Will the UCF Knights' Offense Keep Rolling?
The UCF Knights are consistently performing at high offensive level. It’s been a great transformation compared to what was witnessed just a few weeks ago. That transformation could lead to an American Athletic Conference title.
To do that, the offense will be the biggest key as it took longer to get rolling as compared to the defense (allowing just 14.3 points per game).
The offense is finally starting to be consistent and even downright scary, based on the 39 offensive points versus the SMU Mustangs and 70 offensive points versus the Temple Owls.
To see the results truly come out positive for head coach Gus Malzahn and the Knights for the rest of the 2022 season, the offensive line will have much to do with it.
With solid to good protection, quarterback John Rhys Plumlee is throwing the football well. Further, there’s been room to run for several running backs like Isaiah Bowser, Johnny Richardson and RJ Harvey, in addition to Plumlee himself taking off with the pigskin.
The offensive line is playing much more in sync than earlier this season. It’s great to see.
Overall, can UCF’s offense continue to improve and be successful down the stretch against better competition? Possibly, but we need to look at what’s been accomplished thus far, especially the passing game of late.
After Plumlee got into a groove, he’s become a reliable passer and one that hits big plays consistently.
How about two bombs being completed against Temple during the third quarter from consecutive drives? That’s what happened with a 68-yard strike to Ryan O’Keefe and a 64-yard completion to Kobe Hudson. Both went for touchdowns.
Heck, after the SMU game, wide receiver Javon Baker all but dared opposing teams to single cover the wide receiver corps. His confidence was bordering on arrogance. Why not? He had just smoked SMU’s secondary for six receptions and 138 yards. Hard to blame a young man for feeling his best after averaging 23 yards per catch.
As for working with Plumlee specifically, Baker said after SMU.
“Yeah, we’re close enough that we can tell each other like, you can do this and you can do that, our chemistry is good for me.”
Baker continued by talking about the three-headed monster at wide receiver:
This quote is valuable data for what the #UCF Knights have coming up during a really tough stretch of their 2022 football 🏈 schedule. The passing game will be 🔑 #ChargeOn #CollegeFootball @javondbaker7 pic.twitter.com/gHfDSV35R3
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) October 16, 2022
The passing game has not taken away from the rushing attack either. Just the opposite is true–they complement one another well–to provide a well balanced attack. The Knights accumulated 464 rushing yards during the past two games combined. Even during the loss to Louisville, UCF ran for 204 yards.
The passing game was excellent the past couple of games, combining for 757 yards versus SMU and Temple. Now it is time to make projections for how the final six games will unfold for the UCF offense, with the following statistics being projected per game averages.
Passing Game: 240 yards, two touchdowns, and converting 45% of third down passes.
Running Game: 210 yards, 2.5 touchdowns, and converting 66% of third down runs.
Scoring: 34 points.
The competition is going to improve down the stretch, so rolling up 737 yards and 70 points like the Knights did against the Owls is not realistic. Nothing remotely close to that is realistic either.
RELATED: 2022 UCF Football Schedule
That would be why the third down percentages were projected above. Those are more important than any other above statistic.
Converting on third downs will also move the Knights closer to winning the American Athletic Conference one more time before heading off to the Big XII in 2023. Why so high? Experience and comfort.
This is a veteran group of players overall, and everything they do looks much more natural now. There’s an easy going flow to the offense where the Knights can rely on either the pass or the run to get the job done.
Teams cannot just attempt to slow down the rushing attack like earlier this season because the passing game has taken off. That’s going to lead to more success.
Overall, this offense is making moves and it’s really fun to watch. Expect plenty of more fireworks down the stretch despite playing quality teams.
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