UCF Football: 3 keys to victory over Pitt Panthers in Week 4

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BOCA RATON, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 07: Dillon Gabriel #11 of the UCF Knights hands the ball off to Greg McCrae #30 the first half against the Florida Atlantic Owls at FAU Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

3. Offensive line must perform

Despite all the incredible skill players on UCF’s roster, one of the most raved positions was the offensive line before the season. With three all-conference players returning to the lineup, they were projected to have one of the best protection groups in the country.

So far in 2019, they’ve exceeded those expectations. UCF has only given up one sack through three games, and it was only for a two yard loss. It’s been a masterclass of a performance from the Knights on the front lines, and Stanford was the pinnacle performance.

Number of sacks for the Cardinal in Week 3? Zero. One QB hurry. It was a masterful game, as quarterback Dillon Gabriel had a clean pocket all game, and the running game was as electric as ever.

The Knights offense has been especially impressive this season. Yards per play is an indicative statistic to the performance of the offensive line, and the Knights numbers stand out. Currently, they average 5.8 yards per carry on the ground and 11 yards per pass attempt. Those kind of numbers tell the story of how good an offensive line is.

They’ve kept a clean pocket for Gabriel to throw down field. They’ve created plenty of holes for Greg McCrae and Adrian Killins to run wild.

Pitt has struggled in a lot of different areas this season, but pass rush has not been one of them. They have 12 sacks on the season, and had three against Penn State last week, to go along with 5 quarterback hurries. This is a good pass rush, and with a true freshman at quarterback, it will take another strong performance from the line to keep the offense rolling.

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