The UCF Knights have had the roughest possible start to the 2015 season, but the team can put that all behind them with a victory against the Tulane Green Wave to open up conference play.
“[Tulane is] 1-2 but they are really an improved football team. I like what they are doing on defense and I like what they are doing on offense and we are going to have to go in a play,” Head Coach George O’Leary said.
The Tulane Green Wave open the season with a 1-2 record and enter the game in New Orleans on Saturday coming off of a bye week. Tulane thrives on the ground with a pair of strong tailbacks running behind an experienced O-line while defensively they have struggled to find their identity.
True sophomore Dontrell Hilliard and redshirt sophomore Sherman Badie form a very dangerous two-headed monster at running back for Tulane. The sophomore duo has combined for 574 all-purpose yards this season which makes up 45.7 percent of the Green Wave’s output. Both backs produce in the pass game just as often as they do the run though, with Badie hauling in as many passes as he has carries (11) and Hililard adding in 84 receiving yards of his own.
Despite the gaudy numbers from Badie and Hilliard, neither will be expected to punch in the ball on the goal line as that role belongs to redshirt junior fullback Lazedrick Thompson. Thompson leads the Green Wave in carries with 33 and is a bruiser at 6 foot and 219 pounds.
Thus far this season, the Knights have done a solid job of containing backs like Thompson while getting burnt by shiftier backs like Badie and Hilliard which will be something to watch for on Saturday. The Knight’s defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan needs to get his front seven working on all cylinders if he hopes to stop the Tulane rush attack.
“We’re out there to win the conference, that’s our main goal. [Coach O’Leary] said that the past is the past and now we just have to move forward,” senior H-back Joseph Puopolo said.
Head Coach Curtis Johnson is in his fourth year with Tulane after spending time as the wide receivers coach for the New Orleans Saints. Johnson has posted a 13-27 record in his four seasons, but maneuvered the Green Wave to the New Orleans Bowl in 2013 and has an impressive pedigree with a National Championship and Super Bowl under his belt as a receivers coach.
With Johnson’s extensive experience working with receivers, Tulane still sports a solid group of pass catchers despite depth concerns due to injuries. One of only five receivers under scholarship left on the active roster is standout redshirt junior Devon Breaux who leads the Green Wave in receiving yards this season.
Breaux is ranked fifteenth in the NCAA in yards per reception and has a penchant for the deep ball which has been a weakness of the UCF secondary thus far this season. Unfortunately for the Knights, Breaux is not the only player on the Green Wave that has explosive capabilities as Tulane has had 13 offensive plays go for 20+ yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Tulane has been manhandled in the first three games of the season. That doesn’t mean they are without playmakers though as both junior linebacker Nico Marley and redshirt sophomore cornerback Parry Nickerson have made names for themselves in New Orleans.
Nico Marley, son of University of Miami linebacker Rohan and grandson of Bob Marley, leads the American Athletic Conference in average solo tackles per game and has progressively improved in his three years with the Green Wave. Parry Nickerson, on the other hand, started off his Tulane career with a bang; tallying six interceptions as a freshman and found himself on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list to open the season.
The Knights will likely look to returning running back Dontravious Wilson to take advantage of Tulane in the same way the Georgia Tech did a few weeks ago, gashing them for 439 yards and six rushing touchdowns. While AAC Conference play has atypically been good for the Knights in their first two seasons, they need a win now more than ever if they hope to turn the tide on this season. UCF is 5-1 against Tulane all-time including a 20-13 victory just last season and they kickoff against the Green Wave in New Orleans on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Photo Credit: Aileen Perilla
