(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of Central Florida missed out on homecoming victories in its past two seasons. But on Oct. 14, all three phases of the then-No. 22 Knights (5-0, 3-0 in American Athletic Conference) contributed to the Knights’ points total in a 63-21 win over the struggling East Carolina University (1-6, 1-2 in AAC) in front of a homecoming crowd of 40,287.
UCF’s offense led the way, once again, as it has so far garnered the No. 1 spot among the nation’s scoring offenses. The result, however, was somewhat expected, as ECU entered the game as the worst defense of 130 FBS teams in scoring defense and yards allowed.
As well as the offense played, UCF’s victory was a full team effort. ECU’s offense could only muster 347 total yards (160 passing, 187 rushing) and was held scoreless in the third quarter, tallying just one touchdown in each of the others. On special teams, the Knights also returned two punts for a touchdown, negating one because of an illegal block.
Here are the key takeaways from the Knights’ homecoming win over East Carolina.
McKenzie Milton Continues to Show Hot Start Is Not a Fluke
After playing in arguably his best game against the University of Cincinnati, throwing for a career-high five touchdowns, second-year starter McKenzie Milton had, perhaps, the second-best game of his career against ECU. The sophomore finished the game with 324 yards and two touchdowns on 21-for-27 passing without playing the fourth quarter.
While not statistically impressive, Milton contributed in the run game, too. The stats say Milton carried the ball four times for six yards and a touchdown, but it was his decision-making that was the difference for the second-year starter. On his lone touchdown run, the Knights ran a read option and Milton kept it for the score after the defense over-committed to Taj McGowan.
Two plays that were particularly impressive came when UCF used the option. The Kapolei, Hawaii, native had two pitches to Adrian Killins that showed Milton has a great feel for the option. On the first pitch, Milton waited until the last second and pitched the ball before getting hit, allowing Killins to run free for the first down. The second came on Killin’s touchdown run. Milton took the snap and the defender was in perfect position to make the play but Milton stutter-stepped just enough to freeze the defender to leave Killins open on the pitch for the touchdown.
Special Teams Has Contributed to UCF’s Early Success
UCF has already proved they are a dangerous team through five games. Entering the East Carolina game, the Knights had the best scoring offense and was ranked 11th in points allowed. Now, UCF has added to their threat with significant success in special teams, most notably and most recently against ECU.
Special teams proved to be effective against East Carolina. In the preseason, kicker Matthew Wright was named to the Lou Groza Award watch list, an award given to the best kicker in the nation. Wright has missed two kicks all year. He missed his first extra-point attempt of the season and went 1-for-2 for field goals against the FIU Panthers but hasn’t missed since. Wright went 9-for-9 on extra point attempts against East Carolina.
Punter Mac Loudermilk also played well, as his three punts went for an average of 46.3 yards. He also downed one of his punts on the one-yard line.
The return game was effective, too. While all of UCF’s received kickoffs resulted in touchbacks, UCF showed out in the punt-return game. Starting cornerback and punt returner Mike Hughes had three punt returns for an average of 39.3 yards. His long was a 66-yard touchdown. Hughes also had another punt return for a touchdown, but it was called back.
Defense Returns to Form After Anomalous Performance Against Cincinnati
Last week against Cincinnati, the defense has its worst performance of the season. In just three quarters against the Bearcats, the Knights allowed 391 yards and a season-high 21 points. This week, the defense rebounded. UCF only allowed 21 points all game against ECU, conceding the final score when back-ups were playing. The Pirates’ biggest play was a 57-yard run by Darius Pinnix.
The defense did allow a 12-play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown late in the second quarter, but UCF was already leading 35-7 before that second score for ECU. Knights safety Tre Neal’s pick-six midway through the second helped UCF’s defense contribute to the scoring, too.
“I thought the defense played hard and played well,” UCF head coach Scott Frost said after the win. “[ECU’s] got a good offensive football team. And they hit a couple things on us, but that’s gonna happen. I know [defensive coordinator] [Erik] Chinander was disappointed in the one long run.
“We fit a run wrong and then missed a few tackles on one play, and that’s not characteristic of our defense. Those guys have been tackling really well. So, other than a couple plays, I thought they played exceptionally well.”
3rd-down Defense Improves After Faltering Against Cincinnati
Part of how the Knights defense returned to form was due to its stinginess on third down. Entering the win over Cincinnati, the Knights were a top-five defense in third downs converted, allowing only 21.6 percent of opposing third downs to be converted. The Bearcats went 9-for-15 on third downs against UCF.
Against East Carolina, the UCF defense held East Carolina to a 7-for-17 clip on third down.
UCF Is Still Dominant on 3rd Down
UCF has been successful on third-down situations so far this season. Part of the Knights’ efficiency on third downs is that they relatively rarely encounter those situations. Over the past two games, the Knights have only faced 13 third downs. In fact, UCF has faced the least third downs in the country. This past week against East Carolina, the offense went 5-for-9 on third downs. Overall, the Knights’ offense is 20th in the nation on third downs, converting 46.6 percent of them.
The last two weeks, we haven’t gotten to our third-down section [on the play-calling sheet] very much,” Frost said. “And when we have, we’ve done pretty well with it. That’s just a sign of our guys executing really well and putting us in good situations.”
For more on the Knights, as they prepare for the Navy Midshipmen and their homecoming game, follow Ryan Weiss on Twitter at @NDR_RyanWeiss.
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