By Mark Pszonak
When teams are trying to create an identity there are certain games early in the season that are vital. For UCF that was their home game against Colorado on Saturday afternoon. With the Buffs and Deion Sanders being a magnet for attention, more eyes than usual were on the Knights. And the undefeated Knights thought they were ready for it. They were very wrong.
Only a few days ago I wrote an article about how this was a great opportunity for UCF to make a name for itself nationally this season (you can read that here). I wrote about how they had a chance to impress countless visiting high school recruits. This is an opportunity that doesn’t come regularly, so it was important to take advantage of it. And the Knights didn’t.
The Knights came in with the top rushing offense in the country and they ended up with almost 200 yards less than their average. Leading rusher RJ Harvey was held to 77 yards, 49 yards less than he had in any other game this season. They failed at their strength. And they failed after having a bye week to prepare for the game.
And this is where I give credit to Colorado and Coach Sanders. They are far from a perfect team, but they are better than last season. And that is because of their defensive line. If this game was played in 2023, Colorado would’ve likely lost by 30, but because of their portal additions on the defensive line, they dominated most of the game. They identified one of their weaknesses from 2023 and addressed it successfully.
So where does this leave UCF in 2024? Going back to last season, when they also started 3-0, they then lost five straight games. Avoiding another freefall like that is vital in the next month. Their next four games are at Florida, home against Cincinnati, at #16 Iowa State and home against #17 BYU. The Knights must find a way to come out of this stretch 2-2 to get the season back on track before they finish with Arizona, Arizona State, West Virginia and Utah.
More Sports News
The Knights are now 3-1 so the season is far from lost. But this is when head coach Guz Malzahn and his coaching staff really need to earn their pay checks to keep hope alive in Orlando.
