TULSA – #11 UCF GAME PREVIEW

Photo by: Brett Rojo

TULSA – #11 UCF GAME PREVIEW

10/2/2020 11:00:00 AM | Football

Tulsa Opens American Athletic Conference Schedule with Road Game at #11 UCF on Saturday

GAME 2: TULSA (0-1, 0-0 American) vs. #11 UCF (2-0, 0-0 American)
Date/Time:	Saturday, Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m. (ET) / 6:30 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Orlando, Florida
Stadium:	Spectrum Stadium (44,206)
Coaches:	TULSA – Philip Montgomery (Tarleton State '95), 6th year OKLAHOMA – Josh Heupel (Oklahoma '01), 3rd year
TV:	ESPN2 or WatchESPN
Talent:	Jason Benetti (pxp), Rod Gilmore (analyst), Lericia Harris (sidelines)
Tickets:	Contact UCF Ticket Office
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM or Online
Talent:	Bruce Howard (pxp), Rick Couri (analyst), Jeremie Poplin (sidelines)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Virtual Program:	Game Day Program
Series:	Tulsa leads 8-3
First Meeting:	Dec. 3, 2005 (Tulsa 44, UCF 27), Orlando, Fla.
Last Meeting:	Nov. 8, 2019 (Tulsa 34, UCF 31), Tulsa, Okla.
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| UCF (PDF) \| American Athletic Conference (PDF)

For the second time in as many games, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane will face the 11^th-ranked team in the country as the UCF Knights are next on the schedule. Tulsa opened the season with a 16-7 loss at No. 11 Oklahoma State two weeks ago.

In normal times, this week's game would be the sixth or seventh of the year, however in this time of COVID, Tulsa will be taking the field for just the second time, while UCF will be playing its third game.

The Knights come into the contest with an unblemished 2-0 record after road wins at Georgia Tech and East Carolina. Tulsa opens league play against UCF, while the Knights claimed a 51-28 win in its AAC opener at ECU a week ago.

UCF comes into the weekend with the nation's most potent offensive attack, leading the nation in total offense with 646 yards per game. The Knights are ranked 4^th nationally in scoring offense at 50 points per game, 5^th in passing at 412.5 yards and 12^th with 233.5 rushing yards.

The offense is loaded with weapons spread all over the field.

The man guiding the attack, 6'0" Dillon Gabriel, has completed 67-percent of his passes for 825 yards and eight touchdowns in the first two games. The sophomore quarterback has targeted eight receivers, while the top two pass catchers Marlon Williams and Jaylon Robinson have combined for 545 receiving yards and four TDs on 38 receptions. Returning leading receiver from last year Tre Nixon missed the last game but could make his return against the Hurricane.

The Knights backfield load is by committee as Greg McCrae, Otis Anderson and Bentavious Thompson have each carried the ball over 20 times for over 100 yards apiece. McCraw has 133 yards and 2 TDs, while Anderson has 110 and Thompson 107 yards.

UCF's offensive front is rather young with just one senior in the likes of 6'6', 315-pound right tackle Marcus Tatum, while the starting five tip the scales at 314 pounds and sits at 6-feet, 5-inches tall.

It will take an all-out herculean effort by Tulsa's defense to slow down the Knights top-ranked offense. The Hurricane will need to play solid on early downs and will have to find a way to contain UCF's explosive playmakers. The Knights have 20 rushing or passing plays of over 20 yards already on the young season.

Tulsa's defense was solid against another explosive offense in the season opener at Oklahoma State, holding the Cowboys to 289 total yards. The Hurricane totaled 14 TFLs for -56 yards and six sacks for -24 yards in the opener.

Zaven Collins before snap — Zaven Collins

Leading the way is 6'4" junior linebacker Zaven Collins, a second-team all-conference selection last year. Collins leads a defensive unit that lost seven starters to graduation, but a total of 11 players came into the season with at least one career start.

Collins, who had 97 tackles, eight TFLs and two pass breakups last year, had an outstanding effort in less than three quarters of play in the season opener. Collins comes into this week's game as the nation's leader for TFLs with 4 for -24 yards and sacks with 3 for -16 yards.

A total of seven linebackers saw playing time in the opener, as reserves Grant Sawyer with 7 tackles and 3.5 TFLs for -11 yards and Robert Revels III with five solos stops were among the leaders of the Hurricane defenders.

Upfront for Tulsa in its 3-3-5 defensive scheme are two players with multiple starting assignments –– junior Jaxon Player and senior Tyarise Stevenson. The two combined for 52 tackles and eight TFLs a year ago, while in the opener the duo caused problems for the OSU front line. Senior end Cullen Wick will have to put pressure on the edge against the Knights.

Four young linemen including sophomore Anthony Goodlow, redshirt freshman RaQuan Thompson and true freshman Everitt Rogers and Haydon Grant will get reps on the front line. Goodlow totaled four tackles and one TFL for -4 yards in the opener.

Despite losing three of its five starters in the secondary, the Hurricane has solid experience with good depth in the back end of the defense. Nickel safety Cristian Williams returns for a 6^th season after returning last year when it was thought his career was over. He totaled 57 tackles, three pass breakups and one interception a year ago and in the opener two weeks ago tallied four stops.

Safeties TieNeal Martin and Kendarin Ray moved into starting roles this year and had outstanding performances in the opener. Ray had 11 solo tackles and Martin collected five overall stops.

Tulsa's corners – Allie Green IV and Akayleb Evans – will have to be strong again this week against UCF's playmaking receiving corps. The duo have multiple starts at corner for the Hurricane, while Tyon Davis, Ryan Nixon and Reggie Ellis will all be in the rotation as well.

The Hurricane offense will need to be at its best for this second game of the year.

Tulsa's front-line averages 6-feet, 3-inches and 342 pounds and is charged with protecting senior signal-caller Zach Smith and pave the way for a running back corps that is without 2,700-career rusher Shamari Brooks.

Brooks will miss the season with an ACL injury.

In the opener, Smith completed 64-percent of his passes for 165 yards and one TD after missing most of two weeks practice time prior to the game. Last year, Smith passed for 3,279 yards, 19 TDs with a 131.9 pass efficiency and just nine interceptions.

With the loss of Brooks, it will be running by committee for the Hurricane. Senior Corey Taylor II, who has 1,491 yards and 22 TDs in his career leads the way. Texas A&M transfer Deneric Prince carried most of the load in the opener, gaining 82 yards on 13 carries for a 6.3 average.

The backfield depth does not end there as T.K. Wilkerson had 220 yards a year ago, and freshman redshirt Christian Lovick portrayed glimpses of a bright future in his minimal game experience.

Tulsa also has Missouri transfer Anthony Watkins in its running back stable.

Smith found six receivers in the opener as junior Josh Johnson had a team-best 63 yards and one TD on five receptions, while senior Keylon Stokes totaled four catches for 55 yards. Last year, Stokes was Tulsa's first 1,000-yard receiver since the 2016 season with 1,040 yards and six TDs, while junior Sam Crawford Jr. had 777 yards and five scores.

A young, but talented tight end position is led by James Palmer, Ethan Hall, Abe Anderson and newcomer Jacob Kainer.

The Knights defensive unit led the nation a year ago with 9.0 tackles for loss per game and this year returns great experience and depth.

UCF's defense has been stingy and opportunistic in its first two games, gaining nine turnovers including eight fumble recoveries and three interceptions. The Knights have also tallied 14 TFLs and nine pass break-ups.

Linebackers Eriq Gilyard with 16 tackles, four TFLs for -6 yards and two forced fumbles and Eric Mitchell with 14 stops lead the Knights defensive efforts, while nickel Aaron Robinson has 14 stops and three pass break-ups in the first two contests.

In addition to Robinson in the backend of the Knights defense, safeties Richie Grant, Antwan Collier and Derek Gainous and corner Zamari Maxwell are among the top-7 tackle leaders.

Defensive end Randy Charlton has led the UCF defensive front with six tackles and five quarterback hurries.

The weather conditions for Saturday night's contest appear to be clear and temperatures starting out in the 80's. The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Jason Benetti, Rod Gilmore and Lericia Harris on the call.