Week 7
University of Central Florida Knights @
University of Miami Hurricanes
Dolphin Stadium – Miami Gardens, FL
Capacity: 76,500
Kickoff: 3:45pm ET
Line (As Of 10/9) : Miami -16.5
Television: ESPN U & ESPN U HD(Brighthouse Channel 1331 and 109)
Radio: AM 740 (Orlando), 1350 (Cocoa & Dade City), 1340 (Daytona) 1240 (Melbourne)
UCF Record: 2-3,last win against SMU. Last loss to UTEP.
Opponents Record: 2-3, last win against Texas A&M. Last loss to Florida State.
Series Record: First meeting
UCF Depth Chart:Click Here To See
Miami Depth Chart: As soon as I find one, I will let you know.

Analysis by: punk0mi of the ucflj community.

The tale of two Cities
Miami and Orlando. One is a former giant of college football. The other is looking to be one someday. Both have fallen off in performance. Both are 2-3. Both are wanting to salvage the season. However, only one can win. Who will it be?

Miami is coming off a heart-breaker of a loss to rival in-state and ACC conference foe Florida State. Miami, despite struggling for most of the game, some how managed to stick it to the Seminoles towards the end of the game. For the past few years, the Miami/FSU match up hadn’t lived up to its name – I mean, usually when these two met you could bet $5 that it would dictate would be playing for the ACC championship, if not the National Championship. It was nice to see a game between these two live up to the hype it once had. It is only a matter of time for both of those programs to return to the greatness they once had. Speaking of which, brings me to my next point.

This will probably be UCF’s only chance at downing the Miami Hurricanes (short of a vast, vast, vast, and did I say vast? improvement in recruiting and coaching). Miami is a fickle team loaded with talent. The only problem is that the talent is really young and inexperienced. Despite winning last week against SMU, UCF is struggling on its own. Everyone needs to take the victory last week with a grain of salt and remember SMU is ranked dead last in almost every facet of the defensive game. The match up this weekend should be interesting.

On to the pre-game analysis…

What can we expect from Miami?
If I could use an analogy for the Miami Hurricane team right now it would be they are like teenagers in puberty. Are they coming? Are they going? Miami is a young team with some serious speed. However, the following is a list that will put a frown on about any Canes fan:

Questionable for Saturday’s Game
OL Chris Barney – Leg
WR Thearon Collier – Chest
Doubtful for Saturday’s Game
WR Leonard Hankerson - Leg
DL Josh Holmes – Leg
RB Javarris James – Leg
OL Ben Jones – Leg
Out for Saturday’s Game
RB Damien Berry – Leg
LB Jordan Futch – Head
LB Colin McCarthy – Shoulder
DL Eric Moncur - Leg
S Randy Phillips - Leg
S Vaughn Telemaque – Arm
OL Reggie Youngblood - Leg
Surgery/Out for Season
WR Tommy Streeter – Arm
WR Kendal Thompkins - Shoulder

Yeah,that is right…15 Miami players are hurting and some of them are starters

What can we expect from UCF?
Expect UCF to be aggressive at the line. Expect UCF to plan on using special teams as a major weapon against Miami. Expect O’Leary to use the run game pretty hard since FSU exposed the Canes last week. Last but not least the starting quarterback will be…(flipping a quarter)…Michael Greco. I expect UCF to be pretty fired up about this game as a lot of our players hail from the Miami area and will want to beat the team that didn’t recruit them.

Who, What, Where, Why, When, How?
Miami is lead by redshirt Freshman QB Robert Marve. Marve hasn’t been so marvelous this season thus far with only 57% of his passes being complete. Additionally Marve has 5 TD and 5 INT’s to match. If the offensive game starts to go south, expect head coach Randy Shannon to put in another redshirt freshman at QB named Jacory Harris. When the air game is going, expect passes to hit WR’s Kanye Farquharson (Sr.), Sam Shields (Jr.), Travis Benjamin (Fr.), and Aldarius Johnson (Fr.). Miami will have to keep their receivers healthy during this game since the depth charts are looking thin in the wide out positions thanks to injuries. When in a pinch, expect some trickery to come in to a pass to a half back pass. When Miami isn’t throwing the ball, look for Graig Cooper (So.) to be pedaling by foot. Miami’s offensive line will be missing Senior O-lineman Reggie Youngblood and big Ben Jones(Fr.)this weekend. What does UCF need to do on defense? Apply pressure where it hurts. Miami is going to be missing one of it’s best linemen for this game and that is where they need to attack. If enough pressure can be put on Marve, expect errant throws that result in an INT. Stops on third down will be critical for the UCF defense. The UCF defensive backfield will need to have their best shoes on their feet to keep up with Miami’s speed. I am pretty confidant that the D-line will be able to handle the running attack from Miami, but should still be on the look out for trick plays.

What about defense for Miami? The Canes have suffered some blows on D from injuries as well. Miami will be starting with out standout D-linesmans Eric Moncur (Sr.) and Josh Holmes (So.), Linebackers Jordan Futch(Fr.) and Colin McCarthy(Jr.), and Safeties Randy Philips (Sr.) and Vaughn Telemaque (Fr.). Ouch. Miami is being forced to play some really young and inexperienced players on D for this Saturday. With what is left of the D, expect big plays to come from LB Glenn Cook (Sr.). Cook is the teams defensive stat leader with 15 solos, 13 assists, 5 TFL for 14 yards, 3 hurries, and 1 forced fumble. The D line will only have 2 seniors playing named Dwayne Hendricks and Antonio Dixon. However, look for good play to come from Adewale Ojomo (R.Fr.) at the Right defensive end. Miami will be putting the air defense in the hands of Safeties Anthonry Reddick (Sr.), Ryan Hill (Jr.), Lovon Ponder (Sr.) as well as cornerbacks Brandon Harris (Fr.) and Bruce Johnson (Sr.). What does UCF need to do? Get it together and take advantage of a bruise defense. Hopefully Ronnie Weaver will have another great game and be able to run against this aching defense. If UCF is able to establish a good run game, which is O’Leary’s favorite, then UCF has a really good chance. If there is a passing game, expect the passes to be split between Kamar Aiken and Brian Watters. Both of these guys need to break shed their cover man and get open. This will be a good game for a running our QB – be it Greco or Calabrese. Greco is quicker it seems, but Calabrese is better suited to take a hit. Special teams will be the focus of this game for UCF. This is one tool that UCF has that can really give us the opportunity against Miami. If Burnett has a stand out day, and UCF can take advantage of the damaged Miami defense, this game may be closer than we think.

Other Contributing Factors: There are many contributing factors that will affect UCF. Away Game - Playing in the backyard of big bad Miami. Will UCF be intimidated? Impress the Locals - Many UCF players will be looking to stick it to Miami for not recruiting them when they played in local Miami highschools. Traveling Knights - According to UCF Athletics, all the 5,500 alotted tickets for this game have been sold. Impressive. I am sure there will be more than 5,500 UCF fans there this weekend. Perhaps a good showing will boost the team! Weather looks good for a Questionable: - The daytime high is expected to be around 85 with a relative humidty of 76%. 40% chance of showers during the day and 60% in the evening. Wear SUNSCREE, the UV index is going to be a 9. Winds are expected out of the ENE at 14 MPH.

Summary :
I wasn’t too optimistic about this game before I did some research. I am still not telling anyone to go bet on UCF to upset the 16 point favorite, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Knights manage to pull out a win against a legendary team like the Hurricanes. Miami is hurting but benefits from a depth chart full of talent but lacking experience. UCF is coming off a victory against SMU and is looking to keep the train moving forward. If UCF has a good day on special teams, and the offense is able to move down field and score, expect this game to be real close. See you in the UCF section.

Go Knights!