Knights have traveled to Penn State twice since 2002, with Penn State winning both matchups.
“We are excited to have UCF returning to the Penn State schedule,” Penn State Athletic Director Dave Joyner said in a press release. “We’re pleased that we can bring Bill O’Brien and George O’Leary, one of his mentors, together on the playing field this fall. We are in discussions with Virginia about finding a date to play in Beaver Stadium.”
Joyner said in the release the Lions and the Knights are discussing playing a game in Orlando, Fla. during the 2014 or 2015 season and are working to reschedule a game with Virginia in a future season.
Penn State coach Bill O’Brien has ties to Central Florida coach George O’Leary, as he was a member of O’Leary’s staff at Georgia Tech from 1995-2001.
“It will be a great honor to play against UCF and Coach O’Leary,” O’Brien said in a press release. “UCF is a good football team. Coach O’Leary has done a fantastic job at UCF and obviously he has meant a lot to my career. This will be a great game for our fans and I’m really looking forward to it.”
