UCF quarterbacks shine in their rout of FAMU but raise more questions than answers

ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF Knights’ season-opening win over the FAMU Rattlers was nothing short of domination. By halftime, the Knights led FAMU 48-0 and already notched 462 total yards on 65 plays (to put that in perspective, UCF averaged 71.1 and 75.8 plays per game in 2017 and 2018, respectively). UCF’s defense impressed, too, holding the Rattlers to 96 total yards and eight first downs for the game.

UCF’s (1-0) combined effort resulted in a 62-0 win over the Rattlers (0-1) Thursday night at Spectrum Stadium.

“Defensively, so many positives. Contested, you know, almost every throw,” UCF Head Coach Josh Heupel said after the win. “I thought we changed the line of scrimmage, played on the other side of the line of scrimmage… Offensively, there’s gonna be a lot of little things that we’re gonna need to work on…”

The Knights opened the game with six touchdowns and two field goals in the first half but were subsequently held to only two touchdowns in the second half. Starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush didn’t see the field after halftime, as backups Dillon Gabriel and Quadry Jones led the offense.

Gabriel needed only 88 seconds into the second half to score the Knights’ lone third-quarter touchdown. He opened with back-to-back screen passes to junior Marlon Williams and freshman Amari Johnson for 29 total yards. Two rushes later, Gabriel darted a 26-yard pass to redshirt junior Alex Harris for his career-first receiving touchdown.

Jones hit Johnson on a blown-coverage go route in the fourth for UCF’s final points.

“I thought all of [the quarterbacks] did a ton of positive things,” Heupel said. “I thought they managed the snap-to-whistle pretty well… I thought they handled the operation of playing with tempo pretty well, as well, for the first time both [Wimbush and Gabriel] being out there.”

As for Wimbush, he looked as comfortable as a fifth-year grad transfer should against an FCS opponent. He was, however, inaccurate on at least three wide-open, deep-ball passes. Ultimately, his first-ever game for UCF epitomized his time at Notre Dame University, his former school: 11-for-22 for 149 yards and two touchdowns (for the Fighting Irish, Wimbush completed 50.5% of his passes and threw for 2,606 yards and 20 touchdowns in 20 games over three seasons).

For Wimbush, those missed touchdowns weren’t a result of inaccurate throws.

“I just gotta keep throwing it aggressive,” Wimbush said after the game. “Tre [Nixon], Gabe [Davis], Jacob Harris and, you know, the rest of those guys are gonna continue to run as hard as they can and as fast as they can, and I’m not gonna take anything off those types of balls, and that’s the way we like to throw ‘em, and I trust and believe in those guys.

“Like I said, they’re gonna dig as hard as they can to go make those plays. So I’m not gonna change anything there. So, yeah, looking forward to connecting on those.”

Wimbush started the game by leading the Knights on a five-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, showing off both his arm and his legs. He, first, converted a long third down with a quarterback draw. The very next play, he aired out a 37-yard pass over the middle to Davis for the first UCF touchdown of the season.

After Wimbush’s next two drives resulted in a punt and a field goal, Gabriel made his UCF debut. He impressed from the get-go, leading UCF to another touchdown in just three plays. His 24-yard lob to utility player Otis Anderson in the back-left corner gave UCF a 17-0 lead.

“It’s kinda ironic ‘cause I told [Gabriel] I was gonna give him his first touchdown,” Anderson said in his post-game presser. “It was either gonna be on a screen or a deep pass, and I’m just glad I got it for him.”

Gabriel wasn’t asked to run the ball, and that seemed to be the right choice — not because he isn’t capable but because it gave UCF’s staff a chance to see the accuracy of the true freshman’s throws and his poise in the pocket in live-game situations. Even when the pocket collapsed around Gabriel, his poise seemed unlike a true freshman’s: His feet didn’t get happy, and he was still the most accurate quarterback on the field.

Two red zone sequences indicated who was, perhaps, the better thrower (but not necessarily the better quarterback) against FAMU.

Late in the second quarter, the left-handed Gabriel slung a slant to Nixon for a six-yard touchdown off the play-action, placing it perfectly in his body for a 41-0 lead. UCF’s next drive featured Wimbush on FAMU’s 2-yard line; this time, the right-handed Wimbush threw a slant to Davis on the left that fell too low and behind before the drive ultimately finished with senior Adrian Killins’ first and only touchdown of the game.

Gabriel completed nine of his 13 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns.

“I think it’s spectacular what he did and what Quad came in and did,” Wimbush said. “Those guys, like I said earlier, have the ability to come in and lead this team to victories against great teams and whatnot, so I think D.G. did a heck of a job of staying poised. I think that’s the biggest thing when you’re a freshman is to, you know, keep that calm, and he did a great job of doing that.”

Having led the Fighting Irish to a 10-win season and a Citrus Bowl win over the LSU Tigers in 2017 and having helped Notre Dame to the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinals, Wimbush is familiar with the words “calm” and “poised.” He showed it on one of UCF’s three fourth-down conversions.

Leading 17-0, the Knights faced a fourth-and-2 situation with two seconds left in the first quarter. Wimbush hurried the offense to the line and ran a read-option play, allowing him to escape to the left sideline and skirt for the first down.

Wimbush’s acclimation to UCF’s pace isn’t complete – he’ll be the first to admit that.

“I thought [the tempo] was good. I thought I could’ve played a little bit faster, have a little more tempo driving down the field,” he said. “But I thought, you know, in relationship to when the plays were getting called in, I thought the offense did a good job of getting set and running those plays. So, I think there’s more tempo [to be had].”

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Nixon led the team in receptions with six, racking up 61 yards and a touchdown. Davis recorded his first multi-touchdown game as a Knight, reeling in three passes for 68 yards and two scores. On the ground, Killins led all rushers with 106 yards and a touchdown on a game-high 14 carries, as junior Greg McCrae also added a score.

UCF’s defense totaled 12 tackles for loss for 37 yards, as defensive ends Tre’mon Morris-Brash and Brendon Hayes also tallied a sack each. Defensive back Aaron Robinson led the team with five tackles and two pass break-ups.

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Who’s Next?

UCF will travel for the first time this season to play the FAU Owls on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. The Owls start their season with a visit to Ohio State University on Saturday.

For more on the Knights, as they move onto their first road game of 2019, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com, or you can tweet at him.