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An even bigger investment, Orsini admits, was the hiring of O'Leary, one reason Texas fans shouldn't overlook the game.

"A coaching change made the difference," Orsini said. "I give all the credit in the world to George O'Leary."

Orsini knew O'Leary from their days together at Georgia Tech, where Orsini was an assistant AD and O'Leary was resurrecting a program from a 1-10 flatline in 1994. O'Leary did such a good job, winning national coach of the year honors in 2000, that Notre Dame took notice and hired him to replace Bob Davie. Less than a week later, O'Leary was gone after irregularities surfaced in his resume.

"I think anything that happened there was self-inflicted," O'Leary said on a teleconference this week. "I think my mother said it right, that the Good Lord doesn't close a door unless he opens another. At one time during that whole thing, I was acting like some of the people I despise in feeling sorry for myself."

The best thing O'Leary did, he said, was to immediately get back into coaching, serving two years as an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings.

Although others saw damaged goods, Orsini saw an opportunity to hire a coach that almost never would have come under any other circumstances to Central Florida, which began its program in 1979.

"I had no concerns," Orsini said. "I truly believed at the time, George O'Leary was by far the best coach available."

First, Orsini had to convince school president John Hitt to back the decision. A former lineman at Austin College, Hitt knew all about O'Leary's rise and fall.

Hitt told Orsini that he needed to look O'Leary in the eye and get a few answers. Satisfied, Hitt approved the hire, aware the school would be questioned about the message it was sending.

But O'Leary's personality and performance outweighed any public criticism. He took the Knights from 0-11 in 2004 to 8-5 the next season. Although Central Florida took a step backward with a 4-8 mark last season, it has already upset North Carolina State on the road this season.