UCF Football: 3 takeaways from dominant ‘Space Game’ win over Memphis

The UCF football team hosted American Athletic Conference foe Memphis during the team’s 5th annual “Space Game” in a Friday-night nationally televised game.

It was a game that featured two back-up quarterbacks getting starts, both due to each usual starter being ruled out due to injury.

UCF continued to call on freshman Mikey Keene, who made his fourth consecutive start of the season at quarterback since losing starter Dillon Gabriel to injury in Week 3 vs Louisville.

Memphis freshman Seth Hennigan, the team’s usual starter, was ruled out a few hours before the game, so the Tigers called on back-up Peter Parish to make his first career start.

1. The Knights’ uniforms were fantastic

For one night each season (since 2016), the UCF football team celebrates the close ties between the University of Central Florida and NASA.

A sizable portion — approximately 30 percent — of employees at the nearby Kennedy Space Center are graduates from UCF, which gives a natural connection between the team and NASA. This year, “Mission V: Discovery” honors the 40th anniversary of the historic space shuttle program. An incredible level of detail went into the uniforms, including the name of all 135 space shuttle missions, jersey numbers that mimic the heat shield tiles from the shuttle, and various names and logos synonymous with the space shuttle program.

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UCF included the name of around 100 names of alumni, faculty, and fans who had the privilege of working on the space shuttle program. UCF wide receiver Stephen Martin was probably wearing his helmet with a little more pride than his teammates, as his mother’s name was included among the 100 or so names on each player’s helmet.