Defense shines, role players rise in midst of T.Y. injury

 

By: Brandon Wise / Columnist

All week, the game plan for the UCF Golden Knights was one thing and one thing only: stop T.Y. Hilton. Well, they did that.  What they didn’t plan on was the rest of the team picking up the slack.

The rivalry has officially kicked off. With both teams riding two straight wins, fans from both schools making a lot of noise, the game had to match up to the hype surrounding it.

The entire week has been about what will T.Y. Hilton be able to do against the formidable UCF defense, which had not allowed a touchdown in their last three games. It was the FIU defense that got the last laugh.

The defense had the tough assignment of stopping the slippery Jeff Godfrey. He slid around the pocket, left and right, doing anything and everything to avoid FIU’s dastardly defense. The unit played as advertised and held an offense that was expected to come in and roll to just seven points.

Those seven points were also not easy to come by. After two penalties on two different 3rd down-plays, the Golden Knights had seven shots at scoring. Finally, Jeff Godfrey made it into the end zone. That would be the last time the Knights would knife in for a score. After a total effort on defense and an excellent game plan by Todd Orlando; the defense should be knighted.

No T.Y. No Problem

Midway through the second quarter, Wesley Carroll looked for Hilton on a slant route down the middle of the field. The senior bobbled the ball about three different times before the ball fell to the turf as awkwardly as Hilton.

With Heisman hopeful in the locker room, the Golden Panthers were without a spark and about to be in a big hole.

Isame Faciane changed all of that with one play.

With the ball at midfield and the Golden Knights looking to score just before halftime, Jeff Godfrey tried to make something happen.

Under pressure, Godfrey tried to escape, but was met by Tevin Blachard in the backfield. On the sack, Godfrey fumbled the ball and Faciane ran in, picked it up and went 51 yards the other way for the game tying touchdown. The big fella found the end zone and the pile up was on.

Welcome Wayne Times

When Hilton went down, the Golden Knights assumed they were in the clear and went into cruise control. The only problem is they didn’t account for the fact that FIU has more weapons in their arsenal. Enter Wayne Times. The junior was left with huge shoes to fill, but fill them he did.

Leading the team in receiving yards and catches, Times stepped up on multiple occasions in places where Hilton would have been in use.

Disproving the doubters

This team has done nothing but prove questioners wrong all season. Tonight was the prefect example of how the Golden Panthers have shown resiliency to adversity.

T.Y. Hilton carried this team through the first two weeks of the season and the Golden Panthers were banking on him again tonight.

However, it didn’t work out that way and other players had to step up, and they did just that.

The running game got back on track after a week on misery up in Louisville. Kedrick Rhodes, who battled through family issues throughout the week, ran the rock with power and speed. With 93 yards rushing, he gave the Golden Panther offense the spark it needed to get by without Hilton.

This game goes a long way in showing that this FIU football is for real and is deeper than only T.Y. Hilton. There is no reason for the Golden Panthers to not be getting more and more national attention after two straight huge wins. They just beat the best team on their schedule, it is all about not having a let down game from here out.