It could have been said heading into the UCF Knights’ road game against the Cincinnati Bearcats that there was an opportunity to take advantage of an injury-riddled Cincy team. However, with the Knights’ themselves starting a backup at quarterback as they dropped their third straight Big 12 loss, 20-11.
Here are the highlights:
How did the Knights perform in the contest? Here are the grades below.
Special Teams: B
Not much to grade on special teams this week.
Punter Anthony Venneri averaged 35.3 yards per punt on three
short-field attempts with two inside the 20.
Noe Ruelas connected on a 45-yard field goal, while the coverage and return game didn’t do anything to significantly help or hurt the team.
Defense: B+
After opening the game by forcing a three-and-out for the Bearcats, the Knights gave up the only points in the first quarter they’ve allowed all season. Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby hit Jeff Caldwell for a 40-yard touchdown strike. It was the first of Cincy’s two trips to the endzone which were both scored by Caldwell.
That four-play drive was the only one the Bearcats had that was less than nine plays. Also, the Bearcats are perfect at putting points on the board in the red zone. They had to settle for field goals twice in that space. While the Knights’ defense gave up more big plays than normal, it was against one of the better teams on their current schedule. They still held them to 20 points with only third downs converted in nine tries while also holding them to 6.4 yards per play.
Offense: C
UCF didn’t get the ball first, but they did convert the game’s first two first downs. Cam Fancher, reprising his role as the Knights’ starting quarterback, showed the poise that they had hoped for in Week 1.
Fancher finished the game completing 28 of his 49 passes for 222 yards while also running for 108 yards on 20 carries including a three-yard touchdown.
On the second UCF drive of the game, he turned a fumbled snap into a first down. He led them to recover from a blatant missed defensive pass interference call. When the offense committed two more penalties for self-inflicted wounds, Fancher completed another poised pass to propel them past problems, and then DJ Black fumbled the ball when he got hit on a pass that would have continued the drive.
That drive and a third-quarter drive that lasted 17 plays for 40 yards of net production and came up with no points are the metaphors for UCF’s offense.
UCF did eventually score a touchdown in the final quarter on a 19-play drive. The Knights grinding style of offense gobbled up 39:44 of game time — and they only scored twice.
Head coach Scott Frost has said in the past that an offense that survives on long drives is difficult to win with because the margin of error is low.
When the margin of error is low, committing 10 penalties for 75 yards is not a path to victory — no matter who is playing quarterback.
