The win-less season the Knights have been enduring has a strong chance of continuing on past this Saturday after a matchup with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane’s fast-paced offense.
“I think up front, both offensive line and defensive line is a pretty even match [with Tulsa] there which is probably the first time this year because we are such a young offensive line. But I think that that’s a good matchup for our offensive line,” UCF Head Coach Danny Barrett said.
UCF’s defense allowed 52 points to a Cincinnati offense that was trying to find its identity while the Tulsa offense is running on all cylinders behind junior quarterback Dane Evans. 22 of the Hurricane’s 33 touchdown drives have clocked in less than two minutes long, while 14 of those 22 clocked in under a minute long. What that basically means is that when Tulsa scores, they score fast and in bunches.
Tulsa averages just over 35 points per game with their lowest point total this season coming against East Carolina where they only managed to post 17 points. To put that in perspective, the Knights have failed to score more than 17 points in all but one of their games this season.
The Hurricane’s head coach Philip Montgomery is in his first season at the helm, but Tulsa has developed quickly under his tutelage. The 4-4 record held by the Hurricane is very deceptive with 3 of their losses coming in close games against ranked teams like Oklahoma, Houston and Memphis.
Junior quarterback Dane Evans has made strides in his third season, posting 2788 yards and 15 touchdowns through the first eight games this year. Evans’ ability to keep plays alive when the pocket collapses has helped Tulsa keep in those tight games against tough competition. 60 percent of Evans’ passing yards this season have been split between two receivers, senior Keyarris Garrett and junior Josh Atkinson.
“You can start to see [Dane Evans] level of confidence and experience starting to show out, show up. He’s hanging onto the football till the last second at the line of scrimmage and finding guys down the football field and he’s been very accurate to date,” Barrett said.
Garrett put the nation on notice when he posted 14 catches for 268 receiving yards and 3 TDs against a ranked Memphis team in Tulsa’s 14 point loss. On the other side, Atkinson has made his name as another big play receiver for the Golden Hurricane’s offense, averaging 16.3 yards per catch with a season long of 80 yards.
Tulsa’s run game is also fully healthy for the first time in weeks as sophomore scat back D’Angelo Brewer and senior bruiser Zack Langer each made their returns from injuries over the last two weeks.
“The way I look at it is, the [Cincinnati] game is over and you have another opportunity to redeem yourself. [Tulsa] spreads the field, puts up a lot of numbers. I mean, you’ve got to play good defense,” senior defensive end Thomas Niles said.
After early season struggles, Tulsa’s defense has registered 10 takeaways in their last six games and their secondary has improved each game. They’re led by senior strong safety Michael Mudoh who is one of only 16 players in Tulsa history to record 300 career tackles and this season alone he has 87 tackles and 5 pass breakups. Sophomore cornerback Kerwin Thomas leads Golden Hurricane in pass breakups and interceptions and has done a good job of shutting down each opposing team’s lead receiver in recent weeks.
Tulsa has doubled its win total from last season already and with UCF searching for their first win yet again, a tough test from this sooner state team is not likely to be what the Knights are looking for. Another lopsided affair may be on the horizon for the Knights, but luckily next week is the first bye week of the season which gives interim Head Coach Danny Barrett a chance to implement something new before the final two games of the season.
Photo Credit: Aileen Perilla
