My feelings are best expressed by this video of Shaquem Griffin clapping in the opponent’s face, over and over.
And over.
And over.
UCF looks like the best team in the American
Athletic Conference. There are tough games left to play against Navy,
USF, and maybe SMU. But with a 40-13 hammering of presumptive AAC West
leader Memphis, the UCF Knights are the team to beat.
Candidly, I don’t know where to start with this recap. It’s an embarrassment of riches. Shaquem Griffin had a strip sack of Memphis QB Riley Ferguson, which Pat Jasinski
recovered. Tre’Quan Smith had two touchdown catches. Adrian Killins had
a 96 yard touchdown run (this broke his own record for longest TD run
in UCF history). And also a touchdown after a catch and run. Kyle Gibson had a crazy interception for the second week in a row. Mike Hughes had a great pick, also for the second week in a row. Seyvon Lowry had a big man pick – something we never tire of here.
The statistics are beyond gaudy. UCF had 603 total yards
of offense (350 rushing, 253 passing). UCF still hasn’t allowed a sack.
UCF’s defense held the Tigers to 75 rushing yards. UCF’s turnover margin
is unearthly good, helped by being plus four today. UCF has outscored
its three opponents 139-40. Each of those teams has lost only to UCF.
This
is also another ‘it wasn’t even as close as the score suggests’ game.
Inasmuch as losing by 27 could be considered remotely in the
neighborhood. Memphis was down 40-7 and scored a touchdown with no time
left on the clock afterwards. This is quite literally the most garbage
of garbage time imaginable.
It was a given that UCF would move the ball against
Memphis’s injury-depleted defense, but hard to imagine the defense would
make the huge stops it did. When I previewed this came before Hurricane
Irma, I predicted a shootout. Um, nope.
What I can’t tell you is that it was perfect. McKenzie Milton
didn’t always make good choices and threw a bad interception into the
end zone. There were some egregious penalties that looked at the time
that they might seriously sting us (they didn’t). But dwelling on the
relatively few miscues would seem terribly ungrateful. Maybe we’ll pick
the nits another day (we won’t).
So there we go. The Knights are 3-0. The Knights blew out
FIU (for whatever that’s worth). The Knights clobbered a Big Ten team
(hey, those Terps went on to beat Minnesota this week). The Knights have
blown out the Tigers, whom many thought would be the best team in the
AAC West (they may still wind up in that spot). No one has seriously
threatened UCF in the second half of a game all year.
I’ve assumed that this year was setting the table for next year. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this year is the year.
/insert unbridled optimism here.
Oh, and also highlights.
Go Knights!
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