Post Akron Entry (Week 1, 2013)

And as the clock strikes 0, we have our final score; 38-7, the only Zip TD coming in garbage time. What an encouraging and uplifting start to the season. We have a lot to be pleased about, UCF Knights: Blake Bortles passed for 314 yards, the first UCF QB to surpass 300 yards in 4 years; broke a longest yard play from scrimmage record with the 91 yard TD pass to Breshad Perriman, the first completion of the season; The offense produced almost double the total yards Akron managed to field, 476 UCF total yards to Akron’s 250; and the defense put up a good display of tackling and making key stops, holding Akron to 8-16 on 3^rd down. Our passing offense looked as impressive as ever and we have a solid one-two punch in the running game; Cedric Thompson bringing a North-and-South, hard-nose running style to compliment starter Storm Johnson’s more elusive running style. With these two backs primarily carrying the rushing workload; UCF averaged 4.0 yards per carry on the day.

What we should find concerning in the offense going into the season are the early struggles of the O-Line which gave up 3 sacks and put Bortles under pressure more often than we’d like to see. While attending the game, I paid attention in particular to the left tackle spot (where Jadeveon Clowney would be lined up opposite of when he and the Gamecocks come to town).  I often saw the edge rusher beating his man quickly or collapsing the pocket on the blind side of the QB, hurrying the QB or forcing a sack. Considering we are replacing a 4-year starter in Jordan Rae at center, who often was called the anchor of our O-line; we are witnessing some growing pains as a younger O-line adapts and feels each other out. Hopefully with each team work-out and practice, they develop a strong level of chemistry to keep opposing pass rushers out of the backfield and off our quarterback.

In addition, I would like to see a little tighter coverage from our secondary, especially on 3^rd down. Our defense had a very solid performance against Akron’s offense, Jordan Ozerities and Troy Gray each grabbing an interception. I found it concerning how our defense seemed to concede passes on outside breaking routes (out routes, corner routes, flag route, fade route etc.) or short passes (slant routes, quick in routes, etc.) in what typically appeared to me as zone coverage. I noticed a lot of 1^st downs being converted on short passes and out routes in particular. Akron scored their lone touchdown exploiting miscommunication in the zone coverage, leaving a receiver on a fade route wide open in the endzone.  The nature of zone coverage leaves holes between the zones which can only be veiled through an understanding of the coverage and spacing. Communication is paramount and familiarity comes with experience and practice. Going into week two and moving forward with the season, we hope to see these kinks in our team performance worked out before we face our toughest competition this season in the South Carolina Gamecocks as well as the formidable conference opponents and their high octane passing offenses.