UCF Fans Show Their Worth Against the Hurricanes

In my last article, I said that the University of Central Florida had a chance against the University of Miami. Well, they kept it close until halftime, missed on many opportunities, and then got blown out 27-7.

Good game, Knights.

I’m tired of hearing things like, “Imagine what our record would be if we didn’t make those mistakes in the red zone,” or, “They're just stupid mistakes, we aren’t that bad.” Good teams don’t make stupid mistakes. Good teams perform in the red zone. It is cliché, but that is what separates the good teams from the bad. I am not saying we are bad, we are average.

On the other hand, the fans here at UCF have proven to be well above average, especially last Saturday. We welcomed the Hurricane fans onto our campus, and generally we all got along. That is, until game time. After kickoff, the hospitality was over, and the tension in the air could have been cut with a butter knife—or better yet, Knightro’s sword.

Packed half with Knights, half with Hurricanes, Bright House Networks Stadium was loud and, at times, even hostile. Opposing fans were screaming at one another after plays, or even for the simple reason that they sat next to each other. As reported by the Central Florida Future, 49 arrests were made at the game.

On top of that, while trying to pump up the crowd in the first half, Sebastian (UM’s mascot), and Knightro (UCF’s mascot) confronted each other and acted out a duel. It was a battle for the ages, though there was no clear-cut winner.

Even though Jacory Harris and the Hurricanes dominated on the scoreboard, Knights fans never backed down. Of course, there were those stumbling out of the stadium during the fourth quarter, but for the most part that stadium was packed until the clock ticked zero.

No, Knights fans aren’t disgruntled after the loss. Let’s be honest, we didn’t really expect to beat the ninth-ranked team in the country anyway. But this weekend holds more exciting football for UCF.

There may not be as many big names involved, no Heisman contender, no swag, but the scoreboard this Saturday should lean more towards the Knights' favor in our matchup against the Rice Owls.

Brynn Harvey, who has 561 yards and six touchdowns rushing this season, should fare well against an Owl defense that recently gave up nine rushing touchdowns to Navy. Not to mention that Rice is sporting a record of a whopping 0-7.

At 3-3, UCF needs to make some sort of statement to have any chance of playing in a bowl game. In layman’s terms, we need to destroy, completely decimate Rice this weekend. Owls are already endangered—we have to finish the job.

The team may only be average for now, but it’s a team that is only going to get better. As long as UCF fans are as pumped and Bright House Networks Stadium as loud as it was last Saturday, this team has a chance. Home-field advantage is crucial, and we need to continue doing our part. Let’s make every stadium a Knights stadium.