Welcome to The Knighted One’s Podcast, Episode number 14. We are the ONLY podcast that features a former UCF National Champion, a former UCF radio host, and several podcasters shooting the breeze, talking UCF Sports.

This week we talk about where we wanna go bowling, JRP's wheels leaving the Cougars in the dust, and Josh and Roger disagree on what score differential means to them.

Please comment for subjects that we should cover in our Intern Re-Education segment!

• Introductions
• Text Talk
• The Big LeBowlski – Where Is UCF going bowling?
- Longest Bowl Streak
- Josh Is Left Speechless
- Possible Bowls Breakdown
- Roger’s Not Feeling So Fly In A G6
- Making It Worth The Trip
- Josh Tries To Justify His Model 3 Purchase
- Roger Wants Citrus For Christmas
- Tre’s Bowl Experience
- Opening Portals and NIL
• Week 13: Dominating The Cougars
- JRP = Just Rapid Pace
- Offense is Offensive to Defense
- Timmy Turn-Around
- Making the Defense Choose Wrong
- Building The Offense around JRP'S Wheels
- A Good Strategy Down The Field
- Getting Knicked Up & Out
- Malachi Lawrence Breakout Player of The Year?
- The Boomer Blues
- Key Seniors Leaving
• Intern Re-Education: UCF Conference Journey
• Tre Talks Sternly To A Cloud
- Cleaning Up Small Messes
- Competition Breeds Greatness
- Gathering New Talent
- Not Letting Rough Patches Kill The Progress
- Nasty hit – The Stanback Experience
• Hoopin’ n Hollerin’
- Offense Was Stagnant Against Stetson
- Diallo was Building a house of bricks
- Falling too far to come back
- Is This Loss An Anomaly?
- Defective Defense
• Josh’s Sometimes Funny Fact Of The Week
- Tales Of Financial Gains & Wise Words Wasted
• UCF Athletic Sports Update
- Women’s Hoops W In the Puerto Rico Classic
- Women’s Volleyball fall short of the NCAA Tourney
- UCF Softball Team Knights V. Nauts
- UCF Women’s Hoops Is The Team To Watch!
• Pick Your Poison: Recap
- Allen Wins?
- Josh and Roger Don’t Agree On The Rules
- The Score Differential Debacle
• What’s Coming Up?

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Welcome to The Knighted One’s Podcast, Episode number 14. We are the ONLY podcast that features a former UCF National Champion, a former UCF radio host, and several podcasters shooting the breeze, talking UCF Sports.

This week we talk about where we wanna go bowling, JRP's wheels leaving the Cougars in the dust, and Josh and Roger disagree on what score differential means to them.

Please comment for subjects that we should cover in our Intern Re-Education segment!

• Introductions
• Text Talk
• The Big LeBowlski – Where Is UCF going bowling?
- Longest Bowl Streak
- Josh Is Left Speechless
- Possible Bowls Breakdown
- Roger’s Not Feeling So Fly In A G6
- Making It Worth The Trip
- Josh Tries To Justify His Model 3 Purchase
- Roger Wants Citrus For Christmas
- Tre’s Bowl Experience
- Opening Portals and NIL
• Week 13: Dominating The Cougars
- JRP = Just Rapid Pace
- Offense is Offensive to Defense
- Timmy Turn-Around
- Making the Defense Choose Wrong
- Building The Offense around JRP'S Wheels
- A Good Strategy Down The Field
- Getting Knicked Up & Out
- Malachi Lawrence Breakout Player of The Year?
- The Boomer Blues
- Key Seniors Leaving
• Intern Re-Education: UCF Conference Journey
• Tre Talks Sternly To A Cloud
- Cleaning Up Small Messes
- Competition Breeds Greatness
- Gathering New Talent
- Not Letting Rough Patches Kill The Progress
- Nasty hit – The Stanback Experience
• Hoopin’ n Hollerin’
- Offense Was Stagnant Against Stetson
- Diallo was Building a house of bricks
- Falling too far to come back
- Is This Loss An Anomaly?
- Defective Defense
• Josh’s Sometimes Funny Fact Of The Week
- Tales Of Financial Gains & Wise Words Wasted
• UCF Athletic Sports Update
- Women’s Hoops W In the Puerto Rico Classic
- Women’s Volleyball fall short of the NCAA Tourney
- UCF Softball Team Knights V. Nauts
- UCF Women’s Hoops Is The Team To Watch!
• Pick Your Poison: Recap
- Allen Wins?
- Josh and Roger Don’t Agree On The Rules
- The Score Differential Debacle
• What’s Coming Up?

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Championship Games:

Friday:
Pac 12: #3 Washington vs #5 Oregon (Las Vegas)

Saturday:
Big 12: #7 Texas vs #18 Oklahoma St

SEC: #1 Georgia vs #8 Alabama

Big Ten: #2 Michigan vs #16 Iowa

ACC: #4 FSU vs Louisville

Asked in another thread….

Since UCFAA can’t funnel money to NIL, could the donation portion of your season ticket be waived if you have a $1000+ donation level to the Kingdom?

I am sure TMO would prefer both but if we have over 30,000 season ticket holders (FB & MBB) donating $1,000 to the Kingdom, we are now talking real money to NIL.

Fan voting for the NFL Pro Bowl opened yesterday. Fan voting accounts for one-third of the Pro Bowl process, with players' and coaches' votes making up the remaining two-thirds.

Please go vote multiple times for Alex (and our other NFL Knights). You have to create a NFL account but then you can vote as many times as you wish. Also, if you can help engage the UCF Twitter Mafia, we would certainly appreciate it.

Here is the longsnapper page to vote.


I hope we can give Alex the fan vote and I think he is becoming respected in the NFL for his ability enough that he gets selected. According to PFF - he is the #1 rated LS for FG/PAT, 8th rated LS for punt snaps, and 14th rated overall.

Offense - RJ Harvey - Ran the ball as well as any RB we've had since Kevin Smith.

Defense - Lee Hunter - 64 tackles as a DL! Arguably the most dominant D Lineman season ever at UCF! Props to Johnson for 100+ tackles this season and Drop for his TOL and sacks but Hunter, wow!

Special Teams - Boomer - Won the Boise St game but the last two games were horrible. He's lucky that our special teams are not so "special" so he wins by default.

Team MVP - Plumlee gets my nod for just being an all around leader for this team. Never has his head down, always lifting players up and supporting the team. It's ashamed he got hurt but even through his injury he was right there helping the other qb's and coaches.

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Eat $h1t Pitt

Welcome to the crossroads of the future

Last week, ahead of the 2023 regular season home finale for the Knights, social media was buzzing. Buzzing, not over the upcoming game against the Houston Cougars that could send UCF to its eighth straight bowl game, but instead, buzzing over “Name Image & Likeness,” better known as NIL.

Click here to read more from the Sons of UCF.

Welcome to the crossroads of the future

Last week, ahead of the 2023 regular season home finale for the Knights, social media was buzzing. Buzzing, not over the upcoming game against the Houston Cougars that could send UCF to its eighth straight bowl game, but instead, buzzing over “Name Image & Likeness,” better known as NIL.

Click here to read more from the Sons of UCF.

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Rivals has continued its partnership with Pro Football Focus (PFF) which grants me access to their comprehensive analytics and statistical tools.

After each game, two separate analysts grade every player on each play of the game and the two totals are averaged out. Obviously no subjective ranking system is perfect, but I am finding that my real world impressions of a player in a certain game usually reflects the PFF grade.

PFF Grading Scale

90 and above - Elite
80 to 89 - Great
70 to 79 - Good
60 to 69 - Average to Above Average
50 - 59 - Below Average
49 and below - Poor

Season Defensive Grades (by game)

Kent State - 76.9
Boise State - 68.0
Villanova - 78.2
Kansas State - 61.6
Baylor - 74.9
Kansas - 45.5
Oklahoma - 67.8
West Virginia - 67.8
Cincinnati - 63.9
Oklahoma State - 78.1
Texas Tech - 62.2
Houston - 64.2

Overall Defensive Grades

CB Corey Thornton (50) - 75.1
DT Ricky Barber (30) - 72.9
S William Wells (12) - 69.4
LB Walter Yates III (45) - 68.7
SCB Braeden Marshall (2) - 66.8
S Demari Henderson (45) - 66.3
DE Malachi Lawrence (34) - 64.5
DT Lee Hunter (38) - 64.1
LB Jason Johnson (53) - 61.1
LB Kam Moore (5) - 60.7
DT John Walker (23) - 58.9
DE Tre'Mon Morris-Brash (44) - 58.7
SCB Quadric Bullard (47) - 57.9
CB Decorian Patterson (53) - 57.5
S Nikai Martinez (53) - 55.6
CB Brandon Adams (4) - 52.8
DE Shaun Peterson Jr. (9) - 52.2
DE Josh Celiscar (19) - 51.6
DT Matthew Alexander (15) - 49.8
LB Rian Davis (3) - 29.2

Here's the breakdown by position:

Defensive End (4):

DE Malachi Lawrence (34) - 64.5
DE Tre'Mon Morris-Brash (44) - 58.7
DE Shaun Peterson Jr. (9) - 52.2
DE Josh Celiscar (19) - 51.6

Defensive Tackle (4):

DT Ricky Barber (30) - 72.9
DT Lee Hunter (38) - 64.1
DT John Walker (23) - 58.9
DT Matthew Alexander (15) - 49.8

Linebacker (4):

LB Walter Yates III (45) - 68.7
LB Jason Johnson (53) - 61.1
LB Kam Moore (5) - 60.7
LB Rian Davis (3) - 29.2

Safety (3):

S William Wells (12) - 69.4
S Demari Henderson (45) - 66.3
S Nikai Martinez (53) - 55.6

Corner (5):

CB Corey Thornton (50) - 75.1
SCB Braeden Marshall (2) - 66.8
SCB Quadric Bullard (47) - 57.9
CB Decorian Patterson (53) - 57.5
CB Brandon Adams (4) - 52.8

Pressure Tracker (combination of sacks, hits and hurries):

6 - Tre'Mon Morris-Brash
3 - Lee Hunter, Malachi Lawrence, Jason Johnson
2 - John Walker
1 - William Wells, Corey Thornton, Quadric Bullard, Walter Yates III

Missed Tackles:

8 total

3 - Nikai Martinez
2 - Tre'Mon Morris-Brash
1 - Kam Moore, Malachi Lawrence, Quadric Bullard

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Rivals has continued its partnership with Pro Football Focus (PFF) which grants me access to their comprehensive analytics and statistical tools.

After each game, two separate analysts grade every player on each play of the game and the two totals are averaged out. Obviously no subjective ranking system is perfect, but I am finding that my real world impressions of a player in a certain game usually reflects the PFF grade.

PFF Grading Scale

90 and above - Elite
80 to 89 - Great
70 to 79 - Good
60 to 69 - Average to Above Average
50 - 59 - Below Average
49 and below - Poor

Team Offensive Grade (by game)

Kent State - 74.6
Boise State - 82.4
Villanova - 82.6
Kansas State - 68.1
Baylor - 70.5
Kansas - 76.3
Oklahoma - 65.8
West Virginia - 72.1
Cincinnati - 71.3
Oklahoma State - 75.8
Texas Tech - 70.6
Houston - 75.6

Overall Offensive Player Grades (Snaps Played)

QB John Rhys Plumlee (71) - 90.5
RB RJ Harvey (59) - 78.5
LT Tylan Grable (56) - 70.9
RG/RT Marcellus Marshall (71) - 69.9
WR Kobe Hudson (65) - 68.7
RB Johnny Richardson (5) - 65.3
TE Zach Marsh Wojan (18) - 64.5
TE Alec Holler (59) - 63.5
LG Adrian Medley (71) - 62.7
WR Xavier Townsend (56) - 62.5
RT/LT Amari Kight (71) - 61.6
WR Javon Baker (63) - 60.3
WR Trent Whittemore (9) - 57.1
C/RG Lokahi Pauole (71) - 55.6
C Bula Schmidt (15) - 54.7
TE Randy Pittman (13) - 51.8
RB Mark-Antony Richards (6) - 50.5
WR Jarrad Baker (1) - 35.3

Still no second revision, so I'm posting.

Elite grade status for JRP. It's his second 90+ grade this season. He graded 90.8 vs. Boise State.

When Bula played center, some shifts were made (Lokahi to RT, Marcellus to RT, Kight to LT).

Offensive Line Grades

Pass Blocking:

RG/RT Marcellus Marshall - 88.1
C Bula Schmidt - 80.4
LT Tylan Grable - 77.1
RT/LT Amari Kight - 75.8
LG Adrian Medley - 75.4
C/RG Lokahi Pauole - 53.6

Run Blocking:

LT Tylan Grable - 70.3
RG/RT Marcellus Marshall - 65.9
LG Adrian Medley - 59.8
C/RG Lokahi Pauole - 55.7
RT/LT Amari Kight - 55.2
C Bula Schmidt - 53.6

Quarterback Grades

John Rhys Plumlee - 90.2 passing grade

Passing Pressure Grades for John Rhys Plumlee:

Kept Clean - 91.7
Under Pressure - 58.2
Not Blitzed - 83.3
When Blitzed - 88.1

A closer look at passing depth for John Rhys Plumlee:

Deep (20+): 0 of 0
Medium (10-19): 6 of 8 for 147 yards - 92.8
Short (0-9): 14 of 16 for 107 yards, 1 TD - 76.7
Behind LOS: 3 of 3 for 7 yards - 63.9

Rushing Grades

RJ Harvey - 78.6
John Rhys Plumlee - 66.7
Johnny Richardson - 64.6
Xavier Townsend - 55.9
Mark-Antony Richards - 50.1

Wide Receiver Grades

Alec Holler - 71.8
Kobe Hudson - 68.7
Xavier Townsend - 66.6
Mark-Antony Richards - 63.8
Javon Baker - 60.0
Randy Pittman - 55.7
Jarrad Baker - 45.6

Two dropped passes - Kobe and Jarrad Baker.

These so-and-so number of people give this amount of money never really works out.

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UCF bowl speculation continues to ramp up. Between now and Sunday, December 5th, there has been and will continue to be speculation as to where the UCF Knights will play their bowl game. Factors still in play will still impact where the Knights will play. I had started to talk about this last week. With the regular season done and Conference Championship Saturday left to go, the picture is starting to become a little clearer, going from SMPTE color bars to scramblevision.

Click here for more from the Sons of UCF.

I thought I'd put things into context for the Monday morning crowd who didn't keep with the multitude of posts from the last couple days (mostly on Sunday).

First and foremost, this is just rumor mill stuff coming out of SEC Country. The only open SEC job - at least right now - is Texas A&M and Gus isn't believed to be on their shortlist.

Anyway, the chatter began last week with a growing belief Mississippi State could make a head coaching change. Zach Arnett is in his first season and has underachieved per their fanbase's expectation - MSU is 4-6 overall. They won their OOC games and a 7-3 game vs. Arkansas. Since then, they've lost big to Auburn, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Their offense is terrible.

Arnett was the panic hire last December in the days following the sudden death of Mike Leach. MSU didn't even have an AD at the time, about a month later they hired Zac Selmon in that role. Anyway, their fanbase seems certain a change is coming.

Steve Robertson, who is the publisher of the top Mississippi State site (GenesPage), wrote on Friday about the possible SEC coaching carousel and floated this:

One name that has been mentioned to me as a guy who wants to return back to the SEC is Gus Malzhan. One source tells me that Arkansas is his dream job and that he might stick out another year at UCF just in case Arkansas makes a move next year. That’s just speculative at this point, but something to consider as the silly season begins.

That understood, expect Malzhan to be mentioned in connection with any SEC job that comes open.

It would appear Robertson was floating Malzahn as a strong possibility to be linked to an eventual Mississippi State search, but he was choosing his words carefully.

Robertson also wrote that he thought Sam Pittman at Arkansas was safe this year, but apparently those good feelings after beating Florida evaporated after the Razorbacks lost to Auburn 48-10 at home this past weekend.

Robertson (MSU writer) posted this earlier on Sunday:

"Have a message that Arkansas is expected to make a move now. Yesterday's debacle appears to have put some over the edge. Look for Malzahn to be priority one."

That came around the same time Arkansas message boards started buzzing on Sunday that Pittman would be fired at season's end and Gus Malzahn will be the top target of certain Arkansas factions.

A poster named "RyanMalletsScantron" posted this to Arkansas 247 (HawgSports) on Sunday:

"Pittman is out as HC at the University of Arkansas. Malzahn is the leading candidate to replace him and maintains a strong support from boosters. Announcement should be soonish."

It's now a 35-page thread on that message board and there are countless more posts about Pittman rumors and Gus possibilities everywhere else, including the Arkansas Rivals site.

Arkansas fans seem to regard "RyanMalletsScantron" as being connected to the inner workings at Arkansas. He did later indicate that nothing is a done deal, but added that Gus "is 100% the leading candidate and has booster support at the moment."

Other posters in that thread seemed to vouch for "RyanMalletsScantron's" credibility and others chimed in that big money boosters, namely those connected to a pair of chicken producers, Tyson and George's Inc., are fully on board in getting Gus to Arkansas and are promising to donate on behalf of NIL if he is hired.

On top of the message board rumors, Mike Irwin, a longtime Arkansas media personality, also tweeted that the pro-Gus donor camp is lobbying to get him to Fayetteville. But he also posted that Gus may not want the job.

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So anyway, we're entering that crazy season. I really can't speak to Gus' motivations, but I do believe Arkansas would be a dream job for him. He grew up in Arkansas, went to Arkansas, had his first college coaching opportunity at Arkansas. Yeah, he could have left Auburn to go there in 2017 but the Tigers backed up the Brinks Truck for him.

If Arkansas eventually comes calling, that might be difficult for him to turn down. He'd be back in the SEC and in his home state, plus would have greater NIL resources.

Or maybe Gus follows through and decides to make UCF his last job - I do believe that was his intention when he came here. If his name continues to be linked to outside jobs and he decides to stay, that would send a pretty big message he's 100% committed.

One could argue the path to the Playoff could perhaps be easier at UCF in the Big 12 (though you could also argue the future CFP will be loaded with SEC teams).

I don't really think this a money thing. He's set for life from his Auburn buyout and is being compensated quite nicely in his new UCF contract.

Anyway, it's kind of silly to even be writing this as Arkansas hasn't even made a coaching change but does seem clear to me this chatter is calculated and deliberate by certain Arkansas-affiliated folks.

So that's where we are. It's still basically message board rumor stuff, but that could change in a hurry if Arkansas does make a change. Even if these rumors weren't already popping up, anybody could tell you Gus would be on everybody's Arkansas Coaching Candidate Hot Board.

The question is whether their AD Hunter Yurachek has come to the same conclusion as the fanbase that Pittman needs to go. He does come with a $16M buyout. And is Yurachek on the Gus Bus? ADs don't like being told who to hire, but if Gus has considerable donor support that may bring some influence since NIL has totally changed the game.

It could be an interesting next few weeks.

Alan Herron from Shorter University in Georgia. He has a ton of P5 offers already. He just set up a Louisville yesterday.

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UCF bowl speculation continues to ramp up. Between now and Sunday, December 5th, there has been and will continue to be speculation as to where the UCF Knights will play their bowl game. Factors still in play will still impact where the Knights will play. I had started to talk about this last week. With the regular season done and Conference Championship Saturday left to go, the picture is starting to become a little clearer, going from SMPTE color bars to scramblevision.

Click here for more from the Sons of UCF.

It's Pod time! Mike and I review the UCF win over Houston, a few different top 5 lists are revealed, and the Sons HR department makes a shocking decision. Download and enjoy!

Click here for more from the Sons of UCF.

It's Pod time! Mike and I review the UCF win over Houston, a few different top 5 lists are revealed, and the Sons HR department makes a shocking decision. Download and enjoy!

Click here for more from the Sons of UCF.

On rivals weekend every year. Our attendance was weak, especially the students Worst I have ever seen it for this week.

Are they coming?

I was thinking of getting it for the family for Christmas, but it kind of bothers me that the bottom of Orlando City says “Orlando City” and not Lions. Same for UCF saying “UCF Knights” and not just Knights. The inconsistency is annoying to me for some reason.

Also, that’s a hell of a lot of purple.