For Maryland’s upcoming game against Central Florida, we wanted to get the lowdown on everything you need to know about the Knights. So we found an expert: Juan Toribio of UCF’s 247Sports site. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Scott Frost is now in his second season at UCF. How would you assess his tenure thus far?
Scott Frost’s tenure has been a good one thus far, but there’s no longer a honeymoon phase. Last season, it appeared that just winning a game was taken well by the fanbase, but now the team has expectations to at least be in the mix for a conference championship. UCF has only played one game this season due to Hurricane Irma, but there’s a noticeable difference in the culture now in year two.
How important was it to bounce back from 2015’s winless season to make a bowl game last season for the program?
It was key to bounce back last season because it showed that the process was working. Most players on the roster were George O’Leary-recruited players, so it was important to show them that the new coaching staff knows what they’re doing. Now it’s just a matter of being able to put more wins on the board.
What is the biggest difference between last season’s UCF team the Terps beat in 2OT and the one that will be in College Park on Saturday?
The biggest difference from year one and year two is just familiarity in the offense and defense. UCF was a very young team last season and they were still learning how to win games together. Now, the team understands the playbook a little bit better, they understand the practice routines, and they understand what is expected of them. Overall, it’s just a more mature team this season.
UCF beat FIU pretty comprehensively in its last game. What’s the biggest positive you took from that victory?
Definitely the play of McKenzie Milton. The sophomore quarterback came into this season with a lot of question marks and while he didn’t necessarily answer all of them, he did show that he has improved significantly compared to his freshman season. The offense was clicking and was moving at a faster pace than they did last season, which is a good sign for the Knights moving forward.
Due to a combination of Hurricane Irma and a scheduled bye week, UCF has had almost a month between FIU and Saturday’s game. Do you think this much time off will help or hurt them?
It’ll be interesting to see how the team comes out. Like you mentioned, it’s been a little over three weeks so there could definitely be some rust. UCF practiced twice last week to try and knock off some of the rust, but you never know until you get back on the field again. I think it helped the team to get completely healthy, but we’ll see what it does for the momentum they were able to build coming off a dominant performance in week one.
Ty Johnson leads the nation in yards per carry and is a major big-play threat. How do you expect UCF to do facing a running back like him?
The strength of the UCF defense is their front seven so this is going to be a fun matchup. UCF has some question marks in their secondary, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Maryland staff opens the playbook up a little bit more, even with a freshman quarterback. But the game will come down to stopping the run. If the Knights do that, they’ll have a great shot to take one on the road. If they don’t, they’ll lose to Maryland in back-to-back seasons.
