Dankenbring was honored with a spot on the Capital One Academic All-America Second Team, and joins Ricot Joseph (2001, second team), (2007, first team) and (2009, second team) on the list of 麻豆原创 academic All-Americans.

Meanwhile, Dankenbring was one of just two players from Conference USA as well as two from a college in the state of Florida who received academic All-American distinction Thursday.

Earlier in the season, Dankenbring was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

Dankenbring received his bachelor’s degree in political science in 2011, and has registered four-straight 4.0 semesters while working on his master’s degree in social science education. On the field, he entered the 2012 campaign with 44 career tackles and one interception. This year聽he has 45 tackles overall and two interceptions.

Against UAB, Dankenbring ran back an interception 78 yards for a touchdown, marking the Knights’ fifth-longest interception return in school history.

Dankenbring and the Knights (9-4) will get back to work after finals as they prepare for the 2012 Beef `O’ Brady’s Bowl against Ball State (9-3) on Friday, Dec. 21, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The game is one of just 10 bowl contests where both teams have at least nine victories.

For ticket information, contact the 麻豆原创 Ticket Office at 407-823-1000 or visit 麻豆原创Athletics.com.

It was the class of 2012 that made what seemed like all the plays for the Knights on Saturday to ensure 麻豆原创 captured its fourth C-USA East Division title and a spot in next week鈥檚 championship game scheduled for noon at Tulsa on the ESPN family of networks.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a win and another division championship,鈥� head coach George O鈥橪eary said after the game. 鈥淚t also makes the senior class the winningest one is school history, so I am very happy for them. That whole senior class is just a great group of kids and have mostly all graduated. They are going to be very successful in the future if it鈥檚 in football or something else.鈥�

With its 33 victories, the senior class tied the all-time record for most wins over a four-year span and saw senior FS Kemal Ishmael rack up 10 tackles to move into fifth all-time at 麻豆原创 while fellow classmate Quincy McDuffie notched a career-high three rushing TDs on six attempts for 79 yards.

鈥淐oming down to the end of the season, most guys won鈥檛 play at the next level, and this was going to be our last game at home. We just had a lot to lose this game, and everybody just took it seriously knowing we just had to get back to Tulsa and handle business,鈥� said Ishmael, who registered his first-career sack on the last defensive play.

Following the recognition ceremony for the 20-member senior class, it was quick work for the 麻豆原创 offense after receiving the opening kickoff. Needing only five plays, the Knights picked up yards in large chunks. Murray scampered for 20 yards followed by back-to-back 18-yard passes by Bortles as the second resulted in an over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone by J.J. Worton for his third receiving TD of the year.

UAB looked to even the game at 7-all, but senior LB Jonathan Davis forced his second fumble of the year at the 1-yard line while fellow classmate A.J. Bouye recovered the ball in the end zone for the 23rd takeaway of 2012.

麻豆原创鈥檚 offense turned the freebie into six points when Murray rumbled in from three yards out for his 35th-career TD, and 13th of 2012. It was the Knights鈥� 28th scoring drive this season of 75 yards or more.

After a failed 麻豆原创 fourth-down attempt from midfield, UAB looked to take advantage of the short field, but the Knights鈥� stout defense stiffened and denied the Blazers on three-straight rushing attempts from the 10-yard line to reclaim possession.

Up 14-3, senior punter Jamie Boyle was aided by his classmates Ishmael and FB Billy Giovanetti, who helped down the kick at the 1-yard line. That setup a defensive stop followed by a 34-yard punt return by Worton to the UAB nine. Two plays later, McDuffie hit paydirt on an end-around for his first rushing score of the year.

Keeping with the Senior Day theme, fifth-year DB Lyle Dankenbring made his presence felt after he jumped in front of an attempted screen pass and took it to the house from 78 yards out to make it 28-3. It was the first-career TD for the Palm City, Fla., native, and fifth-longest INT return in school history.

鈥淚t was a screen (play), and he said if he didn鈥檛 catch it that it would鈥檝e stuck in his mask,鈥� O鈥橪eary said with a chuckle about Dankenbring鈥檚 pick-six. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you need to happen. Football is a game of momentum anyway. That one really hurt because it was the back breaker as far as them moving the ball and being in field-goal range. It was a great play by him and a great play by the defense.鈥�

The first-half offensive fireworks continued for 麻豆原创 following UAB鈥檚 76-yard passing score. McDuffie took the ensuing kickoff 44 yards while the Knights needed just 53 seconds to see Bortles hook up with Worton from four-yards out to give 麻豆原创 its most first-half points (35) since opening night at Akron.

In the second half, McDuffie scored his second rushing TD of the day after taking the jet-sweep handoff from Rob Calabrese out of the 鈥淲ild Knight鈥� into the end zone from eight-yards out to make it 42-10.

UAB wouldn鈥檛 go away quietly, racking up 599 total yards off offense and making it a three-possession game at 42-24 in final quarter. 麻豆原创 used a key fourth-down stop at its own 23-yard line with 8:32 left to end the Blazers鈥� momentum.

The bruising Murray salted the game away with four-straight carries prior to McDuffie housing another jet sweep for 43-yards for his eighth score of the year.

For tickets to next weekend鈥檚 C-USA Championship at Tulsa, click HERE. The Knights and Golden Hurricane are tied 1-all in their meetings for the right to hoist the league-championship trophy.

Ruling the gridiron and the classroom, the 麻豆原创 football team has plenty to boast at the start of the 2012 season. Living up to the title of student-athlete, 11 Knights who have already earned their bachelor鈥檚 degree have 麻豆原创 among the leaders in graduated players.

In a survey that went out to all 124 Football Bowl Subdivision聽schools, the Knights are tied for third with Florida State and trail only Virginia Tech (15) and Pittsburgh (12). In all, eight teams across the nation boast 10 or more graduates.

The stellar group for the Knights includes Rob Calabrese, Rey Cunha, Lyle Dankenbring, Kevin Garvy, Billy Giovanetti, Theo Goins, Brendan Kelly, Latavius Murray, Jordan Rae, Ray Shipman and Phil Smith.

Along with the 11 graduates who each play a significant role on the team, 麻豆原创 earned an all-time high 79 rating in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate earlier this year and received the Conference USA Sport Academic Award for boasting the highest team grade-point average of all 12 C-USA football programs.

Over the past three years, the Knights have been well represented on the C-USA Honor Roll with at least 35 student-athletes carrying a GPA of 3.0 or better. In the same time span, the football program has also had two or more members of the team earn C-USA Academic Medals while boasting GPAs of 3.75 or higher.

The Knights (1-0) will make their return to the Buckeye State on Saturday when they head to Columbus for a noon showdown with No. 14 Ohio State (1-0) on ESPN2.

A week after losing to Florida International because of a botched fumble return and a lost fumble, 麻豆原创 saw an early lead disappear when it again bobbled a punt return, later fumbled the ball away and threw an interception in a confounding 24-17 loss to BYU at Lavell Edwards Stadium.

“This is really tough because we had the lead coming into halftime and we just folded in the second half,” defensive tackle Victor Gray said. “The mistakes keep catching up with us. We made them last week and we made them this week again. We won’t be a championship caliber team if we keep making these kinds of mistakes.”

A 麻豆原创 team that had dreams of going through the season undefeated and morphing into BCS busters, continues to be its own worst enemy with errors at the wrong time. The Knights have now lost consecutive games for the first time since 2008 and must try and regroup before Conference USA play begins in two weeks. 麻豆原创, who led 10-3 at the intermission and 17-10 late in the third quarter, also lost for the first time in 10 games when leading at the half.

麻豆原创 played well enough offensively and defensively to win, but was done in by three turnovers. J.J. Worton’s fumbled punt return at the 8-yard line with 11:47 to play put BYU in position for the game-winning touchdown. Worton was replacing Josh Robinson, who similarly fumbled a punt inside the 10-yard line last week in the 17-10 loss to FIU. BYU scored three plays after the turnover, breaking a 17-all tie and breaking the Knights backs.

“We turned the ball and you just can’t do that,” 麻豆原创 coach George O’Leary said. “We had receivers dropping the ball. We had our opportunities but we didn’t take advantage. It’s a shame and then the kickoff coverage hurt us too. Sloppy coverage and a bad kick. We didn’t make plays and in the second half we had some bad decisions. But we have to move on and it’s a long season for a reason.”

麻豆原创 saw another scoring opportunity disappear late in the game when Dontravius Floyd was hit from behind and fumbled the ball at midfield. Quarterback Jeff Godfrey put 麻豆原创 in position for some late-game heroics with a 58-yard pass to A.J. Guyton (163 receiving yards), but he was picked off with three minutes to play when intended receiver Latavius Murray tripped and fell.

Godfrey finished 15-of-23 for 260 yards, but threw his first interception of the year. The Knights still do not have a touchdown pass on the season.

“We’re mistakes that we shouldn’t be making and that’s how we are losing these games,” Godfrey said. “Close games like this, we have to finish like we started. We’re making mental mistakes, and on my play where I threw the interception I have to be smarter and throw the ball out of the end zone. I have to learn from that.”

Both teams entered the game feeling they had something to prove after self-inflicted losses a week earlier. 麻豆原创 was penalized 10 times, yielded six sacks and turned the ball over twice in a 17-10 loss to Florida International last Saturday night in Miami. Meanwhile, BYU, in its first season as an independent, lost seven fumbles and allowed 47 unanswered points in a 54-10 loss to rival Utah.

Clearly fatigued from playing two games in seven days, 麻豆原创 now gets a much-needed off week before hosting Marshall on Oct. 8 at Bright House Networks Stadium. It’s the start of league play for the Knights, the defending champions of Conference USA.

麻豆原创 endured a major scare late in the third period when Godfrey was dropped on a sack and didn’t immediately get to his feet. Godfrey appeared to have gotten poked in the eye on the sack and also injured his left arm.

Redshirt freshman Blake Bortles, an Oviedo native who grew up dreaming of directing the 麻豆原创 offense, got his big chance and delivered immediately. He completed his first four passes, the second of which was a 15-yard strike to J.J. Worton on third-and-13 with the BYU crowd roaring. The drive ultimately stalled and 麻豆原创 came away with no points when Nick Cattoi hooked a 35-yard field goal, keeping the game tied at 17-all.

麻豆原创 lost speedster Quincy McDuffie when he suffered a seriously sprained ankle on the final play of the third quarter. McDuffie, who finished with five catches for 50 yards, was hurt on an 11-yard gainer as he was tackled.

麻豆原创 delivered one of its most important drives of the season in the third quarter just minutes after BYU had knotted the game at 10-all. Godfrey found A.J. Guyton for a 54-yard pass down the sidelines for the longest play of the season. Five plays later, Godfrey outran the BYU defense to the corner for a score that gave 麻豆原创 a 17-10 lead.

However, BYU answered right back with its first kickoff return for a touchdown in 13 years. Cody Hoffman took a kickoff on the right hash, broke left and scampered 93 yards untouched for the tying touchdown.

“All phases of the game, we have to win all three of them and that’s something we didn’t do,” Robinson said. “We’re questioning ourselves right now because too many people are making mistakes, myself included. We just have to (eliminate) those mental errors.”

A 麻豆原创 defense that entered the game first in the nation in pass defense, second in total defense and third in scoring defense and pass efficiency defense made some major changes. Ray Shipman, a former basketball player at the University of Florida, got his first career start at outside linebacker in place of true freshman Leilon Willingham. Fellow freshman Troy Gray, a Kennesaw, Ga., native, also started in place of junior Jonathan Davis.

麻豆原创’s defense held yet another opponent without a touchdown in the first half, helping the Knights build a 10-3 lead. 麻豆原创 came into the game having given up just one touchdown all season and it followed a fumbled punt return in which the possession started at the 7-yard line. That meant from the Conference USA title game last December to Friday’s first half, 麻豆原创’s defense had yielded just one touchdown in 18 quarters.

BYU took advantage of great field position and tied the game up at 10-all midway through the third quarter. After forcing 麻豆原创 to punt from its own end zone, BYU marched 38 yards in five plays and tied the game on a 16-yard sprint by JJ Di Luigi on a third-and-one play.

Just before that play, 麻豆原创 was a victim of a bad break. BYU receiver McKay Jacobson bobbled a pass into the air, which was intercepted by 麻豆原创 safety Clayton Geathers. After a replay review, officials ruled that the pass to Jacobson hit the ground, negating the interception.

麻豆原创’s defense produced a huge turnover late in the first period when junior cornerback Josh Robinson picked off the 10th pass of his career. The play was set up when redshirt junior Lyle Dankenbring tipped Jake Heaps pass into the air and it was intercepted by Robinson, who returned the ball 17 yards to the 17-yard line.

Three plays later, the Knights were in the end zone when Godfrey kept on a belly play and scored from 10 yards out on the final play of the first quarter.

For a second time in as many weeks, 麻豆原创 drove methodically on a 10-play drive for its first score. The Knights got runs of 17 and 7 yards from Ronnie Weaver and Godfrey throws of 19 yards to A.J. Guyton and 13 yards to Dontravius Floyd during the drive. But the march stalled at the 17-yard line and the Knights had to settle for a 34-yard field goal by Cattoi.

麻豆原创’s defense came up big on BYU’s first drive of the game to turn away the Cougars. Robinson dived to break up a pass at the goal line, a play that forced BYU to settle for a field goal and a 3-3 tie early on. BYU receiver Ross Apo sustained a concussion on the play after being drilled by Kemal Ishmael following Robinson’s pass breakup.

Robinson, who fumbled a punt last week, bounced back with a solid effort. In addition to his interception, he had two more pass breakups, giving him 27 for his career. That ranks seventh all-time in 麻豆原创 history.

One of 麻豆原创’s most valuable weapons in the first half was senior punter David Bohner, who routinely pinned BYU deep in its own territory. Bohner had three boots stop at the 11, 11 and 7-yard line in the first half.

“We still have all of our conference games and still have our goals in hand,” Robinson said. “We can still make our goal (of winning another C-USA title). We just have to stay together as a family and encourage one another.”