UCF will get a chance to flex its muscles this week when the Knights host North Carolina A&T on Saturday. The program has won eight straight games against Football Championship Subdivision teams by an average of 45 points per game.
It was a challenging season opener against Jacksonville State last Thursday, which featured a more than two-hour weather delay and an injury to starting quarterback Cam Fancher. Yet, UCF scored a pair of touchdowns late to pull out a 17-10 victory.
It was the 14th straight win by a UCF team under coach Scott Frost, who returned to the program after a nearly eight-year absence.
What improvements does Frost want to see from Game 1 to Game 2?
UCF showed signs of being a team with nearly 70 newcomers on the roster, and it certainly impacted their performance last Thursday.
However, things should take a turn against the Aggies this Saturday.
“It seemed every time we got something rolling, there was a bad mistake, whether it was an offside on defense on a big play or a false start or a holding penalty on a touchdown play, we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Frost.
The Knights were penalized a game-high nine times last week.
In the second quarter, Myles Montgomery had a 29-yard touchdown run that was called back due to a holding penalty. A subsequent chop block penalty on the same drive pushed them from inside the JSU red zone back to the 35-yard line, effectively squashing their scoring opportunity.
Later, in the third quarter, UCF faced a 3rd-and-goal at the JSU 1-yard line, only to be thwarted by a false start penalty. Following an incomplete pass, the Knights settled for a 24-yard field goal instead.
Defensively, UCF committed offsides three times on third downs, granting the Gamecocks continued possession with fresh sets of downs.
How can the offense jump-start the ground game?
UCF failed to score a rushing touchdown for the first time since a 19-13 loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 12, 2024.
In his previous two seasons as the Knights’ coach, Scott Frost’s teams only failed to score a rushing touchdown twice: vs. UConn (Oct. 22, 2016) and vs. Arkansas State (Dec. 17, 2016).
Montgomery finished with a game-high 79 rushing yards on 21 carries, although the majority of those yards (63) came in the first half.
“Myles is our clear-cut leader on the entire team and he’s a really good player, but we just can’t run him into the ground,” Frost explained. “The game stayed close and we kept him out there a lot, but I trust Jaden Nixon. I trust Stacy Gage and I trust Agyeman Addae. I want to see them get more chances.”
Nixon had two carries for minus-6 yards while quarterbacks Cam Fancher (39) and Jackson (5) and receiver Duane Thomas Jr. (minus-7) rounded out the rest of the ball carriers.
What did UCF make of tight end Dylan Wade’s performance?
Transfer tight end Dylan Wade became the first Knights player to score a touchdown this season when he caught a Jackson pass in the flat and raced 39 yards for a score at the start of the fourth quarter.
Wade, a 6-4 junior from Orlando’s Jones High School, finished tied with a team-high 4 catches for 54 yards and a touchdown.
“Dylan’s probably the most consistent at the position,” said Frost. “I like several guys we have at that position. The play he made was a big play for us, obviously one of the big plays, but he did several good things overall.”
Who starts for the suspended Lewis Carter?
Carter, a junior transfer from Oklahoma, was ejected in the final minutes of Thursday’s victory after being flagged for targeting on JSU receiver Brock Rechsteiner. It was a disappointing ending for the starting linebacker, who finished with a game-high 9 tackles in the game.
Under NCAA rules, Carter is suspended for the first half of Saturday’s contest with NCAT.
Frost said the team is appealing the suspension.
“I know that wasn’t intentional and in my opinion, it was just close,” said Frost.
If Carter is unable to start the game, the Knights will use a rotation of players to fill the role, including Cole Kozlowski, Jayden McDonald, TJ Bullard and Troy Ford.
Kozlowski (4), McDonald (3) and starter Keli Lawson (3) combined for 10 tackles.
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
