ORLANDO – The UCF football team improved to 2-0 with a convincing 51-28 road victory at ECU to start American Athletic Conference play on Saturday. On Monday, The American named UCF's Dillon Gabriel its Offensive Player of the Week and Daniel Obarski the Special Teams Player of the Week.
Gabriel was dominant for the second straight week to start his sophomore season, going 32-of-47 for 408 yards and four passing touchdowns in the win over the Pirates. He became the first Knight to throw for 400 or more yard in back-to-back games and set a new UCF record with 18 consecutive completions in the win.
The left-hander ranks second in the nation with his eight touchdown passes in 2020 and is third with 412.5 passing yards per game. He is already in UCF's top 10 for career passing yards, passing efficiency, 300-yard passing games, passing touchdowns, consecutive games with a touchdown pass, completion percentage, passing yards per completion and interception-to-attempt ratio.
It marks the second consecutive week Gabriel has earned player of the week honors from the AAC and the third time in his young career.
Gabriel was also named to the Davey O'Brien Award Great 8 list on Monday.
Obarski, in his first season with field goal responsibilities for the Knights, earned the league's player of the week award in just his second game. The sophomore went a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals, his first three attempts as a collegiate kicker.
He hit from 26, 33 and 31 yards, while also remaining perfect on extra points, connecting on all six tries.
Among the other honorees from the league was UCF junior Eriq Gilyard, who was named to the conference honor roll for his performance on Saturday. Gilyard led the Knights with 2.0 tackles for loss, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble in the win at ECU.
The 11th-ranked Knights will be back in action on Saturday as they host Tulsa in their home opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from the Bounce House.
