(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – Through four games of the 2017 season, there are many adjectives applicable for describing the University of Central Florida’s offense: potent, breathtaking, unstoppable. Any one of those would suffice. This week, No. 22 UCF (4-0, 2-0, in American Athletic Conference) will take on East Carolina University (1-5, 1-2 in AAC) for homecoming. However, as good as the offense has been, the coaching staff isn’t sold that it’s hit its ceiling. Count UCF head coach Scott Frost as one of the coaches who thinks the offense can improve.
“I wanna guard against talking and acting like we’ve arrived,” Frost said at the team’s weekly game-week presser on Oct. 9. “We’re not there yet. We can still get a lot better. I think there’s still a lot of improvements we need to make, and I want our guys to stay hungry.”
The Knights offense did not start slowly this season. Since the first game against the FIU Panthers, the Knights have been on fire. In four games, UCF’s offense has accounted for 61, 31, 40 and 51 points. One score against the University of Maryland was an interception returned for a touchdown. In the 51-point performance against the University of Cincinnati last week, the team only played three quarters due to weather.
In that quarter-shortened game in Cincinnati, UCF accumulated 515 total yards. Plays were working so well, the team only faced a total of four third downs. The Knights possessed the ball eight times against Cincinnati and scored on all eight possessions.
“Any time your punter doesn’t step on the field, you’re doing good things,” UCF offensive coordinator and wide-receivers coach Troy Walters said after practice on Oct. 10. “And then you’re scoring. Seven of eight touchdowns. Time of possession, 15 minutes, and we scored 51 points. Guys were clicking on all cylinders.”
The East Carolina defense will present UCF opportunities to have another impressive offensive performance. Entering the matchup, the Pirates rank last out of 130 FBS teams in both points (47.8 PPG) and yards per game (600.3 YPG). The Knights have the No. 1 scoring offense in the country, putting up 47.5 points per game and 533.3 yards per game. But even with an offense that explosive, taking on a defense that porous, Frost wants to remind his players the offense isn’t perfect.
“We have to keep our guys from patting themselves on the back, and that’s when it really becomes dangerous when our guys start to buy into the fact that they’re good,” Frost said. “We have a lot of room for improvement, yet we gotta follow the same formula of having a little bit of a chip on our shoulder going into these games ‘cause I think our guys did, coming from where this program came from.”
Part of the offensive outburst this season for UCF has been the play of sophomore quarterback McKenzie Milton. Milton has been much improved in his second season as a starter. So far in 2017, Milton has accounted for 339.3 total yards per game, good enough for 10th in the country. The Kapolei, Hawaii, native has also thrown for 13 touchdowns in just four games, three more than his 2016 total. And whereas he only threw for three touchdowns in one game last season, Milton has had three-, four- and five-touchdown games in 2017.
Even with those stats, quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco believes Milton can become even better in his youth.
“He can be better,” Verduzco said after practice on Oct. 10. “He’s playing real well right now, but everybody around him is playing well. And that makes a huge, a huge difference for a quarterback. We tell the guys ‘You know, we’re only one cog in the wheel [of] success or failure.’ And that’s the truth.”
Last season, in Frost’s first year at the helm, the UCF offense was less than stellar. In 2016 the Knights ranked 66th in points per game (28.8 PPG). Even worse was the yards per game, as UCF was 113th in the country (350.8 YPG). Frost attributes the progression to his players’ preparation.
“I think the improvement that these guys have made in a season and three and three-quarters games is pretty remarkable” Frost said. “You know, we gave up one sack, missed a couple balls that were close. I thought, overall, they just played well. It was our best week of practice, and it was our best performance in the game. So, I think the guys recognize that their preparation leads to success, and it was the best preparation we’ve had.”
The Knights will take on the Pirates on Saturday at Spectrum Stadium at 7 p.m. for homecoming. UCF’s third AAC matchup of the season will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
For more on the Knights, as they prepare to take on ECU, follow Ryan Weiss on Twitter at @NDR_RyanWeiss.
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