The UCF Knights took the field for another conference matchup against the Midshipmen of Navy and won soundly, 35-24 to extend their active win total to 22. This being the first noon kickoff for UCF this season, I’m hopped up on coffee to bring you this week’s knee-jerk reactions:

Greg McCrae and the running backs continue to show out

No one questions that UCF’s offense operates through quarterback McKenzie Milton. Especially after completing his 22nd straight game with a touchdown pass. McCrae continues to shine in a running back corps just dripping with talent. When a defensive coach sees him take the field, they might expect him to be bashing for yards. Then he pops out of the backfield and shows talent to catch the football as well. That receiving threat was the first successful play for the Knights that led to their first points on the day. The up and coming back turned in 111 yards from scrimmage (that catch in question, his only one on the day, being 10 of them) with a trip to the end zone and a fumble recovery that kept a scoring drive alive.

That’s not to take away from the contribution of Adrian Killins. Killins slashed and cut his way through the Navy defense to turn in 83 yards on 14 carries. This is the kind of one-two punch you might expect from a conference championship contending offense.

UCF’s defense is a mixed bag

The Knights defense is officially worthy of the title of “bend don’t break” when it comes to the run game. Not to say that they are great, but 168 yards in the first half against a triple option offense isn’t bad when you consider that 46 of them were on one play. But the ability of this UCF squad to cancel drives with turnovers is a key to not only 2018’s success, but last season as well. Nothing demonstrates that fact like posting 28 straight games recording a takeaway. 28 games is the longest such stretch active in the nation.

That being said, more runs to the outside seem to put this squad on skates rolling backwards at times. Sure, there are some efforts where the front seven get a tackle for a loss that will essentially kill a drive, but most offenses are more explosive than Navy. 0 yards passing on a stat sheet is deceptively sexy. Navy putting up 374 ground yards is a far more accurate and frightening story.

Why the CFP committee should be watching this game close.

Let’s be clear, I don’t expect the College Football Playoff committee to actually heed this, but it’s time to show some consistency. After penalizing UCF for their Temple win when they still covered the spread, Navy sails into Orlando and UCF beats them with a score of 35- 24. This makes for a second “like-opponent” with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who are currently ranked in the Top 4 in the ranking meaning they would play for a national championship if the playoffs were this weekend. The Irish beat Navy 44-22 — not far from UCF’s performance who was a red zone fumble away from putting up another six points . Notre Dame earlier in the year also barely beat Pitt , 19-14 while the Knights declawed the Panthers, 45-14. Weak schedule or not for UCF, doesn’t this say something about the silliness of placing a two-loss team ahead of them in the rankings?

Kyle Nash, known as The Student of the Game, covers UCF Football for SportsMediaPass.com and is a special contributor for Break the Fourth. He’s a also a writer for the DolphinsWire of USA Today and co-host of the DinnerTime and Default Assault podcasts.