UCF HEADS INTO WEEKEND FOR FIRST GAME OF THREE-GAME STINT AT HOME
UCF Press Release
October 15, 2002
ORLANDO - The Golden Knights wrapped up practice Thursday and will head into the
Citrus Bowl on Saturday for the first of a three-game homestand that will see
them face off against a strong Toledo squad. Both teams are coming off wins and
are tied for second place in their respective divisions.
Much has been made about the balanced offensive attack of the Rockets, but the
Golden Knights have to be careful to not overlook the Toledo defense.
"They have a pair of really good linebackers," said senior offensive tackle
Brian Huff. "The defensive front is not quite as active as what we faced last
week at Western Michigan, but they are very solid and they do what they need to
do and let their linebackers make plays."
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In fact, Toledo enters the game with the leading two tacklers in the MAC in senior linebackers Tom Ward and David Gardner, who enter the game with 169 tackles and five sacks between them. "It is definitely going to be a challenge," added Huff. "We have played against this type of defense before and had success, it just comes down to execution." After playing the last three seasons at UCF as an Independent, for Huff, the reality of having a |
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conference opener is something that has been long anticipated.
"Firstly, this is a big game, and the fact that it is now a conference game for
us is unbelievable," Huff stated. "This program has been trying to become a
member of a conference for a while and now that it has happened it is great. We
love to play at home and this should fire everyone up even more."
Huff and the rest of his offensive teammates match up well with Toledo as the
Rockets rank 42nd in the country in scoring defense yielding 22.5 points a game.
Conversely the Knights offense is putting up 27.4 points a game. UCF needs to
take advantage of the Rockets run defense, which allows 163 yards a contest. The
offensive line will again have its hands full as Toledo enters the game with 17
sacks, while UCF has allowed just 11 on the season and one in the past three
games.
UCF and Toledo will kick off Saturday, Oct 19 at 6:00 p.m.
Other notes -
Lemec Bernard was named the winner of the Big Stick Award on Thursday for his
efforts on special teams against Western Michigan.
Tailback Alex Haynes, who sat out last week with an ankle injury, practiced with
the team and was held out of contact. It will be a game-time decision as to
whether or not Haynes will play.
