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The road to redemption this season for UCF’s football team includes marquee matchups against Miami and Texas, but the primary focus is on the stops along the way against Conference USA foes.

Winning another conference crown is foremost atop UCF’s stated goals. And one of the best ways to accomplish that feat would be to go into conference rival, Southern Miss, and deliver a resounding statement. It might still be early in the season, but UCF’s players are well aware of the importance of Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against the talented Golden Eagles.

“This just might be,” quarterback Rob Calabrese said, “our biggest game of the year.”

Both teams were Week 1 winners, but in decidedly different fashions. UCF had to come from behind four times and didn’t pull ahead of Samford for good until the fourth quarter in a 28-24 victory. Meanwhile, Southern Miss barely broke a sweat in a 52-0 romp of Alcorn State. Quarterback Austin Davis threw three touchdowns and ran for a fourth as the Eagles led 35-0 at the half.

UCF standout defensive tackle Torrell Troup knows that the Knights have their work cut out for them in trying to slow down Southern Miss’s dynamic run-pass mix of offense.

“(Fletcher) is a really good running back and we have to do a good job of staying in our gaps and doing our assignments against a player like him,” said Troup. “Against a really good back like him we just need to do our jobs and we’ll be fine.”

UCF should be just fine offensively with Calabrese and Brett Hodges sharing the workload at quarterback. Calabrese started the opener, but was replaced in the second quarter by fifth-year senior Hodges, who guided the Knights’ offense on three scoring drives.

But it’s Calabrese, a sophomore, who will again get the start. He’s evolved into a team leader and head coach George O’Leary has raved about the way Calabrese has excelled in practice.

“When I visited with him, I just got the sense that Rob was trying to put everything on his shoulders and he didn’t just let the game flow to him,” O’Leary said. “I just told him to relax. He sometimes puts too much pressure on himself and worries too much about the past. I think he’ll be much better this (Saturday).”

For the complete story visit UCF Athletics.

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