(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
(Video by Victor Tan, Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
Already Winning Big, USF Ran up Score in Win over UCF in 2016
The No. 15 UCF Knights and the USF Bulls meet at Spectrum Stadium on Friday for the right to go to the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship Game. If that wasn’t motivation enough, the Bulls made sure to leave a sour taste in the mouths of UCF players and fans alike in last season’s meeting, wherein USF won 48-31.
Already trailing 41-31 with less than two minutes to go, the Knights faced a fourth-and-17 at their own 10-yard line. By this point in the game, then-backup quarterback Justin Holman was playing, and he was sacked at the UCF seven-yard line. USF took over and, instead of kneeling the clock away, capped the game with a one-yard touchdown with 11 seconds to go.
HC SCOTT FROST: “I don’t need any gimmicks or grudges to get our guys motivated. You know, I’ve been as a coach of teams a lot of times in the fourth quarter, and there’s a right way to handle things and a wrong way. We’re gonna always handle it the right way here. But, like I said, our players are gonna be excited to play this game, regardless of what happened last year or 10 years ago or any other time.”
OL AARON EVANS: “It’s disrespect. There’s a sportsmanship aspect of the game. And you don’t—there’s just certain things you don’t do. And if there’s a mutual respect there, there’s no need to drive into the ground like that, but they did. So, we’ll remember it, and we’ll take that to heart as we practice and prepare this week, and we’ll remember that when we can come into the game this week.”
DL JAMIYUS PITTMAN: “Of course they could’ve took a knee and ended the game, but if it’s a battle on I-4 like we say it is, why not?”
UCF-USF Outcome to Be Determined by Turnovers
In the loss to USF last season, the Knights gave away three turnovers, specifically two interceptions and a fumble from quarterback McKenzie Milton. Those turnovers proved to be the difference in last year’s “War on I-4” meeting, as the Bulls scored 17 points off turnovers and won by 17 points.
UCF was 54th in the nation in turnover margin (0.08) a season ago, forcing 26 turnovers while giving away 25 of its own. USF was tied for 14th (0.69) and fumbled just once against the Knights in the 2016 meeting. When UCF and USF meet on Black Friday, the Knights will be tied for the No. 1 turnover margin (1.60) with the No. 2 University of Miami. USF is also fifth in turnover margin (1.10) this season.
The Knights are also coming off one of their best defensive performances, forcing Temple University to turn the ball over five times (four interceptions, one fumble) in the UCF win on Nov. 18.
HC SCOTT FROST: “Yeah, this team’s done a great job of taking care of the ball and getting it back this year. I’m not sure where we rank nationally, but I think it’s pretty high in average turnover margin. I’m sure Saturday helped us, and I haven’t seen since. We lost some games last year because of that. And we gave Tulsa an easy touchdown, and we fumbled one that USF returned for a touchdown and gave the ball up a bunch against Maryland last year and Temple. This year, we haven’t done those things. In fact, that game Saturday was unbelievable because, offensively, we kept getting the ball on the six and the two and the 20. That does change a game. We need to avoid those on Friday, and our defense needs to keep doing a good job of getting it back for us. That turnover stat will play in who wins the game on Friday.”
LB SHAQUEM GRIFFIN: “I mean, the turnovers are gonna be really big in—that’s just how football works. You know, if you can win the turnover game, the odds are gonna be in your favor, and that’s gonna be important ’cause USF is a really good team that can get a lot of turnovers, and we gotta make sure we can match that and make sure that we just stay true to what we do and make sure we just stay the same, and I think that’s gonna be important for us is not shy away from what we already doing to make sure we can just make plays when we can.”
USF in Control of Rivalry Record with UCF
Since the Knights and Bulls first met in 2005, USF has won six of the eight meetings, including the last two. The Knights won in back-to-back years in the 2013 season, when UCF won the 2014 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and in the 2014 season, when UCF won a share of the AAC title.
Rising to a similar status as those teams of old, the Knights are poised for another shot at a conference title and potentially a New Year’s Six bowl. This will also be UCF’s first game against a ranked opponent this season, as USF is 22nd in the Associated Press Top 25 and 19th in the Coaches Poll.
HC SCOTT FROST: “Yeah, it is, and it’s also just another game. Win or lose this one, it’s not gonna take away from what our kids have accomplished this year, and that’s the way we’re gonna approach it. Another opportunity for us to showcase who we are and what we’ve become, and we’re not gonna add any more pressure to ourselves. I want our kids to play as light and loose as they’ve been playing.”
OL AARON EVANS: “Just the pride. There’s a chip on your shoulder, I guess. What’s great about everyone is, like, we wanna show ’em what’s up. Like, you know, we getting people that have underestimated us all year, and we’ve proven that we’ve been the dominant team all season, 10-0. So—not just—we didn’t barely just win some of those games. We won those games. So it’s been really clear. I’m excited about going into this game and making another statement this week.”
“USF did recruit me, but I didn’t really give my ears to ’em. I wanted to be further from home. Just some other reasons, I didn’t really want to be in that area, and I just wanted to move out, spread my wings a little bit.”
Scott Frost Credits Seniors for Historic Progress at UCF
Before second-year Knights head coach Scott Frost joined the UCF staff, the Knights went through their worst season in recent memory. UCF won a share of the conference title a year before, but, in 2015, the Knights finished a lowly 0-12.
Now, the Knights are leading the nation in scoring offense and have the 26th-best defense in the country as one of just four undefeated teams left in the country.
HC SCOTT FROST: “I’m so thankful to this group of seniors. You know, these are guys that I met with my on my first day on this job that told me a lot about what had had happened here and where they were. Guys that were hungry to prove that they could accomplish than what they had accomplished, and this really—last year’s group, too, but especially this group is the group that put their head down and went to work to change this program and get it to where it should be. And that took a lot of hard work; that took a lot of selflessness; that took a lot of sacrifice. But this crew, right here, has done all that, and I’m just happy for them that they got to experience a year like this before they got out of here.”
LB SHAQUEM GRIFFIN: “To be honest, I never thought that we would be in a situation that we in now, and, you know, I’m taking the blessings as we get ’em, and it’s kinda exciting how we seeing that, you know, the family comes support and, you know, packing the stands up. And, you know, we taking this like it’s our championship, and we…gonna make sure we put on a show for UCF Knights.”
For more on the Knights, as they prepare for one of the biggest “War on I-4” meetings in its history, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
