Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

After solidly defeating the Temple Owls last week in Philadelphia, the UCF Knights returned home and delivered a 44-29 victory over the Houston Cougars on Saturday. As reported by the American Athletic Conference:

Dillon Gabriel passed for 298 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Tre Nixon, and ran for a score as UCF dominated the second half and beat Houston 44-29 on Saturday.

Houston jumped out to a 10-0 lead on Mulbah Car’s 37-yard TD run and a 45-yard field goal by Dalton Witherspoon. Gabriel hit Marlon Williams for a 6-yard score and, after Car scored on a 2-yard run, added a 32-yard scoring strike to Nixon to pull UCF (7-2, 4-1 American Athletic Conference) with 17-14 after one quarter.

Gabriel scored on a 22-yard run midway through the second quarter to put the Knights up 21-17, but Witherspoon kicked two field goals in the final 4 minutes and Houston (3-6, 1-4) took a 23-21 lead into halftime.

UCF put the game out of reach with three third-quarter touchdowns. Bentavious Thompson scored on a 43-yard run, Gabriel and Nixon hooked up for a 34-yard score and Thompson added a 2-yard TD run for a 42-23 lead heading into the final quarter.

Gabriel hit 21 of 30 passes without an interception for the Knights. Nixon had six receptions for 123 yards.

Clayton Tune completed 18 of 30 passes for 179 yards with one TD and one interception for the Cougars. Mar carried 26 times for 132 yards and two scores.

Check out video highlights of the game, courtesy of the AAC, below. UCF hits the road to face the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7;00pm. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2.

The UCF Knights (5-2; 2-1 AAC) came back from a tough road loss @ #21 Cincy two weeks ago to deliver a 41-28 Homecoming victory against the ECU Pirates (3-4; 0-3 AAC). As reported by the AAC:

Dillon Gabriel threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as UCF beat ECU 41-28 on Saturday night.

Gabriel had a career-high 365 yards passing for the Knights (5-2, 2-1 American Athletic Conference) who scored 35 points in the first half. Gabriel Davis caught two touchdown passes and had 164 yards receiving. Otis Anderson ran for 80 yards on 18 carries.

The Knights scored three touchdowns in the first quarter beginning with Gabriel’s keeper to cap a 92-yard drive. Greg McCrae took it in from the 4 after that and Bentavious Thompson streaked 32 yards to close the quarter with a 21-0 lead.

Backup QB Darriel Mack Jr. threw a 33-yard touchdown to Davis early in the second quarter and Gabriel returned on the next drive to hit Davis again from 16 yards for a 35-3 advantage with 1:09 left in the half.

The Knights allowed 17-unanswered ECU points in the third quarter before Gabriel found Tre Nixon for a 53-yard score to lead 41-22.

Holton Ahlers had 313 yards and a touchdown passing and ran for another score for the Pirates (3-4, 0-3). Check out video highlights of UCF’s win below, courtesy of the AAC:

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:

The UCF Knights (1-0; 0-0 AAC) kicked off their 2019 football season with a HUGE win over the FAMU Rattlers (0-1; 0-0 MEAC) on Thursday night in-front of a near-capacity crowd at Spectrum Stadium. As reported by the American Athletic Conference:

Former Notre Dame star Brandon Wimbush threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns in his UCF debut, helping the 17th-ranked Knights open the season with a 62-0 rout of Florida A&M on Thursday night.

The redshirt senior transfer completed 12 of 23 passes without an interception while sharing playing time with true freshman Dillon Gabriel, who finished second in the competition for the starting quarterback job that opened because of an injury sidelining two-time American Athletic Conference offensive player of the year McKenzie Milton.

Wimbush, who tossed TD passes of 37 and 12 yards to Gabriel Davis, was 13-2 as a starter over the past two years at Notre Dame. He lost his job there to Ian Book despite helping the Fighting Irish begin last season with three consecutive wins.

Gabriel arrived at UCF from the same high school where Milton played in Hawaii. He performed well enough in fall camp that coach Josh Heupel felt he deserved some playing time in the opener and showed why, going 9 of 13 for 127 yards with TD passes to three different receivers.

The Knights improved to 26-1 since the start of 2017.

It was business as usual for UCF, which has scored at least 30 points in 27 consecutive games, the longest such streak for a FBS team since 1936. Wimbush looked comfortable running the offense, making plays with his feet and arm. In the first quarter alone, he ran the ball five times for 42 yards, with each of the runs resulting in a first down.

Check out highlights of the game, courtesy of the AAC and CBS Sports Network, below:

Per UCF Athletics–The UCF Knights have officially sold-out all season tickets for the upcoming 2019 season, which kicks off two weeks from Thursday against the FAMU Rattlers:

These are heady times for the UCF football program – and the end result is that tickets for Knights’ home games in 2019 are going to be difficult to come by, with only minimal quantities of single-game tickets remaining.

On the field, the Knights’ football squad has won 25 of its last 26 games, including New Year’s Six bowl appearances and American Athletic Conference titles each of the last two seasons. UCF stands 17th in the 2019 preseason poll of coaches after the Knights finished 12th in last year’s final USA Today poll of coaches. Josh Heupel’s initial season as Knights’ head coach in 2018 produced a 12-1 mark and a Fiesta Bowl appearance.

That sort of high-level success now has translated handsomely off the field.

For the first time in school history, UCF has sold its entire season-ticket allotment. Minimal inventory remains based on extremely limited single-game tickets and some flexibility given the uncertainty of visiting team allotment use. 

A year ago, UCF’s eight home contests averaged 44,018 spectators each in a facility that officially seats 44,206. That 44,018 figure ties the previous single-season average high from the inaugural 2007 campaign at Spectrum Stadium. 

The high-water mark in 2018 came when 47,795 fans viewed UCF’s Nov. 17 victory over 19th-ranked Cincinnati on a weekend when ESPN Game Day came to UCF for the first time. That number is the second-highest single-game figure for Spectrum Stadium (48,453 fans watched the 2009 home game against Miami).

Unprecedented demand for UCF football tickets has prompted the Knights’ athletic department for the first time to create a formal waiting list for future season tickets. Call 407-823-1000 (option 1) or log onto https://ucfknights.co/2020waitlist to register your interest. All those individuals will be provided first access, in order of registration, at any future point that additional seating inventory comes available (either general admission or premium seat options).

That demand also has UCF vice president and athletics director Danny White looking to the future and anticipating that Spectrum Stadium expansion may be on the docket for exploration sooner than later. 

“The fact that our season-ticket allotment is gone before the start of a season is a first for UCF, and it absolutely speaks to both the success of the football program and how our alumni and community have embraced Orlando’s Hometown Team,” says White.

“We’re confident that capacity crowds will become routine at Spectrum Stadium, and that suggests we need to be forward-thinking in terms of assessing what the options are to expand,” says White. “The topic of expansion isn’t new, but we feel some urgency to figure this out because of the growing demand in the community and, most importantly, with our students. We unfortunately had to turn away thousands of students at the majority of our games last year and we expect that number to grow this season. A 12,000-seat student section is just not big enough for the largest undergraduate enrollment in America.”

Since it opened in 2007 the Knights’ home stadium has added a premium chair-back seating and club area, the Carl Black and Gold Cabana, on the east side of the field and a similar Stadium Club on the west side, also including chair-back seats and premium amenities. The Carl Black and Gold Cabana area will expand for 2019 with the addition of approximately 900 more gold chair-back seats. Other major premium additions were field cabanas in the south end zone in 2017 and then in the north end zone in 2018—and loge cabanas on the south side in 2018 and north side for the upcoming 2019 season.

In addition to being able to address the upsized demand from UCF fans and students for tickets, increased capacity would enable Spectrum Stadium to provide additional seats for visiting team allotments and other larger groups.