Some of the questions posed this week to the University of Miami football players and coaches surprised them.

Could Saturday's game against Central Florida be considered a trap game?

Would the game be considered dangerous because neither program's season has national implications?

The answers, said the Hurricanes, were clear.

''I wouldn't consider it a trap game,'' UM left tackle Jason Fox said. ``Trap games are when you're on a roll and you overlook somebody. There's definitely no other game more important than this one right now.''

UM coach Randy Shannon knows the real reason this game is dangerous. His Hurricanes (2-3) can't afford to walk away with their third consecutive loss -- against an instate competitor from Conference USA that recruits the same area but rarely has been considered close in stature to Miami.

''Every game is dangerous with us right now,'' Shannon said. ``We're coming off two home losses. The players know not to take Central Florida lightly. Their record was better than ours last year.''

That sums it up pretty well: two losing programs going at it in their first encounter, one a former champion growing weary of the losses and the other a non-Bowl Championship Series conference competitor eager to roar into the consciousness of college football fans.

UCF'S LOCAL TIES

UCF (2-3), coached by George O'Leary, has 16 players from Broward or Miami-Dade counties. UM lists 17 players as coming from the same high school as a UCF player. The Knights' South Florida contingent includes quarterback Mike Greco, a junior from Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons High. Greco started the first three games and sat out the fourth game with a knee injury. He spelled freshman starter Rob Calabrese in the second half in last week's victory against Southern Methodist.

O'Leary said he won't announce his starting quarterback until gametime.

GROUND GAME KEY

Either way, O'Leary knows what part of his offense is working better. The Knights are 109th nationally in passing offense and 57th in rushing. Freshman tailback Ronnie Weaver rushed for a career-high 123 yards last week.

''I don't think you change your identity,'' O'Leary said. ``We are who we are and they are who they are. We're going to go in and try to establish the run game. If you don't do that, you get in the pass game and you're playing at times in the defense's hands.''

And the defense, it appears, could be UM's biggest problem. The secondary collapsed two weeks ago in the loss to North Carolina, and everything went kaput in last weekend's loss to Florida State. UM gave up 281 yards rushing, with holes up the middle so large that a tractor trailer could have rumbled into the end zone.

''We had busts on simple things we've been running all year,'' Shannon said. ``When you play 95 plays some guys are going to get more plays than others. We usually play 60 to 65 plays. I think what happened was we got a little fatigued and they stopped thinking. But now as coaches we've got to do a better job of identifying those situations and fixing them.''

The Hurricanes insist they are still fighting to turn around this season. Some of the youngest players haven't experienced losing in a long time.

''It's very difficult not losing for two years straight and then coming here and losing three [of five] games for a winning program,'' said starting weak-side linebacker Sean Spence, a first-year freshman. ``It just feels funny.''

Quarterback Robert Marve, who took Tampa Plant High from a losing team to a state champion, said he always plays for pride, no matter how well or poorly a team is doing.

''I talk to my high school coach about it all the time,'' Marve said. ``This team reminds me of my younger high school times. You have to build a base around you. You see what teams that have been playing together for three and four years look like. When you [have that], it's really special.

``I still think there's a long season to go. There's no quit in us.''

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