Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

The #22 UCF Knights (4-1; 1-0 AAC) took out their frustrations from last week’s loss to Pitt by trouncing the Huskies of UCONN (1-3; 0-1 AAC). As reported by the AAC:

Dillon Gabriel threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 22 UCF rebound from its first regular-season loss in nearly three years with a 56-21 rout of Connecticut to begin American Athletic Conference play Saturday night.

The two-time defending AAC champions improved to 29-2 since the start of 2017, bouncing back from a 35-34 loss at Pittsburgh that stopped a league- and school-record 25-game regular-season win streak.

Gabriel completed 11 of 16 passes without an interception for UCF, and he threw TD passes of 73, 16 and 13 yards to Gabriel Davis while UCF (4-1, 1-0) built a 42-0 halftime lead.

Darriel Mack Jr. replaced the true freshman at the start of the third quarter. It was his first action of the season after sitting out the first four games with a broken ankle, which had opened the door for Gabriel and Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush to play early.

UConn (1-3, 0-1) fell to 0-7 in ACC openers and has lost 12 consecutive conference games.

Steven Krajewski came off the bench to throw for 273 yards, including second-half TD passes of 16 yards to Cameron Ross, 12 yards to Ardell Brown and 15 yards to Matt Drayton.

Mack, who was 9 of 13 for 97 yards and one TD, led the Knights in the AAC title game and Fiesta Bowl after two-time AAC offensive player of the year McKenzie Milton sustained a serious knee and leg injury in last year’s regular-season finale.

UConn began the game with pair of runs that were stopped for no gain, and it was pretty much downhill from there. Starting quarterback Jack Zergiotis was intercepted on third down. Krajewski’s first pass was intercepted, too, and returned 48 yards by UCF’s Nevelle Clarke for a touchdown.

Zergiotis lost a fumble on the Huskies’ second possession, and Krajewski lost one in the first half as well, when the redshirt freshman lost his grip on the ball trying to throw a pass. UCF was up 42-0 by the time UConn drove into field-goal range twice in the closing minutes of the first half, only to watch kick Clayton Harris miss from 40 and 52 yards.

UConn returns home to host USF on Saturday. UCF visits Cincinnati on Friday night. That game will be broadcasted nationwide on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 8pm. Check out highlights from UCF’s defeat of UCONN below:

The UCF Knights (3-0; 0-0 AAC) dominated the Stanford Cardinal (1-2; 0-1 PAC12) in front of a sold-out and energized crowd at Spectrum Stadium on Saturday. As reported by the American Athletic Conference:

Freshman Dillon Gabriel threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns in his second college start, leading No. 17 UCF to a 45-27 rout of Stanford on Saturday.

The Knights (3-0) scored on six of seven possessions, building a 31-point halftime lead in what was expected to be a much tougher test for the two-time defending American Athletic Conference champions, who won their first two games of the season by a combined score of 110-14 against Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic.

Gabriel completed 22 of 30 passes, including TD throws of 28 yards to Marlon Williams, 38 yards to Tre Nixon, 38 yards to Gabriel Davis and 1-yard to Jake Hescook. Greg McCrae rushed for109 yards and one touchdown for UCF, which has won 25 consecutive regular-season games and 28 of 29 overall since the start of 2017.

Stanford (1-2), which tumbled out of the Top 25 after losing 45-20 at Southern California the previous week, yielded four touchdowns in the opening quarter and 413 yards total offense in the first half alone.

K.J. Costello returned to Stanford’s lineup after sitting out against USC with a head injury and completed 21 of44 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and an interception that led to one UCF score. Austin Jones had a 35-yard TD run and finished with 65 rushing for the Cardinal, while Costello’s 24-yard TD pass to Michael Wilson’s 24-yard TD reception trimmed the Cardinal’s big halftime deficit to 38-17 early in the fourth quarter.

Gabriel started for the second straight week for UCF, which entered the game with an unsettled quarterback situation, even though the Knights beat FAMU 62-0 and FAU 48-14 the previous two weeks.

Brandon Wimbush, a senior transfer from Notre Dame, started the opener before sitting out last week with an undisclosed injury. He was inserted into Saturday’s game for one play in the second quarter, losing 2 yards on a run on second-and-goal from the Stanford 2. Two plays later, the Knights settled for a field goal.

UCF’s quarterback situation was unsettled before Saturday only because Gabriel, Wimbush and Darriel Mack, Jr., who is practicing again after recovering from a broken ankle, have all demonstrated they are capable of thriving in the Knights’ high-powered offense. Mack took over last season when McKenzie Milton was injured and led the team in the AAC championship game and Fiesta Bowl, where UCF’s school-record 25-game winning streak was ended by LSU.

Stanford played a regular season game in Florida for the first time. It was the fourth appearance in the Sunshine State all-time. The Cardinal played Clemson in the 1986 Gator Bowl, Penn State in the 1993 Blockbuster Bowl and Virginia Tech in the 2011 Orange Bowl.

UCF is at Pitt next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3:30pm and the game will be nationally-televised on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2. Watch video highlights of UCF’s victory over Stanford below, courtesy of the American Athletic Conference:

The UCF Knights (2-0; 0-0 AAC) absolutely manhandled the Owls of FAU (0-2; 0-0 C-USA) on Saturday night in front of the largest crowd to see a game in FAU’s history. That record came as a result of the thousands of Knights fans who made the trip to Boca Raton to watch UCF take on FAU. As reported by the American Athletic Association:

BOCA RATON, Fla. — UCF’s Dillon Gabriel made his completions count.

The freshman went 7 for 19 in his first start but threw touchdown throws of 57 and 74 yards, and No. 18 UCF extended its regular-season winning streak to 24 games by easing past Florida Atlantic 48-14 Saturday night.

Gabriel also connected on passes of 45 and 32 yards, which more than made up for his frequent misfires. The left-hander totaled 245 yards passing — 35 per completion — and ran four times for 19 yards and a score.

The Knights (2-0) totaled 574 yards and reached the 30-point mark for the 28th game in a row, the longest such streak since at least 1936.

Florida Atlantic (0-2) disappointed a home crowd of 30,811, largest in the program’s history. The Owls have never beaten a Top 25 team in 15 tries.

The game was called because of lightning in the area with 4:20 to play.

Running back Adrian Killins Jr. scored one touchdown rushing and another receiving. Otis Anderson had the Knights’ longest run when he juked past a safety for a 39-yard score.

UCF needed less than six minutes to take a 14-0 lead, and by halftime the margin was 28-6, even though Gabriel had completed just three passes.

He sealed the outcome midway through the third quarter with a completion to Killins, who was open by 10 yards at midfield and weaved past four defenders to the end zone for a 74-yard score.

UCF sacked Chris Robison four times and stopped the Owls on third down 14 times. The Knights led 48-6 before allowing a touchdown for the first time this season.

Gabriel started after coming off the bench to throw three touchdown passes last week against Florida A&M. Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush, who started the opener, did not play.

The Knights gained 120 yards in the first 5 1/2 minutes to take a 14-0 lead. They drove 75 yards in seven plays for their first score, and after a blocked punt, Gabriel hit Jacob Harris deep for a 57-yard touchdown.

After their 62-0 season-opening win last week, the Knights dropped one spot in the poll. That probably won’t happen again.

The Knights play at home next Saturday against No. 23 Stanford. Kickoff is set for 3:30pm. The game will be nationally-televised on ABC or ESPN. Check out video highlights below, courtesy of CBS Sports: