No. 20 UCF Knights at NAVY Midshipmen
When: Saturday, 3:30 pm
Where: Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Annapolis, Md.)
TV: CBS Sports Network
Coaches: UCF – Scott Frost, 2nd Season (5-0, 11-7 overall) Navy—Ken Niumatalolo, 10th Season (5-1, 82-43 overall)
About the matchup:
After the Knights (5-0, 3-0) stomped East Carolina for homecoming last Saturday (63-21) they travel up to Annapolis to face its first option offense in Navy this week—the team’s fourth straight American Conference opponent.
Scott Frost played a big role in preparing his team this week, personally taking reps as the option quarterback for the scout team. Frost brought his first hand experience in that system, that favors the quarterback reading the defense and then deciding to run, or pitch the ball back to a tailback/fullback,as Frost played in and option offense at Nebraska and won a national championship in 1997 and beforehand under his father at Wood River High.
For the team that jumped up two spots in the latest AP College Football rankings to No. 20, it will be critical to keep things simple on the defensive front and limit production on the ground as Navy has been able to average nearly 400-rushing yards a game.
Redemption is on the mind for the Midshipmen (5-1, 3-1) this week. The team falling short of a comeback against Memphis last outing, 30-27. With that loss to the Tigers, Navy dropped out of the Top 25 rankings and ended their unbeaten streak after opening the season, 5-0.
The Midshipmen will rely on junior QB Zach Abey to carry the offensive workload. Abey, who has mastered the triple-option for Navy, is leading the team and nation in rushing yards for a quarterback (1,016-yards). But the Knights secondary can’t take a breather as his aerial attack is nothing to gawk at, passing for 491-yards and collecting a total of 17 touchdowns.
Navy’s defense will have their hands full with trying to slow down the top scoring offense in the nation in UCF (50.6 points per game) but we are bound for a gritty contest on Saturday as UCF is favored by just 7.5 points.
Three and out:
1. Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo is a Hawaii native that recruited McKenzie Milton out of high school. Milton visited the Naval Academy before UCF and said he just couldn’t see himself playing the triple option.
2. This is the first meeting between Navy and UCF in program history.
3. If the Knights win, it will be UCF’s first six game win streak since winning nine in a row during the 2013 season and first 6-0 start in program’s NCAA FBS history.