New DC Ted Roof tasked with fixing UCF’s run defense
Two questions into his introductory news conference, UCF defensive coordinator Ted Roof was asked about his philosophy on stopping the run. It’s fair to say that it was the question on almost everybody’s mind, considering it was the Knights’ Achilles’ heel last season.
“If you can’t stop the run, you can’t win. It’s as simple as that,” Roof said.
Roof, 60, has a lot of work to do.
The Knights had a tough time stopping the run last season, finishing last in the Big 12 after allowing nearly 200 yards per game. The defense allowed almost 5 yards per carry and had 10 players rush for 100 yards or more against them.
UCF allowed five or more rushing touchdowns three times and the 26 rushing touchdowns allowed was the most for the program this decade.
“If a team can run the football against you, that demoralizes your whole football team,” said Roof. “That hasn’t changed since football was invented. That’s not like that’s a new theory. You have got to stop the run to win.
“We’ve got to establish the right mindset that we’re going to attack and be aggressive. We’ve got to do that to win football games, and we’ll commit as many defenders as it takes.”
To that point, UCF was 2-7 when allowing more than 150 rushing yards and during the Knights’ five-game losing streak they allowed an average of 261 yards and 19 total rushing touchdowns.
Roof’s reputation has been built on stopping the run.
In his two seasons at Oklahoma, the Sooners went from being ranked No. 105 to 42nd in run defense, and he coached top-30 run defenses at Appalachian State (2019), N.C. State (’18), and Georgia Tech (’13).
He’s also had the unique perspective of seeing UCF up close when the Knights faced Oklahoma in Norman on Oct. 21. The Sooners held on for a 31-29 win.
“They were on the verge of being a good football team last year. We had to stop a two-point play to win,” Roof recalled.
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UCF went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma, holding a six-point lead in the fourth quarter before the Sooners scored 14 straight points to retake the lead. The Knights went 75 yards in less than two minutes, scoring on a 12-yard pass from John Rhys Plumlee to Javon Baker with 1:16 left in the game, but Xavier Townsend was tackled short of the goal on the two-point play.
OU’s defense held UCF to 149 total rushing yards, 101 by RJ Harvey, and the Knights held the Sooners to 189.
Roof’s hiring reunites him with Gus Malzahn, working with him at Auburn from 2009-11.
“I’m very fortunate to be here in a program like this one that’s on the rise with a guy that I’ve worked with before and have a lot of respect for and admiration for,” Roof said. “We were a pretty good team when we were together, and it’s good to be back with him.”
A week into spring camp, Roof’s message has already been carried over to the players.
“He’s already established our philosophy, so we already have a standard,” said redshirt junior defensive end Malachi Lawrence.
“Our goal is to stop the run,” added fifth-year senior defensive tackle Ricky Barber. “We don’t have time to wait around to do that.”
UCF will benefit from a much kinder schedule in 2024, with the Knights facing just three teams who finished last season ranked in the top 35 in rushing offense: West Virginia (third), Cincinnati (fifth) and Utah (33rd). They also won’t have to face two of the Big 12’s top rushers in Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon (1,732 yards) and Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks (1,538).
Roof cautions that success won’t happen overnight, so instilling the foundation in spring is essential.
“You don’t just go from here to here. There are a bunch of little steps that you’ve got to take, and then all of a sudden, you look back and look where we came from,” he said.
Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com