The UCF Knights move to 2-0 after a very lopsided 68-7 win over FCS member, the North Carolina A&T Aggies. It’s time for some Knee-Jerk Reactions.
Mother Nature Does it Again
Once again, Mother Nature decided that UCF should wait for her to finish a football game. This time, the UCF vs North Carolina A&T game was delayed by a little over an hour due to heavy rain and lightning, which prevented the teams from getting to the stadium. While the weather deterred some fans from attending, the turnout was pretty good despite plenty of rain in the first half.
Tayven Jackson Makes His Case
With Cam Fancher out due to his injury last week, Tayven Jackson had the game to himself. The results are a mixed bag. In the first half, Jackson went 12/21 for 189 yards. He also had three carries for a yard and two touchdowns. Jackson was efficient on both short routes and routes that required the receiver to stop. His accuracy leading the receiver was spotty at best. He had a deep pass to Duane Thomas Jr that should have been a touchdown, but Thomas was led a little too much, and he had to make a diving catch at the one. His other deep passes were mainly inaccurate. At the postgame press conference, Jackson was very cognizant of his needing to work on things during the bye week.
Jacurri Brown took over the quarterback position in the second half. Brown’s specialty is running, and he had a chance to put it on display. In the third quarter, Brown ran it up the middle for a 60-yard score. He wasn’t done and scored again in the fourth quarter. Brown had 106 yards and two touchdowns on five carries. It was hoped he would throw the ball more to showcase his arm, but he only went 2/3 for 15 yards. That’s not much to work with.
UCF had 560 yards of offense on the day. The three big running plays totalled 213. The remaining total offense was 347 yards. Against an FCS squad in North Carolina A&T, this is concerning.
The Defense Made it Look Easy
North Carolina A&T is not a good team. The offense is still trying to figure itself out and ended up playing three quarterbacks. None of them was able to get through the defense. Champ Long was the most effective passer, going 3/7 for 26 yards and an interception. It goes downhill from there. Braxton Jackson and Jy Walls also played, but were ineffective.
North Carolina A&T’s running game had more success. JT Smith was the most successful player on offense, carrying the ball 15 times for 54 yards. Shimique Blizzard ended up with more yards and the team’s lone score, but his carries were almost exclusively in the second half and not against the starting defensive unit. Smith only had four carries in the second half.
The defense had 11 tackles for loss, two sacks, four pass breakups, and three takeaways. This was an efficient day.
The Negative of the Blowout Game
One of the downsides of a blowout is the statsheet. Sure, it tells you the numbers, but it does not tell you the story. Who did what and when matters. Was it against the first team offense or defense? Was it against others who are further down the depth chart? Many players on the two-deep rotate throughout the game so that those answers can get muddled. For example, linebacker Cole Kozlowski led the team with seven total tackles. Four were in the first half and three in the second. In the second half, the starters largely exited the game to allow the depth of the roster to get playing time.
The Jaden Nixon Show
Jaden Nixon put on a show. The game kicked off with Nixon returning the kick for a 96-yard touchdown. It’s the first kickoff return for a touchdown by UCF since Mike Hughes famously did it against South Florida in the 2017 War on I-4. Nixon had a rough first game as a Knight, netting negative yards for the game. Head coach Scott Frost noted that he needed to rotate his players better, and that included getting Nixon into the game more. His touches were again limited, but that was not by design. On two of his four carries, he broke for an 87-yard and 66 66-yard touchdown.
What is notable is that his big runs were to the right, and he went outside before turning up the field and letting the afterburners kick in. The other two carries he had were up the middle and yielded three yards total. At the end of the day, he had four carries for 156 yards and two touchdowns. His interior running and the pedestrian eight carries for 35 yards from Myles Montgomery continue to act as a reminder of the struggle the offensive line has had blocking for the run.
Uniform Review
For family weekend, UCF went with their all black uniform. The black jersey with white numbers is their regular home top. They wore their matching bottoms and black helmets. The helmet decals are new this year. The equipment staff has altered the shade of gold to a brighter gold to match the new accent color in the uniform. The more I see them, the less I like the changes to the Pegasus on the arms of the uniform. From 2016 to 2024, it was the whole Pegasus. In 2025, it’s the wing design from the 2023 space game uniform. It’s just not working for me. Also, the number three in the new UCF font is awful. It is easily confused for a nine and has caused plenty of mayhem with those in the press box. UCF might want to look into this next year.
Stat Leaders:
Passing:
UCF: Tayven Jackson: 12/21 for 189 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int
A&T: Champ Long: 3/7 for 40 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int
Rushing:
UCF: Jaden Nixon: 4 carries for 156 yards, 2 TD
A&T: Shimique Blizzard: 11 carries for 75 yards, 1 TD
Receiving:
UCF: Duane Thomas Jr: 3 catches for 68 yards, 0 TD
A&T: Elijah Kennedy: 2 catches for 20 yards, 0 TD
Game Notes:
- UCF leads the series 1-0.
- UCF has begun the season 2-0 for the third straight season.
- The last time UCF had a touchdown on offense, defense, and special teams in a single game was against Austin Peay in 2017.
- This is Scott Frost’s 15th straight win at UCF.
- Jaden Nixon’s 87-yard touchdown run is tied for the 3rd longest run in UCF history.
- Sorry, it’s not my best, but Mother Nature decided to delay the game AGAIN.
