Interim Head Coach Danny Barrett’s first game at the helm of the Knights will come against his alma mater Cincinnati on Halloween.
The Bearcats have a 4-3 record heading into Saturday’s contest against the Knights with all of their losses coming against tough opponents (Temple, Memphis, and BYU). Head Coach Tommy Tuberville has a 22-11 record midway through his third season with the Bearcats and has led the team to two consecutive bowl appearances.
Cincinnati’s biggest asset lies within their multitude of offensive weapons in both the passing and ground game. Junior quarterback Gunner Kiel has NFL level talent, but just made his first start this past week coming off of a neck injury he sustained nearly a month ago against Memphis. However, backup Hayden Moore performed admirably in Kiel’s absence which resulted in a QB competition. While Kiel is probably the odds-on favorite to be the starter, the Knights will have to prepare for the possibility of either quarterback playing on Saturday.
Whichever quarterback receives the nod for the Bearcats will have a bevy of talent to throw to between senior receivers Shaq Washington, Mekale McKay and Max Morrison. Washington leads the Bearcats in catches with 47 and is only seven grabs away from breaking the school record for career receptions.
The speedy receiver McKay has been significantly less active this season than Washington and Morrison, but his 6 foot 5 inch frame will force the Knights to pay attention to him in the redzone. McKay is regularly targeted on deep plays with success by the Bearcats as he has an average of 24.6 yards per catch thus far this year.
Max Morrison’s production falls directly between McKay and Washington as the senior receiver sees a steady amount of targets and has big play potential. Morrison also had his biggest game of the year in a big game against the Memphis Tigers, posting nine receptions for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bearcats also sport a talented trio of running backs in senior Hosey Williams, junior Tion Green and sophomore Mike Boone. All three backs have registered a 100-yard game this season and have tallied a combined total of 1,390 yards on the ground. This three-headed monster could cause a lot of trouble for the Knights after they were gashed for 366 rushing yards to the Houston Cougars just this past week.
Defensively, the Bearcats have somewhat struggled this year, but junior linebacker Eric Wilson and senior defensive end Silverberry Mouhon have been bright spots. However, should UCF gain some momentum, they could take advantage of the Bearcats lack of playmakers and make significant strides on offense.
Silverberry Mouhon is tied for the team lead in sacks and tackles for loss and has a penchant for causing disruption in the run game. The Knight’s run game was much improved this past Saturday with the return of Dontravious Wilson, but the offensive line will have to step up and keep Mouhon at bay this week if they hope to continue that trend.
Junior Eric Wilson ranks inside the top 20 in the NCAA in tackles per game and is the Bearcats leader by nearly 30 tackles. Wilson heads up a linebacker core that has Cincinnati ranked just sixth in the American Athletic Conference in run defense and gives up 167 rushing yards on average per game.
This will be the first time that Cincinnati and UCF will meet as they did not have a matchup in their first two seasons in the American Athletic Conference. Danny Barrett enters his first game as the Knight’s interim head coach and the team will travel to Ohio for the first time since taking on Ohio State and Akron in 2012. The Bearcats are looking for their second consecutive in-conference win while the Knights will continue to search for their first win of the season at noon this Saturday in Cincinnati.
Photo Credit: Aileen Perilla
