Central Florida linebacker Errol Clarke (51) celebrates after a stop against Temple during an NCAA college football game in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
We’re finally here. It’s Conflict week. The greatest rivalry in professional and collegiate sports alike reignites this weekend, so what are the chances the trophy stays in Storrs?
The UCF Knights (3-3, 1-1) are coming to East Hartford this Saturday off a 26-25 loss to the Temple Owls. The Knights jumped out to a 25-7 lead in the first half, but saw Temple register 19 unanswered points to steal a victory and spoil UCF’s homecoming game.
Temple sealed the game on an eight-yard touchdown pass with just one second remaining on the clock. The touchdown capped off a four-play, 70-yard drive with just 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Owls will visit UConn for a game on Friday, Nov. 4.
The Knights won their first American Conference game of the season the week before, taking down East Carolina by a score of 47-29.
Part of the reason the Knights have struggled has been their inconsistency at quarterback, which in large part has been due to injuries. Senior quarterback Justin Holman, when healthy, has been the starting quarterback for the UCF Knights since 2014. He played in the first two games of the season before a hamstring injury against Michigan. Therefore, freshman McKenzie Milton will be making his third start at quarterback this weekend for UCF.
So far this season, Holman has thrown for 368 yards with two passing touchdowns, compared with Milton’s 433 yards and three passing touchdowns.
Senior running back Dontravious Wilson commands the ground game for UCF. The Georgia native has logged 278 yards and seven touchdowns in five games. Tre’Quan Smith is the only receiver on the Knights with more than one receving touchdown. The redshirt sophomore has two, and 221 yards to go with it.
As a team, the UCF Knights are scoring an average of 35 points per game and putting up 450 yards. On the flip side, opponents are scoring 25 points per game against UCF and amassing 350-yards on average.
This UCF defense has five interceptions on the year; senior defensive back Shaquill Griffin leads the way with two, his twin brother Shaquem Griffin leads the team with five sacks.
Connor Donahue is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus, covering Men’s Ice Hockey. He can be reached via email at connor.f.donahue@uconn.edu. He tweets @conn_donahue.