UCF safety Quadric Bullard is thinking a lot about last year's game at SMU while the Knights prepare for this upcoming meeting against the Mustangs, which will be their American Athletic Conference opener.
Last Nov. 13 in Dallas, SMU rolled to a 55-28 victory which included 631 yards of total offense.
"SMU put it on us last year," Bullard said. "Us as a team, we don't take that lightly... What irritates me the most is how many yards and points they put on us as a defense. As we go through film, it's going to bother the whole defense and put a fire under us that we can't let this happen again."
This year's SMU team is coached by Rhett Lashlee as former coach Sonny Dykes is now coaching at nearby TCU. The Mustangs are 2-2 with wins against North Texas and Lamar and losses to Maryland and TCU.
The Mustangs rank No. 14 nationally in total offense averaging 506.2 yards per game. Quarterback Tanner Mordecai is third in the nation averaging 346.25 yards per game.
"Their offense is very fast," Bullard said. "My freshman year I saw Coach (Josh) Heupel's offense and he was fast, but that's nothing compared to SMU."
UCF meanwhile ranks No. 1 nationally in red zone defense, No. 12 in scoring defense (13.50) and No. 30 in total defense (313.0).
Bullard credits their defensive success to being more comfortable in the second year under defensive coordinator Travis Williams and also said the defensive players are much closer as a unit.
Bullard is also a star on special teams. He blocked a punt and scooped and scored in the South Carolina State opener, then scored another touchdown against Georgia Tech thanks to a Jarvis Ware punt block.
What does it take to block a punt?
"On the field from a fan's point of view it might look easy, but there's a lot of moving parts for the blocked punt to happen," Bullard said. "One person has to be the diversion and another person the blocker. In this past game, I was the diversion instead of the blocker. Jarvis Ware blocked the punt. If he doesn't block that punt, the game might be different.
"(When the punt is blocked) I'm hoping I get a good bounce and don't kick it out of bounds or something like that. When it's in your hands, the first thing you're looking for is who's in front of me? Enemy or teammate? When I saw my teammates, I was like I've got a certified touchdown right here.
"That was a huge momentum shift. Georgia Tech was going to have the ball coming out at half. So we were going to be down 7-6. Putting us up (right before halftime) flipped the momentum of the game."
Many UCF players are wearing performance contact lenses this season. Bullard explained the trend.
"We have two pairs (available to us), red and green," Bullard said. "The red ones are more for color enhancement. The green are more like shades. I don't need color enhancement. I just need to block out the sun. The contacts help us in our performance on the field.
"So the green ones work as shades. Say the ball is in the air, the receiver can't see it because the sun is in his eyes. The green contacts block out the glare of the sun and give you a clear image of the ball so you can make the catch.
"I'd say the majority of us use them. I love those contacts. If I had a choice to use them every day I would."
