UCF DT Anthony Montalvo playing through pain

UCF defensive tackle Anthony Montalvo isn't going to let a broken thumb deter him from playing in his final season.

"I broke my thumb during the Louisville game," Montalvo said. "It happened. (I told them to) put a cast on it... It's my last year. I want to play. No matter what it is, I want to be out there and play with my brothers."

Montalvo was the defensive representative at Monday's press conference. The Knights are preparing for their final weekday game of the season, a Thursday night matchup against Temple.

After five games, how would he evaluate their defensive line?

"There's always room for improvement, especially on the d-line," Montalvo said. "Coach (Kenny) Martin coaches us hard and wants us to be the best in the country. We're never going to be perfect, but we want to strive for it. For the first part of the year, we've done decent. We're starting to get where we want to."

UCF's depth though has taken a hit as top reserve Keenan Hester is out for the foreseeable issue with an undisclosed health issue. That's put more reps on the plate for Matthew Alexander, Lee Hunter and Kervins Choute.

"They're adjusting and getting the feel for it," Montalvo said. "They're no longer young guys. They've played and have experience."

UCF maintained their No. 1 national ranking in red zone defense against SMU. Montalvo said it's the experience that makes all the difference.

"We have a lot of veteran guys," he said. "We play hard and have guys who run to the ball."

Temple enters the game ranked dead last in the American in scoring offense (15.0 ppg), total offense (282.8 ypg) and rushing offense (83.8 ypg). Their passing offense (199.0 ypg) is No. 9 out of 11 teams.

While the stats aren't great, Montalvo isn't overlooking them.

"They have guys that can make plays," Montalvo said. "They're a downhill run team, which as a defensive tackle we love that. We want to make plays. There's going to be double teams we have to handle. We have to make sure our technique is great."

Thursday will also be UCF's sixth space game featuring a special-edition helmet and jersey. Montalvo has been on the team since the very first Space Game in 2017.

"I've seen the helmet and they showed us a little bit of the jersey," Montalvo said. "They haven't fully shown us yet."

His favorite space game helmet of all time was the moon design in 2019.