UCF OC Steve Cooper Emphasizes Toughness Ahead of Pitt Road Game

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The UCF Knights have been an abysmal road team since 2024 and aim to change that narrative on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Acrisure Stadium.

UCF has lost nine straight road games, beginning with a loss to the Florida Gators on Oct. 5, 2024, and a winless road campaign last season. Its road woes played a significant role in a two-year bowl drought, as the team failed to upset then-No. 11 BYU to earn its sixth win.

Linebacker Lewis Carter said he was hungry to pick up more road wins at Big 12 Media Day in early July. Offensive coordinator Steve Cooper echoed the same sentiment during Tuesday's media availability, emphasizing that it will take toughness to succeed on the road.

"Play fast, play focused, and then there's a certain element of toughness that you continue to grow on as the course of the season goes," Cooper said. "So, we're going into game two, and that's where our focus is, and it's going to take toughness playing on the road."

The Knights have an early test, as they match up a historically great run defense and a young quarterback fresh off a seven-touchdown performance against Miami (OH).

Pittsburgh's run defense has finished in the top half of the ACC for the last several years, placing second last season (95.1 yards allowed per game), third in 2024 (112.8 yards allowed per game) and eighth in 2023 (150.2 yards allowed per game).

Duke Watson, Landen Chambers and Taevion Swint are a dynamic running back trio and are a significant part of UCF's offensive success, combining for 214 yards and four touchdowns against the Wildcats.

Quarterback Alonza Barnett III will have to lead the charge if the Panthers neutralize the run game. Cooper said Barnett's focus is on leading the team rather than comparing himself to his opponent, Mason Heintschel.

"We got to figure out how to block them up front," Cooper said. "Let's figure out what we're going to do in our third-down packages in the red zone. So that's where his focus is."

UCF may have steamrolled Bethune-Cookman, but it must take a more meticulous, cautious approach toward Pittsburgh, and they're doing that.

The expectation remains the same: play a clean football game. The Knights did their job against the Wildcats and have to do it again against the Panthers.

Saturday's game can help UCF build the toughness to play on the road and emerge victorious, squashing the woes that plagued the team last season.

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