This past Thursday, the UCF Knights did what’s expected of them by beating the Temple Owls, 52-40. The being said, it appears that they didn’t impress enough of the sports public at large. The AP and Coaches Polls both punished the Knights by dropping them two spots falling from 9th to 11th in both listings while in the College Football Playoff rankings, the Knights held at the 12 spot. While one could argue they weren’t punished in the CFP, there are now a pair of two-loss SEC teams ahead of them in the University of Kentucky and Louisiana State.

Many have taken sides within sports and social media arguing how either the Knights allowed the unranked Owls to achieve a school record in yardage or scenarios such as Oklahoma having struggled in overtime against an unranked Army or barely beating an unranked Baylor. Despite all that, UCF head coach Josh Heupel’s message remains the same. The focus of this UCF Football team is to go “1-0” every week and to control what they can control.

🚫utside noise is just that…🚫utside pic.twitter.com/kxzSMt6KVG — UCF Football (@UCF_Football) November 5, 2018

In order to do that, they must scuttle the Navy Midshipmen in Spectrum Stadium at noon on Saturday during UCF’s Homecoming weekend. With as violent and physical as Temple was in their previous game, Knights offensive lineman Cole Schneider feels that experience will help them hosting Navy. He also gave credit to the scout team and their help in the game preparation process. “. . . They do a really good job of keeping us on point with these games coming up. They really come after us and really get us ready. . .”. That can’t be taken lightly in preparing Schneider and the offense, but it’s especially crucial considering the scout team needs to learn the triple option offense in order for the defense to be get their scheme right in practice.

While Navy quarterback-turned wide receiver Zach Abey leads his team in touchdowns, Malcolm Perry leads his team with 882 yards rushing taking snaps from under center. But looking at the stats, it seems the real stars of the 2018 team are on defense. Linebackers Taylor Heflin and Nizaire Cromartie have combined for 9.5 tackles for a loss and six sacks on the year. Impressive as that is, safety Sean Williams is tied for second in tackles behind Heflin with five forced fumbles and an interception in the books. While it may be easy to overlook this team coming off of a 42-0 loss to Cincinnati and a 2-7 record, it does not seem the Midshipmen plan to roll over once they arrive in Orlando.

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.