(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – Nine games into the 2017 season, and the UCF Knights have, so far, compiled an undefeated, 9-0 record. UCF’s undefeated mark is just one of four in the country, joining the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes and No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers. Despite the elite company and the Knights having both the top scoring offense and a top-30 defense, second-year Knights head coach Scott Frost said it’s been some time since his team played a complete game.
“I just don’t think we’ve put in a complete game together for a while, from an offensive and defensive and special-teams standpoint,” Frost said at the team’s game-week presser on Nov. 13. “To win these last few games, now, we’re gonna have to be firing on all cylinders and all three phases, and there’s been a couple weeks where I thought the offense was lights out and the defense wasn’t quite up to their standard and vice versa.”
Against Temple University on Saturday, UCF faces an all-too-familiar reminder of playing complete games. In this case, however, it was a different sort of “complete game.” Last season against the Owls, UCF led 25-7 at halftime on its homecoming only to lose on a literal, last-second touchdown. That loss resonated with some players like linebacker Chequan Burkett.
“We touched on that game. You know, it was a heartbreaking loss that we took, and they turned out to be the conference champions, and that…just showed how great of a team we were at the time, but we just couldn’t finish,” Burkett said after practice on Nov. 13. “So, we just took that lesson from last year against Temple and put it towards all our games—the Memphis game, Navy, all those types of games to play a complete four quarters.”
Quarterback McKenzie Milton recalled the Knights’ Week 6, three-quarters game against the Cincinnati Bearcats, wherein the Knights won 51-23, as UCF’s best offensive performance. It was UCF’s third game in a row since Hurricane Irma’s interference of Weeks 2 and 3. The Knights’ 51-point total was, at the time, the second-highest amount the Knights had scored this year, as UCF was averaging 43 points per game over that three-game stretch.
“I think the best game we had, offensively, was probably against Cincinnati,” Milton said after practice on Nov. 14. “But I think just playing clean, not turning the ball over, eliminating penalties, staying ahead of the sticks, getting first downs and just maximizing every possession we have… But I’m not really sure what a complete game looks like. I just think good, clean football and scoring a lot of points.”
As Milton suggested, penalties have been one of the Knights’ weak spots. UCF ranks 122nd in penalty yards per game, costing themselves 72.6 yards per game because of penalties. Of the four undefeated teams, Miami is the next-worst at 77th (57.1 penalty yards per game).
Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander also sees inconsistent execution as a problem impeding on a complete game for his defense. Though the Knights allow just over 20 points per game, there have been moments where UCF hasn’t played to that standard. Against UCF’s only Football Championship Subdivision opponent this year, Austin Peay State University, UCF allowed the Governors to score the most points any team has scored against the Knights this year: 33.
Despite his defense’s relative shortcomings, Chinander is embracing one of UCF’s best seasons in school history in stride.
“[Our] problems are all self-inflicted right now. It’s one guy here, one guy there; it’s a missed tackle; it’s somebody didn’t get the call. But, with that being said, I mean, we’re on a heck of a run, 9-0, and when you’re doing that, I mean, you get everybody’s best shot…
“For us to have a complete game, obviously, we’d like to hold somebody under 300 yards and as a few points as possible… But I think you just wanna see everybody click on all cylinders. There’s gonna be mistakes. People are gonna make plays against you. You just wanna see everybody executing the offense, the defense, the special teams—everybody executing fundamentals and the team playing together.”
The Knights have another opportunity at a complete game on Saturday when they will face the Temple Owls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at noon. ESPN3 will broadcast the game.
For more on the Knights, as they travel for their final road game of 2017 in Philly, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
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