Sweet Space Game unis 🚀⚪️, the year of the injury bug 🏥 and Fickell's respect for UCF
The Knights unveiled their 2021 Space Game uniforms, which will honor the 40th anniversary of the shuttle program. These might be their best threads yet 👀
We’ve got a new Knugget around these parts. UCF said the OG Knugget retired and Knugget II debuted this past Saturday prior to the ECU game. It me is back.
Today’s read is 6.5 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: Wow, these Space Game unis 🚀🔥
The attention to detail. The nod to the past and present missions. Honoring UCF’s NASA alumni. Oh my, these UCF Space Game uniforms have it all.
And they may be the best ones yet, which is saying something.
Here’s the scoop: UCF’s fifth installment of the Space Game uniforms, which will be worn during their Fright night primetime game against Memphis on Oct. 22, are the most unique to date.
The now-mainstays are still present, with the Canaveral Blue touch throughout and a celebration of the ‘Nauts heritage, but the additions of all the intricate details honoring the 40th anniversary of the shuttle program have added some serious swagger to an already legendary line of threads.
Let’s go piece by piece with these threads, since there’s a lot to unpack here.
Jersey numbers: All 135 missions of the space shuttle program are written out across the 0-9 digits, paying homage to each voyage. Each tile has an identification number, mimicking the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System, which is on the underbelly of the space shuttle. It resists extreme temperatures upon entry and exit of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The collar: It’s designed to look like the nose of the space shuttle, highlighting the black-tipped wings.
The pants: Shows the rectangular pattern from the wings of the shuttle.
The name plate: It’ll read players’ names in Canaveral Blue and it’s based on the name patch worn on space suits connected to the ISS.
The helmet bumper: This one gave me goosebumps, since it’s in remembrance of the tragedies of the Challenger and Columbia disasters, honoring the lives lost.
The nods to UCF alumni: There’s so many, and it’s so cool. Written across the left sleeve is “Discovery” which is in reference to UCF alumnus Nicole Scott, who was aboard the ship in a 2009 mission. The right sleeve has the 2021 space game patch, which was inspired by Scott’s own mission emblems. Then there’s my absolute favorite, the helmet strip, which lists the names of over 100 alumni, faculty and fans who worked on the space shuttle program.
Here’s a look at the uniform “missions” over the years:
Mission I (2017): “Reach for the Stars” featured the moon-surface helmet decals and a patch on their regular black jerseys.
Mission II (2018): This was the foray into an entirely new uniform combo in honor of the space program, featuring the Citronaut, constellation patterns and the new fan-favorite Canaveral Blue theme, albeit on the black uniforms.
Mission III (2019): "Rendezvous with the Stars" was a bold, innovative look, which won UNISWAG’s Uniform of the Year award. The helmets were so unique, highlighting the dark and light side of the moon with a custom painting, plus the constellation numbers and a foray into the white space uniforms. There was also a nod to the Apollo 11 rocket on the pants.
Mission IV (2020): The light pewter jersey made its debut and combined with the black helmets, the look certainly popped. Last year was where they really started to capitalize on the details, with the Orion space capsule helmet stripe, a directional guidance flight pattern on the sleeves, and two patterns down the legs paying homage to the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the circular navigation grid that mimics the university's circular campus.
One for the road 🍺: Let’s give a massive shout out to UCF’s equipment and creative departments, as well as the design and social teams. Led by Eric DeSalvo, Emma Schneider, Sahid Alpizar, Brad Anderson and many others, the team truly did an exceptional job of designing and developing these insanely unique jerseys, but also planning the perfect content rollout plan. I’m glad the nation gets to see (and applaud) their hard work next Friday.
The year of the injury bug ⛑
Injuries are a part of the game. Everybody deals with them, but UCF has been incredibly unlucky when it comes to the injury bug in 2021 and roster defections, with a number of key starters and contributors out that were expected to play big roles this season.
Fill me in: As if things weren’t bad enough, now the Knights have lost star defensive tackle Kalia Davis for the season to a ACL injury. He confirmed the ligament tear in his weekly newsletter.
Davis is one of the brightest personalities on this team, a perennial all-conference player who has aspirations of playing on Sunday’s.
"That was a tough blow. We lost him for the year,” UCF head coach Gus Malzahn said. “He'll have surgery in the near future. He’s a phenomenal player, phenomenal person. He's one of the best players in our conference, so obviously it's a big blow for us.”
The redshirt senior sat out all of last season due to COVID concerns and now has his season cut short. Through five games, he had 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack and three quarterback hurries. He’s a key member of this defense and it’ll be a huge blow to lose his presence on Saturdays, but he says he’ll be back.
“Luckily, I have a heck of a team that is lining me up with the best surgeons and rehab specialists to ensure that recovery will go smoothly,” Davis wrote in his newsletter. “Obviously, I'm bummed to miss the rest of a season where I had just come back from a year off and was on track to have the best year of my entire career. Next time I step onto a football field, you can bet that you'll see a DT that is bigger, faster, and stronger than anything I've shown before.”
Man, has UCF been super unlucky when it comes to losing star players to injuries. Here’s a look at who’s missed games due to injury.
QB Dillon Gabriel (collarbone) - out indefinitely
RB R.J. Harvey (knee ligament) - out for season
RB Isaiah Bowser (undisclosed) - out indefinitely
WR Jaylon Robinson (undisclosed) - missed last two games
DT Ricky Barber (knee) - missed last two games
C Matt Lee (undisclosed) - missed one game
LB Tatum Bethune (undisclosed) - missed one game
DB Corey Thornton (undisclosed) - missed one game
DB Jarvis Ware (undisclosed) - out for season
If you include players who’ve left or transferred, like RB Bentavious Thompson and LB Eriq Gilyard, here’s just some of what the Knights are missing from last year’s roster. It’s pretty astonishing.
100 percent of its passing touchdowns and 99 percent of its passing yards.
96 percent of its rushing yards
59 percent of its receiving yards
50 percent of its tackles
There’s been so much turnover and lots of inexperience contributing right now on both sides of the ball for the Knights, which certainly has led to some of the early-season struggles, especially on offense.
Throw in the fact that there’s a new staff and schemes, it’s understandable why this offense looks unrecognizable from the UCFast teams of years past.
UCF’s yards per completion (7.3) is 42nd in the nation, dropping from 18th last year (8.6).
Against ECU, the Knights had 10 completions that gained five yards or less.
Clearly, there’s some hesitancy Malzahn has with opening up this offense, and maybe it is a personnel issue. There’s a lot of conservative play calls, allowing Mikey Keene to get the ball out quick and to his receivers in space.
Fickell heaps praise on UCF ✊🏻
Even amid the injuries and the offensive regression, Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell isn’t taking UCF lightly. In fact, he showered the Knights program with praise during his weekly press conference.
Here’s a transcript of his comments and those of quarterback Desmond Ridder, who both had plenty of good things to say.
Opening statement on UCF: “Since I’ve been in the league, this is year five, they’ve been the most talented football team year in and year out in this league. I think they’re a very talented football team. They still have a lot of skill. I think they’re really strongest up front, on both sides of the line, with some veteran guys on the d-line and o-line. A new coach, obviously, with Coach Malzahn being his first year. It’s not his first rodeo. He’s done this for a long time. As a new group, they’re similar in a lot of ways. Offensively, I think they’ve had to adapt and adjust, obviously, with a new quarterback a little bit, but I don’t think they’ve changed who they are. Defensively, in my mind, they’re a much more sound team than they were the last couple of years and with the players that they’ve got it makes them really difficult.”
On avoiding a let down, given UCF isn’t ranked: “Maybe it hasn’t been as explosive the last couple of weeks then maybe they were a couple of years ago, but nonetheless they still have that talent. They still have the big play capability. I think they’re better defensively than they have been, with still really good football players…but I do believe that they’re better in that category. You can’t forget, those guys were here five years ago. What that looked like on that night and how far we had to come. I think, more than anything, it’s the respect for who these guys are and what they’ve done in the last four years.”
On if there’s a natural rivalry between the teams: “In five years, they’ve been the top team in the conference, for sure four of those years…overall, in my time here, they’ve been the best team in the conference. We’ve made it a rivalry, I guess you’d say, because they were the best. In order to be the best, you have to beat the best.”
On if they’re different offensively under Malzahn than in years past: “That’s the thing, in the evolution of what they’re doing even more offensively, it’s hard to figure out. It’s very similar to what they were doing in the past, but there are some differences. In year one, you just wonder how much he has really gone into all the things that he did at Auburn, because as you look back at Auburn, you’d say it’s a little bit different. There’s a reason he’s a great football coach. There’s a reason he’s been successful everywhere he’s been. He doesn’t just go in and say this is what we’re going to do. You go in there, realize what it is that you have and what was good from what someone did before there. They’re similar, in a lot of ways. but you do start to see as they get into midway of the season where they are adapting and adjusting. It makes it even more difficult sometimes when they’re switching quarterbacks, because what does he really believe he can do with a younger kid that he maybe did differently in the first four weeks?”
Desmond Ridder on UCF rivalry game: “UCF, I feel like, has always been a big rivalry for us. We played them at home, I think it was two years ago, and that came down to a close one. Before that, the last time we played them at home, it was my true freshman year, in 2017. That game did not go so well. I don’t know how many of you guys remember that. I think the score was like 60-something to very little going into the third quarter in a rain delay. There’s still a lot of bad blood and a lot of bad taste in our mouths that we get. You think about going down there and playing on College GameDay and you talk about big-time games and big-time atmospheres. For us to come out here, put on a performance and play a four-quarter game is going to be huge for us.”
On the 2018 Game Day game at UCF: “Looking back, I think that kind of set myself up. Like I said, this was probably one of the loudest stadiums you’d play in. At the time, I didn’t know. I definitely thought there was definitely going to be louder. At the time, that was the loudest thing we’ve played in. That kind of not only set myself up for the future, but being able to lead to lead everyone else on the team. There’s going to be tough environments and tough situations that we’re going to play in, but to stay calm and under control is the biggest thing in those moments.”