It’s time for the hype to hit the field as the UCF Knights start their first official game week of 2018. Regardless of the NCAA officially acknowledging UCF as 2017 co-champions with Alabama, Head Coach Josh Heupel will be calling plays for the Black and Gold for the first time when his team takes the field against the Huskies of UConn at Pratt and Whitney Stadium Thursday night in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Coach Heupel said this of his role in readying his squad for the year’s inaugural contest. “I love the big ra-ra speech but on the opening kickoff, once you get hit in the mouth, a ra-ra speech isn’t doing a whole lot for ya — It comes down to your preparation and the mentality that you’ve built for the entire eight months leading up to that.”

While Uconn was 3-9 last year, they have a number of fresh faces on the field as well as a new offensive coordinator in John Dunn to make an impact of their own in the American Athletic Conference. That being said, they are still experienced where it counts as quarterback David Pindell returns to the line up under center for his senior year. While only playing seven games last year, he threw for 937 yards and was third in rushing on the roster with 289 yards.

When facing the unknown of a week one matchup, linebacker Pat Jasinski was clear on what the single most factor for his defense would be to succeed. “. . . Communication across the secondary, the linebackers, and D-line. They have a very their athletic quarterback. He can hurt you and make plays even when we might be solid on defense. We can’t let big plays hurt us and we can’t look back.”

UCF’s effort to make extend the undefeated streak to 14 starts with kickoff on Thursday at 7:00 pm EST.

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.