Nov. 22, 2004
ORLANDO - UCF (0-10, 0-7 MAC) finishes its first season under head coach George O'Leary with a Tuesday night match-up against Kent State (4-6, 3-4 MAC). This is the first time that the Knights have played and O'Leary has coached on a Tuesday night.
Children in local youth groups such as the Boys and Girls Club will be able to attend the game free-of-charge as part of the UCF Golden Knights "Youth Day" celebration.
There is no television coverage for the game, but the UCF ISP Sports Network will provide live radio coverage from the Citrus Bowl on 740 - The Team (WQTM). Coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. with the pregame show. The voice of the Golden Knights, Marc Daniels, will call the action alongside Gary Parris. Jerry O'Neill will patrol the sidelines, and a live feed of this broadcast will be provided on the Internet at www.ucfathletics.com. In addition, ucfathletics.com will allow fans to follow the game with live stats via Gametracker for Saturday's match-up with the Golden Flashes.
UCF has won two of the three meetings between the schools, but the series is tied as members of the MAC. The winning team has scored an average of 42.3 points in the previous three match-ups.
UCF says farewell to the MAC. The Knights enter the game 8-15 all-time in its short run in league play.
The Knights also say goodbye to 11 seniors headlined by all-time leading rusher Alex Haynes and strong safety Atari Bigby taking the field in black and gold for the final time.
"George O'Leary has coached a lot of football games," Kent State coach Doug Martin said. "He's going to have that group ready and they have been ready to play in every game and are playing their best football right now."
Scouting Kent State
After a 1-6 start, the Flashes have won three straight for the first time since October 2001, and are looking for its first four-game streak since 1976 when KSU closed out the season winners of five in a row.
Kent State exploded for a school record in points with a 69-17 whitewashing of Eastern Michigan their last time out.
Quarterback Joshua Cribbs led the way passing for 306 yards and three touchdowns. Cribbs also gained 104 yards on the ground picking up another score, and completed his day with a 19-yard touchdown reception. It was the second time in his career he has scored touchdowns three different ways in the same game. For his efforts, Cribbs earned MAC East Offensive Player-of-the-Week.
"There are guys that make plays, and he does more than that," O'Leary said. "He's an outstanding football player that creates a lot of match-up problems because of what he does."
Cribbs is one of only three players in history of college football to post back-to-back seasons with 1,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards. The senior signalcaller needs 162 rushing yards on Tuesday to become three first player in NCAA history with three 1,000-1,000 seasons.
O'Leary addresses the prospect of putting a spy on Cribbs, someone whose lone responsibility is to worry about Cribbs.
"What has impressed me with Josh is that he is not only quick, but he runs very hard," O'Leary said. "If you are going to spy him, you have to put someone on him that can catch him, and the ability to tackle him in the open field."
Cribbs has also gotten some help in the backfield from running back David Alston who has racked up 614 rushing yards, and is coming off a two touchdown performance against EMU.
In the passing attack, Cribbs' favorite target is wide receiver Darrell Dowery who leads the team with 55 catches.
KSU is much improved on defense ranking tops in the MAC and 15th nationally giving up only 302 yards per game.
The Flashes get pressure on the quarterback with defensive end Justin Parrish leading all of Division I-A with 13 sacks on the season. Linebacker Eric Mahl is closing in on another 100 tackle season.
Scouting UCF
Last time out, running back Alex Haynes broke the all-time rushing record with 140 yards against Ball State in a 21-17 setback.
"They are a lot better team then their record on defense and offensively," Martin said. "They run the ball well and their running back is a NFL prospect I understand."
With 100 yards rushing, Haynes can add another school record to his already impressive list of accolades. It would be his 16th career 100-yard game.
Quarterback Steven Moffett will get the start in place of the injured Kyle Israel. The Winter Park native completed 13 of his 21 passes for 131 yards and a score against Ball State.
On the outside, wide receivers Tavaris Capers and Luther Huggins are threats to the KSU secondary. Huggins caught a 35-yard scoring strike from Moffett at Ball State while Capers is one touchdown reception away from moving into sixth place all-time.
UCF's defense has stepped up over the last two games giving up only 254 and 259 total yards against Ball State and Ohio.
Linebackers Gerren Bray and James Cook have filled in nicely for Stanford Rhule. Bray has recorded 41 tackles while Cook had a sack last weekend against Ball State.
Defensive end Paul Carrington had two sacks and an interception in the last home game against Ohio.