The Oklahoma Sooners are back after the bye week to begin the stretch run of the season. They’ll take on a new Big 12 foe, the [autotag]UCF Knights[/autotag], in Norman on Saturday.
The Knights have the No. 4 offense in the country. They mainly get it done in the running game; they have the No. 3 rush offense in the country. John Rhys Plumlee missed three games prior to UCF’s loss to Kansas in Week 6. He’s recovering from a knee injury but will start this week per Knights head coach Gus Malzahn.
Brent Venables talked in his Monday press conference about the challenges ahead for the Sooners.
“Got a very talented and experienced UCF team coming in,” Venables said. “On both sides of the ball, they have, give or take, around 17-18 seniors as starters. A group that has played a lot of football. Led by (John Rhys) Plumlee, their quarterback who just a year ago rushed for just under 1,000 yards and passed for around 2,500 yards.”
Venables also mentioned how long and athletic the defense is for the Knights. UCF is one of the most explosive teams in the country as well, and they do that in a variety of ways, including using trick plays.
Venables said they work on defending those plays every week and have had moments such as in the game against the [autotag]SMU Mustangs[/autotag] when they defended it well. But, they have had moments such as the [autotag]Cincinnati Bearcats[/autotag] game when they didn’t defend it well.
This will be a game the Sooners have to be focused and on their toes because UCF can beat them if they aren’t prepared.
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