Nine Games into the 2021 Season, UCF Football's Foundation is Stable

Throughout the 2021 season, UCF Football’s development has led to a 6-3 record and a program that’s sitting on a firm foundation.

Brian Smith | Nov 7, 2021

ORLANDO - The building of a college football program can take quite some time. Depending upon the location, the coaches in question, and of course the players themselves, it could be years before a college football program truly takes hold of a particular head coach’s vision.

For UCF Head Football Coach Gus Malzahn, that process went into hyperdrive this year thanks to good planning and good people around him, as evidenced by Saturday night’s comeback victory over Tulane by the score of 14-10. This is a program that’s quickly developing its players on both sides of the football.

A new location, new coaches and even more new players than normal because of the transfer portal would be the situation when Coach Malzahn took over in Orlando. It’s been a unique ride with those attributes involved, and then there were challenges with a plethora of injuries to deal with as well.

Here’s an overview of UCF Football’s 2021 season, where the program currently resides, and how it impacts the future.

Rushing Attack Defines the Mentality of the Offense

The running game should be considered the backbone of the UCF offense. This is a downhill running offense that features one of college football’s best between-the-tackles runners, Isaiah Bowser.

With a veteran offensive line and Coach Malzahn’s offensive philosophy of being a physical football team, the combination of the offensive line and Bowser helped the Knights build leads. It also allowed the Knights to salt away the clock during multiple games when the Knights simply wanted to grind out the victory after getting a lead.

That’s also been the case when other running backs entered the lineup like Johnny Richardson, Mark Antony-Richards, and Trillion Coles. Regardless of the situation, regardless of which running backs were rotating into the lineup, UCF leaned on its rushing attack.

Even when quarterback Dillon Gabriel was still the starter during the first three contests, the Knights wanted to pound the football. As the 2021 season winds down and there are thoughts regarding the future UCF offenses, know that power football will continue to live in Orlando. That leads into how the Knights needed to adjust, the running game included.

Overcoming Adversity and Injuries

Raise your hand if you believed the Knights would do well without Gabriel at quarterback. Few did, if people are being honest. Also, that does not even count losing center Matt Lee during different points of the season, including missing the Louisville game.

There was a huge sigh throughout the UCF fanbase when Gabriel was injured at the conclusion of the Louisville game. It’s understandable. Tough loss to the Cardinals for the Knights, and losing the starting quarterback as well did not help matters.

Then there were a plethora of additional injuries during that game, including Bowser, defensive tackle Ricky Barber, linebacker Tatum Bethune, wide receiver Jaylon Robinson, and cornerback Corey Thornton. Those are the players that missed various amounts of time with injuries sustained against the Cardinals.

It’s quite frankly an elite group of players. From a single game, it was one of the most unfortunate injury lists in UCF Football history, creating a lot of adversity that needed to be overcome without much time to prepare for the talent that would be in street clothes while they healed.

The Knights played six games since that night in Louisville, going 4-2. The offense and defense made strides, and some of the players are coming back to the lineup. To be clear, this six-game stretch could have gone far worse. Few college football teams see the type of attrition that UCF did and play above .500 football.

Those injuries do not even take into account that the Knights lost defensive tackle Kalia Davis during the first half versus East Carolina. That was game No. 5 and will not return this season as he suffered a significant knee injury. Once again, the Knights found a way to overcome a tough situation.

The resiliency of this UCF Football team, and the program as a whole, needs to be commended. That resiliency will help to expedite the improvement of the program overall from 2021 into 2022 and beyond. That was the case last night, as the following post from the UCF Football program will attest.

Another step for the program took place because of injuries as well, and it’s the most critical position on the field.

Development of Quarterback Mikey Keene

He struggled at times, as one would expect from a true freshman quarterback thrusted into the lineup. That’s fair. He suddenly made huge strides during the past two weeks, however, and it resulted in two games where he could be counted on instead of being viewed as a player that needed help.

Keene’s statistics from the Tulane game are one thing, but his touchdown strike to wide receiver Brandon Johnson is a microcosm of a player that’s developed physically, and more so mentally, by throwing a fantastic pass during a critical moment.

Brandon Johnson UCF — UCF Wide Receiver Brandon Johnson has caught nine touchdowns during nine games / UCF Athletics

It’s common for a quarterback to miss the wide open receiver that would have been a walk-in touchdown because a signal caller will place too much pressure on himself not to overthrow the receiver. Keene did not flinch. He threw a bullet to Johnson that allowed him to continue to run in stride while catching the football and cross the goal line for the game-winning score.

During the past two games, Keene is 34/46 for 458 yards, seven touchdowns and only one interception. He has truly made monumental strides, just like the program he represents, during the last two weeks and the 2021 season as a whole. The other part of UCF’s climb stems from arguably the biggest challenge, building an elite defense.

Defensive Turnaround

With all of the defensive injuries and players coming in and out of the lineup, it’s incredible that the Knights currently possess a three-game stretch of allowing only 24 points, producing 15 sacks, holding opponents to 16/42 during third down conversions.

Whether defensive end Big Kat Bryant was flushing the quarterback outside the pocket and that led to no opportunity to throwing to an open receiver, safety Quadric Bullard making a one-on-one tackle in open space, or linebacker Bryson Armstrong sacking the quarterback during a blitz, the UCF defense found a way to make plays when it needed to do so.

Much like with Gabriel’s injury, not many people likely believed in this defense after the Louisville injury list came out, and especially after the injury to Davis during the East Carolina game.

The ability to overcome has been clear. UCF found a way to make it work on defense. With that, a newfound enthusiasm and belief for UCF defensive players that they can make big plays at any moment has begun to take shape; it’s been infectious at all three levels of the defense.

With the defense finding its groove during the past three games, it helps to set a standard that can be utilized for the rest of this season, the bowl game, into spring practice and beyond.

Final Thoughts

This 2021 season has been a wild ride. Watching the rushing attack be the focal point of the offense, the close games, numerous injuries to vital players, a quarterback change, top players coming in and out of the lineup, are all a part of an unusual first season for Coach Malzahn and the Knights.

While not a perfect season to begin a foundation for the future, it’s safe to say that UCF Football resides in an envious position moving forward based on how the program has found different ways to develop and utilize players on both sides of the football.

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