On Saturday, the UCF Knights will take on the Arkansas
State Red Wolves in the AutoNation Cure Bowl. We cover both teams here
at Underdog Dynasty. But to be frank, I suspect many UCF fans aren’t
overly familiar with the Red Wolves (the teams played once, in 1991, a
UCF win).
Let’s fix that.
I’ve asked our Arkansas State writer Martin L. Ferguson
some questions about his team. His answers are below. And if you want
more of Martin’s Arkansas State insights, check them out here.
1. Martin, help us understand Arkansas
State as a program. What has been its overall arc? Any program-defining
moments, heroes, or stories that UCF fans should know about?
From 1992 to 2010, ASU felt the pains of transitioning to
Division 1, going 77-162-2 with five different head coaches. The lack
of investment in the program showed in salaries, facilities, and the
general disinterest from the fan base. The recent history of ASU
football (2011-2016) has been called "The One and Done Era," and started
with the hiring of a string of young, eager, offensive minded coaches
(Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, and finally Blake Anderson)
that energized the program and brought success. But the program
ultimately also lost the first three to jobs at larger programs (Ole
Miss, Auburn, Boise State). That combined with the right school
president (Chuck Welch) and AD (Terry Mohajir) guiding the program,
helped lay the foundation for the first 6 consecutive winning seasons
since 1912-17.
2. Arkansas State has won the Sun Belt –
either outright or sharing the honor – five of the last six years. To
what do you attribute the Red Wolves’ recent dominance?
The magic formula seems to be a mix of factors. First,
hire young, aggressive, offensive-minded coaches who all had similar
offensive philosophies so that when they leave for a bigger job, the
recruits you have on campus somewhat fit the style and tempo of play of
the next coach. The next factor is good recruiting, which shows in the
conference rankings with ASU being one or two consistently in
recruiting. The third part of that is the commitment to facilities. The
school has already expanded its pressbox and added a club level with
luxury suites, a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility, and
eventually a new football operations center. All of these projects
combined will be more than 40 million dollars invested in the program in
5 years.
3. Who should Knights fans be most concerned about on Saturday? Is it Sun Belt Player of the Year Ja’Von Rolland-Jones?
Rolland-Jones is the Sun Belt career sack leader, but at
the other end is Chris Odom who also has 12.5 sacks on the season, one
more than Rolland-Jones. The twosome were both on the Ted Hendricks
Award watch list for best college DE in America, the only 2 teammates on
the list.
Offensively 5'5" RB Warren Wand is one to watch. Some
have called him the human Mario Kart for his agility and ability to
bounce off tacklers. He has physically willed a Red Wolves offense that
has struggled at times.
4. What do you view as the critical position match-up against my Knights?
This will be a defensive struggle I believe, so the ASU
offensive line's ability to open run lanes and protect QB Justice Hansen
will decide whether ASU can be consistent enough to get points on the
board.
5. The advanced statistics says UCF has a 61% win probability. And the Knights are a 5 to 6.5 point favorite, depending where you look. Is that fair or unfair?
Seems fair enough with this team. It has had to rely on
tough defensive play all year to be successful with the inconsistent
play of younger offensive starters and new transfers.
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