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It’s Time For Our Annual UCF Football Approval Ratings

Let us know your thoughts on how you think UCF is doing through the bye week

NCAA Football: Florida Atlantic at Central Florida
Do you approve of the job McKenzie Milton’s offense is doing this year?
Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

We’re eyeball deep in election season here in the state of Florida, so we here at Black & Gold Banneret want to give you a few minutes to get away from the constant stream of political ads and finally let your voice be heard.

We hear all the time about approval ratings, polls and who’s up and who’s down, so we thought we could apply some of those concepts to UCF Football.

Fellow citizens of Knight Nation, we give you our annual UCF Knights Bye Week Approval Ratings.

Here’s how it works: In this column, we give you four polls with one simple yes-or-no question: Do you approve of the job each unit is doing this season? We’ll also give you some stats, rankings, and pros and cons. The four units are offense, defense, special teams and the coaching staff

Alright, no more filibustering. Cloture invoked. Let’s do this!


Offense

UCF 2018 Offensive Stats

Category 2018 (7 games) FBS Rank 2017 FBS Rank
Category 2018 (7 games) FBS Rank 2017 FBS Rank
Total Yards/Game 537.1 6 530.5 5
Rushing Yards/Game 261.1 9 198.7 33
Passing Yards/Game 276.0 25 331.8 10
Team Passing Efficiency 150.6 30 178.47 2
Completion % 59.1% 78 67.7% 5
Points/Game 44.4 6 48.2 1
3rd Down % 51.5% 6 45.5% T-15
4th Down % 66.7% T-20 50.0% T-69
Red Zone Offense 90.0% 25 84.5% 64
First Downs Offense 188 T-14 327 T-9
Time of Possession    26:38 118    28:04 105
Turnovers 2 5 15 27
Sacks Allowed/Game 1.29 19 1.00 5
TFL Allowed/Game 4.29 14 5.31 38
Pros:
  • UCF’s offensive numbers, especially scoring, have kept pace with last year’s offense.
  • The Knights are showing more balance between run and pass than in 2017.
  • Turnovers and negative-yardage plays are down while 3rd downs are up.
Cons:
  • McKenzie Milton and the passing offense have come back to Earth. Yardage, efficiency and completion percentage are down from 2017.
  • The Knights have allowed more sacks this year, though that’s mostly due to the Memphis game.
  • Time of possession is expectedly poor, although not that much worse than 2017.

Poll

Do you approve of the UCF offense’s performance thus far in 2018?

This poll is closed

  • 91%
    Yes
    (124 votes)
  • 8%
    No
    (11 votes)
135 votes total Vote Now

Defense

UCF Defensive Stats

Category 2018 (7 games) FBS Rank 2017 FBS Rank
Category 2018 (7 games) FBS Rank 2017 FBS Rank
Total Yards Allowed/Game 395.4 73 427.9 93
Rushing Yards Allowed/Game 182.9 92 159.8 59
Passing Yards Allowed/Game 212.6 46 268.1 115
Team Passing Efficiency Defense 108.25 16 125.89 56
Points/Game Allowed 18.1 17 25.3 52
3rd Down % Allowed 41% 88 41% 85
4th Down % Allowed 44% T-34 48% 61
Red Zone Defense 74% T-17 85% T-79
First Downs Allowed 159 T-88 280 98
Turnovers Forced 18 3 32 2
Sacks/Game 1.86 78 2.08 62
Tackles for Loss/Game 8.9 4 5.8 67
Defensive TDs 2 15 4 8
Pros:
  • The defense has improved overall, allowing fewer total yards and points, and clamping down much more on opponents’ passing game.
  • UCF is on pace to force about as many turnovers as last year. That has been key, especially in the last six quarters (7 turnovers forced on 22 possessions).
  • Red Zone percentage is down, and negative-yardage plays are up
Cons:
  • UCF’s rushing defense has been suspect at times, especially against UConn, FAU and Memphis.
  • The Knights are still having some trouble getting off the field on third downs.

Poll

Do you approve of the UCF defense’s performance thus far in 2018?

This poll is closed

  • 81%
    Yes
    (87 votes)
  • 18%
    No
    (20 votes)
107 votes total Vote Now

Special Teams

UCF Special Teams Stats

Category 2018 (7 games) FBS Rank 2017 FBS Rank
Category 2018 (7 games) FBS Rank 2017 FBS Rank
Net Punting 35.69 93 38.72 47
Punt Return Avg. 9.83 53 14.71 6
Punt Return Avg. Allowed 20.33 127 6.83 62
Kickoff Return Avg. 19.77 79 24.83 10
Kickoff Return Avg. Allowed 20.82 67 20.37 61
Field Goal % 100% T-1 72.2% 67
Pros:
  • Matt Wright has lived up to his Matty Ice nickname. He’s 100% this year.
Cons:
  • Kick and punt coverage overall have taken big steps back. That has also contributed to Mac Loudermilk’s less-than-stellar net average.

Poll

Do you approve of UCF’s special teams performance thus far in 2018?

This poll is closed

  • 61%
    Yes
    (66 votes)
  • 38%
    No
    (42 votes)
108 votes total Vote Now

Coaching

Miscellaneous Stats

Category 2017 (7 Games) FBS Rank 2018 FBS Rank
Category 2017 (7 Games) FBS Rank 2018 FBS Rank
Turnover Margin/Game 1.86 3 1.31 2
Fewest Penalties/Game 8.43 T-121 8.38 126
Fewest Penalty Yards/Game 78 122 68.31 116
Pros:
  • Josh Heupel has done the impossible: Kept the offense apace with last year’s record performance.
  • Randy Shannon’s defense has done the job: Kept offenses out of the end zone. At no time was this more important than the second half of the Memphis game.
Cons:
  • Penalties continue to be an issue, although not that much more of an issue than last year.
  • Aside from Matt Wright, special teams has seen quite a bit of erosion, notably in the return game and coverage.

Poll

Do you approve of the UCF coaching staff’s performance thus far in 2018?

This poll is closed

  • 86%
    Yes
    (93 votes)
  • 13%
    No
    (14 votes)
107 votes total Vote Now