Cincinnati's Defense

[UCF_99_Grad]

They are the 11th best rushing defense, giving up 102 yards per game (we are 4th best rushing attack at 271 yds/game)

They are the 15th best passing defense, giving up 177 yards per game (we are the 29th best passing attack with 271 yds/game... nice symmetry there)

Total defense, they are 6th in the nation just under 280 yards per game.

This will be the toughest defense we've faced since Auburn. I'm getting really nervous about this game! The one thing about their defense, they've only faced one team in the top 50 of total offense: Ohio, and that was a close game.

It should be a great game, we're going to need our defense to step up and cause turnovers.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

I believe temple had a top defense as well when we played. I think Cincy is good but they have a lot of the same players from a team that didn’t force a single stop against UCF last year. They have also only played 2 teams with winning records. Temple and USF.

 

[thespiritof1976]

They are the 11th best rushing defense, giving up 102 yards per game (we are 4th best rushing attack at 271 yds/game)

They are the 15th best passing defense, giving up 177 yards per game (we are the 29th best passing attack with 271 yds/game... nice symmetry there)

Total defense, they are 6th in the nation just under 280 yards per game.

This will be the toughest defense we've faced since Auburn. I'm getting really nervous about this game! The one thing about their defense, they've only faced one team in the top 50 of total offense: Ohio, and that was a close game.

It should be a great game, we're going to need our defense to step up and cause turnovers.

And that is why I am a nervous wreck. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the fact I haven't slept since Saturday.

 

[UCF_99_Grad]

I believe temple had a top defense as well when we played. I think Cincy is good but they have a lot of the same players from a team that didn’t force a single stop against UCF last year. They have also only played 2 teams with winning records. Temple and USF.

Good points, I believe their defensive stats are inflated by who they've played. But, it's 10 games into the season and that's some impressive defensive stats.

 

[Shark19]

Just remember, they have all the pressure on them, nobody on their team has been anywhere near a game of this magnitude. We took out an SEC powerhouse 11 months ago in front of a hostile crowd in the middle of SEC land.

We play well when in front, and cool under pressure when behind.

This game is ours for the taking.

 

[WhiteandSlatonWVU]

You think this team is better than PITT? I think they been ok nothing that makes me say wow when watching them. RB is good but we faced better.

 

[UCF0509]

Pitt might end up being the best team we play all season. They’ll probably win their division and the way they are playing could be competitive against Clemson.

 

[SublimeKnight]

There is really no reason to hold back formations or schemes now.
So Cincy... be prepared to witness the power of a fully armed and operational #UCFaster

 

[SublimeKnight]

Taking a look at some S&P+ rankings, in the current rankings, Cincy (#19) will be the highest ranked defense we've faced.

Keep in mind though that Temple (now #29) was in the in single digits when we played them. Their ranking now reflects us hanging a 600+ yards on them and Houston putting 500+ yards on them.

Surely Cincy's D has been tested though, the AAC has some good offenses. Well, according to S&P the top offenses in the AAC are:
#4 UCF
#8 Memphis
#9 Houston
#32 USF
#50 Temple
#67 Navy

I've bolded the teams Cincy has faced. What they did vs Navy was impressive, but they lost to Temple, and by most accounts they faced a USF team that is quitting on their coach.

I think Temple is actually the better defense.

 

[akahotsizzle]

USF would have been much closer if not for their 8 penalties. Strong was losing his mind on the sidelines with some the penalties they gave up. UC also lost two turnovers. The biggest concern has to be Warren. He is a beast. Looked like a bigger version of FAU's Singletary. This conference is stacked with RB talent.

 

[cocoabeachjason]

You think this team is better than PITT? I think they been ok nothing that makes me say wow when watching them. RB is good but we faced better.

Teams better than Pitt:
Cincinnati
Temple
Houston
Memphis

 

[JAFFX2]

Pitt might end up being the best team we play all season. They’ll probably win their division and the way they are playing could be competitive against Clemson.

Pitt might be a much better team now than earlier in the season......

 

[Gwoz]

If those that follow the AAC think Pitt is better then Cincinnati and Temple, it's not at all a surprise that CFP rankings is filled with 3 loss P5 teams before another AAC team.

Probably after 4 loss teams tonight.

 

[JAFFX2]

They are the 11th best rushing defense, giving up 102 yards per game (we are 4th best rushing attack at 271 yds/game)

They are the 15th best passing defense, giving up 177 yards per game (we are the 29th best passing attack with 271 yds/game... nice symmetry there)

Total defense, they are 6th in the nation just under 280 yards per game.

This will be the toughest defense we've faced since Auburn. I'm getting really nervous about this game! The one thing about their defense, they've only faced one team in the top 50 of total offense: Ohio, and that was a close game.

It should be a great game, we're going to need our defense to step up and cause turnovers.

This kid went down in the Navy game......

Fickell said Sunday that junior outside linebacker Perry Young would probably miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL (knee) suffered Saturday. Young is UC's leading tackler this year with 45.

 

[mattropolis]

There is really no reason to hold back formations or schemes now.
So Cincy... be prepared to witness the power of a fully armed and operational #UCFaster

This talk about opening up the play book is ridiculous. It's the 9th game of the season for us (10th for them). The limitations for this team and "the playbook" is pretty much as open as it is going to be. You don't save a bunch of plays for games 10-12. Now, we may execute plays better, but there won't be a lot of new wrinkles. Maybe a couple of new situational plays but that is it. We just have to execute our game plan, and feed the team with our energy.

 

[mattropolis]

The biggest difference for Cincy is on the offensive side of the ball. Their QB Ridder is way better than Moore from 2017. Warren barely played last year and he is a big upgrade at RB. It will be a dog fight for sure. I'm not sold on our team being able to dominate like last year.

 

[JAFFX2]

This talk about opening up the play book is ridiculous. It's the 9th game of the season for us (10th for them). The limitations for this team and "the playbook" is pretty much as open as it is going to be. You don't save a bunch of plays for games 10-12. Now, we may execute plays better, but there won't be a lot of new wrinkles. Maybe a couple of new situational plays but that is it. We just have to execute our game plan, and feed the team with our energy.

Absolutely not true!

There are typically over a hundred or more plays in a playbook......most teams select less than 50 plays for a game when assembling a game plan for a given week.......

CJH has been a master at game planning to the competition, but even more important the play calling has clearly been based upon KZ's health. There have been several games where there were no designed QB runs or RPO plays and others games that those type of plays were a significant part of the game plan. If you don't think that the offense is much more dynamic and effective when the play calling utilizes more RPO, you are missing the boat.........

 

[Stormthecourt?]

This talk about opening up the play book is ridiculous. It's the 9th game of the season for us (10th for them). The limitations for this team and "the playbook" is pretty much as open as it is going to be. You don't save a bunch of plays for games 10-12. Now, we may execute plays better, but there won't be a lot of new wrinkles. Maybe a couple of new situational plays but that is it. We just have to execute our game plan, and feed the team with our energy.

Release the Killins!

 

[Shark19]

Release the Killins!

Only when he is in open space....the up the middle stuff with him are wasted plays. Mix in a couple of shovel passes.

 

[JAFFX2]

Only when he is in open space....the up the middle stuff with him are wasted plays. Mix in a couple of shovel passes.

it was interesting that against the Navy soft run zone defense, he managed some pretty good runs.....

 

[UCFBS]

I believe temple had a top defense as well when we played. I think Cincy is good but they have a lot of the same players from a team that didn’t force a single stop against UCF last year. They have also only played 2 teams with winning records. Temple and USF.

Some would say we had a lot of the same players in 2016 that we did in 2017.

We're basically favored by a little over a field goal in a neutral field. Cincy will be tough.

But we manhandled Temple's D, so if we can keep Cincy's O off-the-field, I like our chances.

 

[Poolside Knight]

Release the Killins!

at this point I think he is a liability to the run game. When is the last time he broke a big time run of like 40 yards? I think it's been a full calendar year. This is a game that UCF can not throw away offensive drives and I hope the ball goes to McCrae & Otis on handoffs

Go look back at the Navy tape. The quick 3 and out wasted drives mostly involved giving the ball to Killins on 1st down

 

[Mikesi]

This kid went down in the Navy game......

Fickell said Sunday that junior outside linebacker Perry Young would probably miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL (knee) suffered Saturday. Young is UC's leading tackler this year with 45.

Oh great. Now if we win, we will drop in the polls

 

[Mikesi]

Release the McRaes!

FIFY

 

[Poolside Knight]

by the way I'm referring to Killins in the run up the middle game, not saying they shouldn't use him more in the passing game on a wheel route or on a kickoff return

 

[UCFBS]

by the way I'm referring to Killins in the run up the middle game, not saying they shouldn't use him more in the passing game on a wheel route or on a kickoff return

Now that makes more sense.

 

[thespiritof1976]

Release the Killins!

 

[akahotsizzle]

by the way I'm referring to Killins in the run up the middle game, not saying they shouldn't use him more in the passing game on a wheel route or on a kickoff return

100% agree there. Killins needs to get his share of touches, but the plays have to be written up to get him in space. They are not the same player in the least bit, but it kind of reminds me of offenses misusing Reggie Bush. Get him some space and he was serious trouble, but try to make him run between tackles and he may eek out a couple of 5-7 yard runs every so often but mostly he'll get a bunch of 2-3 yarders.

That jet sweep option Frost used to run to death worked great for AK. We need to set him up to best use his talents, not to try and force him into scenarios where another player is better suited. I'd like to see him used in motion and run a straight go route or deep post.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

Taking a look at some S&P+ rankings, in the current rankings, Cincy (#19) will be the highest ranked defense we've faced.

Keep in mind though that Temple (now #29) was in the in single digits when we played them. Their ranking now reflects us hanging a 600+ yards on them and Houston putting 500+ yards on them.

Surely Cincy's D has been tested though, the AAC has some good offenses. Well, according to S&P the top offenses in the AAC are:
#4 UCF
#8 Memphis
#9 Houston
#32 USF
#50 Temple
#67 Navy

I've bolded the teams Cincy has faced. What they did vs Navy was impressive, but they lost to Temple, and by most accounts they faced a USF team that is quitting on their coach.

I think Temple is actually the better defense.

There are good offenses in the AAC. Cincy hasn’t played UCF, Houston, or Memphis though.

 

[Wings0fred]

Go look back at the Navy tape. The quick 3 and out wasted drives mostly involved giving the ball to Killins on 1st down

No...we punted twice (both after three and outs).

The first drive of the game were two quick passes to the outside (one to AK for 3, one to Snelson for -2) and a Milton scramble.

The next three and out were three rushes (Taj for 3, then 5, and Otis for 0 yards).

AK rushes in first down:
3, 4, 6, 1 (first and goal), 0, 7 (first and goal), 12 yards.

Doesn’t look that terrible.

 

[SublimeKnight]

No...we punted twice (both after three and outs).

The first drive of the game were two quick passes to the outside (one to AK for 3, one to Snelson for -2) and a Milton scramble.

The next three and out were three rushes (Taj for 3, then 5, and Otis for 0 yards).

AK rushes in first down:
3, 4, 6, 1 (first and goal), 0, 7 (first and goal), 12 yards.

Doesn’t look that terrible.

Not terrible is definitely an understatement.
That's a 71% success rate on 1st down. The vast majority of FBS teams would kill for that.

 

[ucffan642]

I think our offense will have no problem scoring as long as Heupel doesn't play his conservative crap on 1st and 2nd down to leave us in 3rd and long. My concern is the defense! Little to no pass rush, linebackers being beat to the outside and unable to cover receivers over the middle, non-existent Defense End play and a secondary that has been mediocre at best. We CAN NOT get into a shootout. Our defense needs to get off their blocks and gang tackle. Even when we blitz (hardly ever), our LB's, Corners or safety run into the blockers instead of finding gaps.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

No...we punted twice (both after three and outs).

The first drive of the game were two quick passes to the outside (one to AK for 3, one to Snelson for -2) and a Milton scramble.

The next three and out were three rushes (Taj for 3, then 5, and Otis for 0 yards).

AK rushes in first down:
3, 4, 6, 1 (first and goal), 0, 7 (first and goal), 12 yards.

Doesn’t look that terrible.

Yeah I’m not sure why people get this notion that we are giving Killins the ball every first down. There was another game where people were saying that and we threw the ball to start drives like 80% of the time that game.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

at this point I think he is a liability to the run game. When is the last time he broke a big time run of like 40 yards? I think it's been a full calendar year. This is a game that UCF can not throw away offensive drives and I hope the ball goes to McCrae & Otis on handoffs

Go look back at the Navy tape. The quick 3 and out wasted drives mostly involved giving the ball to Killins on 1st down

As stated there were only 2 punts from UCF in the game and Killins didn’t run the ball on either drive. He was effective most of the game. His long runs last year were all runs up the middle. He also never fumbles. In the navy broadcast they said that Killins has the highest yards per rush average of any running back in UCF history.

 

[Poolside Knight]

I think our offense will have no problem scoring as long as Heupel doesn't play his conservative crap on 1st and 2nd down to leave us in 3rd and long. My concern is the defense! Little to no pass rush, linebackers being beat to the outside and unable to cover receivers over the middle, non-existent Defense End play and a secondary that has been mediocre at best. We CAN NOT get into a shootout. Our defense needs to get off their blocks and gang tackle. Even when we blitz (hardly ever), our LB's, Corners or safety run into the blockers instead of finding gaps.

that is my biggest concern. If Cinci marches up and down the field easily all 1st half just like Temple that will be pretty demoralizing. They couldn't even do that at home vs USF.

 

[Poolside Knight]

As stated there were only 2 punts from UCF in the game and Killins didn’t run the ball on either drive. He was effective most of the game. His long runs last year were all runs up the middle. He also never fumbles. In the navy broadcast they said that Killins has the highest yards per rush average of any running back in UCF history.

I'll admit that I haven't looked up the stats or box scores but those can be misleading. I'm just going off the eye test this season. Something is off with Killin's balance when he approaches that 2nd level and from what I've seen he doesn't have the ability to make the cuts that we see McCrae and even Otis do

 

[hemightbejeremy]

that is my biggest concern. If Cinci marches up and down the field easily all 1st half just like Temple that will be pretty demoralizing. They couldn't even do that at home vs USF.

Will be interesting to see. Temple may have just flipped the switch. They marched it up and down the field on Houston last week. Their QB is deadly accurate. Too bad they lost 2 before they made the switch or they are probably 8-2 with losses to 2 ranked teams.

 

[SiberianKnightmare]

I am having a tough time understanding Killins as the primary every down back with McCrae playing the way he is. In my pea brain, it would make more sense to run McCrae and Taj on traditional running plays and Otis and Killins on the screens and tosses.

 

[Mikesi]

Come on guys. McRae is averaging 8.9 yards a carry and Killins is averaging 4.8

Just that stat alone is all you need to know

That’s a 4.1 yard difference which is another universe difference

 

[Mikesi]

In the navy broadcast they said that Killins has the highest yards per rush average of any running back in UCF history.

McCrae is 8.1 and Killins is 5.8