UC easily dismissed East Carolina last week exactly like they are supposed to, improving to 7-0 on the year and setting up the showdown fans have had circled since before the year even began. They will travel down to Orlando for a game against the UCF Knights for a game, with all due respect to Tulsa, will probably decide if the Bearcats finish undefeated or not.
This is UC’s biggest game and biggest test to this point in the season. UCF comes into the game with an offense flirting with the NCAA all-time record for yards per game currently at 619.1. UC brings a defense into the game allowing an absurd 12.4 points a game. UCF has never faced a defense like this, and UC has never faced an offense like this. Saturday will truly be an example of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unlovable object and I could not be more excited to find out what the answer is. With that in mind lets take a closer look at this UCF team.
At quarterback will be sophomore Dillon Gabriel who has been playing lights out this year, despite the team having two losses. He has already thrown for 2,774 yards with 23 touchdowns to only two interceptions. He is averaging 396.4 yards passing a game and doing so with a completion percentage of 63.3. He could very well end up being the best quarterback UC faces all season, depending on if they sneak into the playoff or who they might play New Years Day. The previous weeks against Memphis and SMU will serve as great build up games for the Bearcats defense, but make no mistake even those offenses won’t test the BlackCat secondary like this week will. If they are going to pick up their first ever win at UCF then the secondary is going to have to slow down UCF and at minimum, hold them under that 396.9 yard passing average they currently possess.
Having a deadly passing attack is sure to open up an effective running game and UCF does just that with a split backfield. They will throw two different guy at the Bearcats and unfortunately for UC, there doesn’t appear to be a drop off when they go to either guy. Senior Otis Anderson has run the ball 97 times for 563 yards and four touchdowns, while senior Greg McCrae has run the ball 99 times for 532 yard and seven touchdowns. That equates to both guys having an average of over 5 yards per carry. UCF passing attack is so dynamic its easy to think you want the backs to get as many carries as possible Saturday, but the defense is actually going to need to stiffen up against the run and force UCF into 3rd and long so they can bring the full pass rush if they want to shutdown drives and keep the UCF offense off the field.
