UCF Knights back to contend for another American Athletic Conference title
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College football 2020 season preview
The Miami Hurricanes hope the hiring of new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, coupled with dynamic transfer quarterback D’Eriq King, helps vault the Hurricanes back into the national picture during a season where a pandemic has already seen the Big 10 and Pac-12 opt out of competition during the fall. Plus, a look at the other teams across the state, as all seven Florida FBS teams will be playing.
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UCF enters the 2020 college football season much like 2019: as one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference.
The Knights suffered their first regular-season defeat since 2016, when they fell to Pittsburgh early in the 2019 season.
That dashed any remote chance UCF had of crashing the College Football Playoff party.
The Knights later lost twice more, dropping games to conference foes Cincinnati and Tulsa that eliminated them from appearing in their third straight conference championship game.
However, UCF returns Dillon Gabriel as a bonafide star quarterback. Gabriel, who played at the same high school in Hawaii as McKenzie Milton, earned himself the starting gig last fall as a true freshman.
Milton continues to work his way back from a devastating leg injury suffered in the rivalry game against USF at the end of the 2018 season.
Gabriel, meanwhile, ranked in the top 15 in passing yards, passing efficiency and yards per completion during his 2019 season.
Now in his second season, head coach Josh Heupel has already given him praise during fall camp.
“His ability to check at the line of scrimmage when the play is not right, to understand those checks and to get us into a good play, to change protections, it changes what you’re able to do offensively when your quarterback has that kind of command because he can get you out of the bad situation,” Heupel said, according to SB Nation.
Heupel brought an even higher tempo offense with him when he took over the program from Frost in 2017, and Gabriel got his look at it last fall.
With Gabriel back for his sophomore year, the Knights are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll. Conference foe Cincinnati joins them in that poll.
In addition to Gabriel’s return, last year’s leading rusher, Otis Anderson, is back. The senior ran for 726 yards on 113 carries in 2019.
There’s some depth at running back with Damarius Good and Johnny Robinson, so the workload doesn’t fall strictly on Anderson’s shoulders.
Meanwhile, the defense is anchored at the back end. The secondary is the unit’s strength with four starters returning.
Nickel back Aaron Robinson, safeties Richie Grant and Antwan Collier and cornerback Tay Gowan round out the group.
There isn’t an exact timetable yet for the return of Brandon Moore, who started at cornerback until he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in late August last year. However, the secondary unit has experience and depth, and will be needed to shine for a defense that ranked 41st in scoring defense last year.
The defensive line and linebackers also return several players.
With COVID-19 uprooting the world and putting a wrench into the college football season, UCF’s schedule doesn’t provide a pathway to the CFP should the Knights win all their games.
It didn’t happen for UCF two seasons ago, but did land the Knights in the Fiesta Bowl, which they lost to LSU.
This year’s slate is down to nine games, with only Georgia Tech serving as a non-league game. The Yellow Jackets are a Power 5 program, and the game kicks off the 2020 season for UCF.
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