One game at a time.
It’s a phrase we’ve heard approximately 73,248 times as sports fans. When the possibility is there for a team to look ahead to the next game, we stop what we’re doing and loudly shout “one game at a time!”
For the Central Florida Knights, it’s a mantra that must be burned into their brains heading into this weekend’s clash with in-state rival South Florida.
The Bulls are 4-7 on the season, so they don’t really have anything to play for other than state of Florida pride. They aren’t going bowling and they aren’t figuring into the American Athletic Conference title race. So the only thing left for South Florida to do is to crush the hopes and dreams of the Knights.
UCF, on the other hand, has everything to play for.
If the Knights want to capture at least a share of the AAC regular season title, winning out is the best solution. That will be easier said than done with two straight games on the road in hostile environments, but UCF is certainly talented enough to pull it off.
Wait, were we just talking about the Knights winning two straight games to finish the season? How could we possibly do that and ignore the basis of this rant?
One game at a time.
After all, the Knights have been stellar on the road this season. Correction: No they haven’t.
UCF was rolling right along with not a problem in the world during a five-game winning streak from mid-September to late October. Then came a road clash with AAC juggernaut Connecticut. One 37-29 loss later, and the doubts started to set in about this Knights team.
Perhaps UCF was caught looking ahead to a much-needed bye week. That could the only explanation for such a head-scratching loss. However, it’s certainly clear that they weren’t focused on the greatest five-word phrase in sports history:
One game at a time.
Friday night’s test at South Florida is all that matters for this team. A shot at a championship does not exist if the smackdown isn’t laid on the Bulls.
Given the fact that the Knights are so unproven on the road this season, that doesn’t make the current 12-point favorites all that certain of a pick. We’ve seen this team lose its focus before, so whose to say that it won’t happen again with such an enormous amount of pressure on them?
I’ll tell you why it won’t happen. Thanks to the power of the informational superhighway, every single player on the UCF roster has the opportunity to read this article and learn from it.
With that in mind, gentlemen, let’s prepare the vocal pipes and all recite together the phrase that will decide the fate of your season:
One game at a time.
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