With this past Saturday’s game at North Carolina in Chapel Hill canceled for Hurricane Florence, UCF fans began to panic about the impact of the strength of schedule. Who can blame them? This time last year, Hurricane Irma canceled the Georgia Tech game leaving several questions on the possible outcomes for the rest of the season. At the end of the day, if the Black and Gold keep winning, they’ll return to the AAC Championship.

As the focus turned to preparation for the FAU Owls coached by Lane Kiffin, Head Coach Josh Heupel offered insight on the advantages gained from an unexpected bye week. “. . .It gave some of our guys who have a few nicks a few more days to get healthy”, he said. “That’s the biggest advantage. Our guys get a few more days to rebound and get ready for the following week”.

“You get to go in each week and you get to prove yourself again.” – KZ

More from QB1, Heup, l and Hayes at today’s presser 👇 pic.twitter.com/Acg1EPnaDR

— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) September 17, 2018

Heupel also acknowledged that the Owls are a squad, like UCF, that relies on speed to jet around the field on offense and toward the ball on defense. “I think [FAU is] similar”, he stated. “They’re athletic and they fly around to the football. That’s what we want to be known for and they certainly represent that”.

Heupel also mentioned FAU’s star running back Devin Singletary as a challenge for UCF’s defense. Known by the nickname “Motor”, Singletary leads his squad in touchdowns with seven posted in three games with 210 yards over 53 carries.

Knights quarterback McKenzie Milton mentioned Singletary as a “stud” who jumped off the screen when watching film as well, but also tipped his cap to their linebacker, Aziz Al-Shaair. “. . . [I’m] very impressed by their middle linebacker”, he explained. “He’s a darn good football player. He’s flyin’ to the ball every snap I see on film”. Another man Milton will need to account for is linebacker Rashad Smith who has recorded the teams only two interceptions so far. Smith is also the only man on the squad with more tackles than Al-Shaair.

With several big losses in the upper echelons of college football, UCF went up two spots on the AP Poll to land at no. 16 despite missing action in week three. The next contest begins Friday at 7 pm EST in Spectrum Stadium for the Knights to try to secure their 16th straight victory.

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.