The 6-6 Georgia Bulldogs will play the 10-3, Conference USA-champion UCF Knights in the 2010 Liberty Bowl. Dominant in conference (losing only one game and winning all but one of their others by multiple scores) and a pair of fourth-quarter slips away from beating the N.C. State Wolfpack and Kansas St. Wildcats, the Knights might be the best Conference USA team since Bobby Petrino's Louisville Cardinals came a minute away from going undefeated in 2004.
UCF coach George O'Leary is no stranger to the Dawgs. O'Leary went 3-4 against UGA in seven full seasons as Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach, but went 0-1 against Mark Richt. He left Tech after the 2001 season to take the Notre Dame Fighting Irish job, which he had to forego after it came out that he'd made false claims on his resume.
He's been at UCF ever since, piloting the program to its first three bowls after going 0-11 in the MAC in his first year on duty.
The Knights have the nation's 58th-ranked offense and 12th-ranked defense. In classic O'Leary fashion, they're a decent running team with a mobile quarterback (freshman Jeff Godfrey) and feature a strong run defense. DE Darius Nall is 23rd in the nation with 8.5 sacks, and his bookend, Bruce Miller, is 45th with 7.