Getting To Know Michigan’s Week 2 Opponent: Central Florida

After a 63-3 win against Hawaii, Michigan will look to keep on winning big against the Central Florida Knights.

Last year was one of the worst in school history for Central Florida. Halfway through the season, head coach George O’Leary resigned. Their record ended up being 0-12.

This program has had great NFL caliber talent in its history, with names such as Daunte Culpepper, Blake Bortles, and Brandon Marshall all suiting up for the Knights. Horrible records like 0-12 aren’t the usual course for UCF. In 2014 finished No. 10 in the nation with a 12-1 record after defeating Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl.

Now there is a new head coach at the helm in Scott Frost. Michigan fans may remember him as the quarterback for the 1997 Nebraska Cornhuskers, who split the National Championship with Michigan that year. Frost is remembered for saying that Nebraska was far superior to Michigan.

Frost ended up in the NFL as a safety and had a decent career. His playing career has undoubtedly shaped some of his philosophies, as he played for some of the greats in the game. Among them Frost played under Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, and Jon Gruden.

As an offensive coordinator at Oregon, Frost’s quarterback, Marcus Mariota, won the Heisman Trophy. After Mariota headed to the NFL Frost showed he could change wrinkles in the Oregon offense tailor-made for the personnel available. He’s a bright offensive mind who will put Central Florida back on track, eventually. Expect a fast-tempo attack on offense with a balance of run and pass, with option runs and sweeps mixed in. This type of offense will provide a good test early on for Michigan and keep the Wolverines defense honest and force them to stay in their lanes and not over-pursue.

In week one, albeit against an inferior South Carolina State team, UCF won handedly 38-0. Quarterback Justin Holman displayed spotty accuracy, wobbly throws, with too much air on them. I expect Michigan to capitalize on this. While his passing prowess may be average at best, Holman has good speed that can move the chains. Michigan gave up a few first down runs via quarterback versus Hawaii, and this will be a good test to see if they can improve upon that.

Frost has experience facing Harbaugh, in 2009 and 2010, when was the wide receiver coach when Harbaugh was at Stanford. Frost said earlier this week how tough Harbaugh’s teams are and that UCF won’t be pushing Michigan five yards back every play.

Defensively UCF made some nice plays last week. They swarmed to the football at times and showed good play recognition. Defensive back Shaquill Griffin is looking to make things tough for Michigan, stating he wants to silence the Michigan crowd. It will be interesting to see if they can do the same against a much stronger, speedier opponent in Michigan.

This will be the sixth time in UCF history they play a top five team. How do you expect the game to unfold? UCF is a 35.5 point underdog.

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