Knights go from blowout to hurricane

Last Saturday afternoon the UCF Knights found out they’re no better without their longtime coach at the helm. In a massive blowout that let Cincinnati platoon three quarterbacks successfully throughout the game, the Bearcats, facing their former quarterback turned UCF interim head coach Danny Barrett, took an easy 52-7 victory over the struggling Knights. Now the Knights face one of their toughest rivals on the tail end of one of the worst seasons in team history.

Barrett, who ascended to the Knights’ top football job in the wake of the sudden resignation of longtime head coach George O’Leary, had served as quarterback coach up until that point.

The Knights’ first game after the transition didn’t go well. It took Cincinnati two plays on their first drive to score. By the end of the first quarter, they already had a 21-point lead.

“We talked about not giving up the big play and that’s all it was, a game of big plays,” Barrett told UCFKnights.com after the game.

Cincinnati already appeared to have the game firmly in hand by the start of the second quarter, with three passing touchdowns courtesy of quarterback Gunner Kiel’s arm. By the second quarter they were already using backup QB Hunter Moore, who would throw for 154 yards and a touchdown in intermittent relief.

The Knights would provide more team milestones for the Bearcats than they provided themselves scores, as they gave receiver Shaq Washington the team’s all-time record for receptions when they allowed him to catch eight, and let Kiel score the highest pass-efficiency — completing all 15 of his pass attempts — of any QB in the NCAA in 20 years.

Though the Bearcats had already long since started using backup players by the time it was over, they amassed 726 yards on offense — their second most prolific game of the season. Frustratingly for the Knights, it was one of their most potent games on offense this season as well. The Knights posted the third-best rushing performance the Bearcats had allowed all season, only eight yards shy of the best, at 212 yards on the ground.

All that offense only added up to one score, a late touchdown from one yard out by UCF’s de-facto go-to running back C.J. Jones. Jones netted 123 yards on the ground in the game. The Knights came within 20 yards of the goal line four times in the game, turning the ball over on back-to-back dropped short passes, and missing two field goals that bounced off the goal posts.

On the other side of the ball, Cincinnati turned all but two of their drives into scores. The Knights’ goal line stand of the day would come deep into the fourth quarter when the Bearcats went for it on fourth-and-5 at the UCF 9-yard-line and lost 5 yards instead of converting. Aside from that stop and a 21-yard Shaquill Griffin interception that turned into a UCF punt three plays later, the Knights seemingly could do nothing to stop the Bearcats. Of the 15 times that the Bearcats were pushed to third or fourth down conversion attempt, only twice did they not convert in the entire game. The Bearcats never punted. Honing his punt distance — a rare Knight currently among the nation’s best — Caleb Houston blasted six for an average of 45 yards.

With the loss, the Knights’ losing streak, which began last year, is now 10 games. And they bring that streak to face their most prolific longtime rival, Tulsa. In three games in Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane have never been defeated by the Knights. In 2012 Tulsa was the bane of UCF’s season, handing them two losses — including a devastating overtime blocked field goal loss in the Conference USA championship game.

Given their record there, the Knights will play their last away game of the season in the stadium they have the least luck in. And Tulsa, though not among the best in the American Athletic Conference this season, have been far stronger than the Knights so far.

The Golden Hurricane are averaging 532 yards per game of total offense — putting them at No. 9 in the FBS — with the vast majority of that coming in the air. That could be big trouble for the Knights, who gave up most of their big plays against Cincinnati on passing plays. Thankfully for the Knights, Tulsa’s defense also allows opponents an average of 533 yards per game, making them the sixth worst in the FBS. In order to capitalize, the Knights will need to wake up the FBS’s worst offense, which averages just 263.8 yards per game, while righting their historically strong defense, which has crumbled in recent games.

The game kicks off at noon on Saturday on ESPNews.