The Cougars defeated the Golden Knights by a score of 59-10 in 2015. | Courtesy of UH Athletics
The Cougars will try to recapture their winning ways Saturday when they welcome the University of Central Florida Golden Knights to TDECU Stadium.
UCF is currently in third place in the American Athletic Conference East Division with a record of 4-3. The Golden Knights are far from a pushover team, as their only losses came against Michigan Unversity, the University of Maryland and Temple University.
Having lost two of their last three games, the Cougars will need to play at their highest level to earn the victory.
“They are very sound in what they do,” Head coach Tom Herman said in his Monday press conference. “Just playing better on all sides of the ball.”
Formidable opponent
“Playing better” may be an understatement. Last season, UCF failed to win a single game the entire season en route to finishing 0-12. The Golden Knights are coming off of an impressive 24-16 win against the University of Connecticut Huskies, a team that defeated them 40-13 in 2015.
UCF is showing remarkable improvement across all facets of their game.
The Golden Knights rank 36th in the nation in total defense and rushing defense. The Knights’ defense is going to be a challenge for senior quarterback Greg Ward Jr. and the rest of the Cougars’ offense.
“They’re very sound in what they do. They’re going to overload the run,” Herman said. “Really good scheme, (head coach Scott Frost) has his guys playing really hard.”
Herman said that there are similarities in the defensive scheme between UCF and the University of Oklahoma, whom the Cougars defeated on Sept. 3.
The Cougars are a run-first offense, which could give them trouble against the stout run defense of UCF.
A key member of the UCF defense is junior linebacker Shaquem Griffin.
Griffin has quickly become one of the best stories in college football as he is enjoying success with just one hand. The junior had his left hand amputated when he was 4 years old due to amniotic band syndrome.
However, his ailment has not stopped him from competing with the best.
Griffin’s six sacks lead the team and he has forced two fumbles on the year. The battered Cougar offensive line will have difficulty keeping the UCF star defender away from Ward.
The Cougars must improve
The Golden Knights rank 74th in the nation offensively, averaging just over 402 yards per game. Head coach Scott Frost runs an up-tempo offense that keeps defenses off balance.
“You see speed everywhere from the quarterback to the running back,” Herman said. “He’s got those guys playing great in that system, very similar to Oregon. They are going to run to set up the play-action pass and they are going to want to run it and have a lot of misdirection with motions and all that.”
Herman noted that he’s been impressed by the speed of 5-foot-8, 155-pound freshman running back Adrian Killins.
Killins is a gadget-type of player who can punish defenses by rushing, catching and returning kicks. His speed puts him among the fastest players in the NCAA and a threat to any defense or special teams.
On the season, Killins is averaging 9.9 yards per carry on 26 rushes. The freshman is averaging 17.1 yards per catch on eight receptions with two touchdowns. Killins has proved to be a deep threat against any team.
In their last three games, the Cougars have struggled to battle back when adversity hits. With a talented team like UCF coming to town, Herman knows this has to change for his team to avoid back-to-back losses.
“When teams hit us in the mouth, we can’t be surprised by that,” Herman said. “We have to have the confidence to know we earned this and we asked for this.”
