Pre Rutgers (Week 13, 2013)

We’re coming up on the first of our final 2 home games this season. The opponent is the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, a 5-4 team who are better than their record but have been having a very up and down season. The Scarlet Knights offense essentially is a see-saw and Gary Nova is the fulcrum. The offense goes as Gary Nova goes; if he has a good game, the offense will be working as efficiently as any; if he has a bad game, we see more turnovers, errant passes, and hampered offensive production as evidenced in the Louisville and Houston. Coach O’Leary said it best in his Tuesday evening radio show, Nova is a streaky passer. He’s got the ability to throw the ball as good as anyone (he’s thrown only one less passing TD than our own Blake Bortles) but when he gets pressured or doesn’t have time to get into a rhythm, he goes cold and his play drastically suffers.

 Getting pressure on the QB early or at the least having tight coverage will be the key to beating Rutgers. Our D-line, which has already been producing less than desirable results, has been weathered down through the course of the season from injuries and players leaving the team. With the losses of starters Deion Green and more recently Seyvon Lowry to season-ending injuries, UCF is forced to start freshmen who have the speed but lack the size needed to shed their blocks and generate pressure quick enough to disrupt the play and get to the quarterback. On the interior, Coach O’Leary says that we have the desired size but we need to see a better second-effort following their initial move when battling their blocker and we also need to do a better job of closing the passing and running lanes that allow quarterback to get easy completions or scramble for a big chunk of yards as we saw with Houston’s O’Korn and with South Carolina’s Connor Shaw before he went down with an injury. It goes without saying that our defense absolutely cannot afford to have another absolutely atrocious tackling display as it did against temple, hopefully the defense can tighten up the pass coverage and focus heavily on getting players in the best position to make the tackle. Barring any unforeseeable miscues or errors, if our offense continues to play as it has all season (possibly improving red-zone efficiency) and our defense gets back to the form it was before the Temple game, we should be able to execute the gameplan to take home another W en route to our Black Friday matchup with USF, clinching the first American conference title and the last AQ BCS bid of the American Athletic Conference.

Post Temple: The Cardiac Kids (Week 12, 2013)

UCF, raising its fans’ blood pressure since 1979… WHERE DID THE DEFENSE GO? Temple played a great game and they have a bright future so long as their QB continues to develop (otherwise, its Jeff Driskel part 2), but WHERE DID THE UCF DEFENSE THAT HELD HOUSTON TO 14 POINTS GO? its only been 7 days and we went from that to giving up the most points allowed all season (Yes, Louisville scored on us less than Temple did). Our defensive front and especially our defensive line has never looked more shoddy than it just did for those 60 mins; missed tackles, nonexistent pass rush, high yields from runs up the middle, just ridiculous. Our offense essentially was playing against two defenses, but that’s enough negative, I trust the coaches will let them have it for the mistakes we saw on defense and will work those kinks out in the short week before Rutgers.

HOLY COW! JJ Worton, you are hereby known as Mr. Dependable. Worton has never stood taller than he does right now following a career game from him, no question. JJ without a doubt is the BIGGEST reason why we were able to win this game, the number of clutch, spectacular catches he made, including the absolutely insane, one-handed TD grab  he made to knot the game up at the latter part of the 4th quarter. Blake Bortles once again showed his composure and refusal to fold under the pressure of the moment, commanding a set of beautiful drives to close the game and finding Rannell Hall open in space for the final deep pass that set up the game winning FG. Even with Perriman staying home in Orlando, our receiving corps teamed up with Bortles Kombat to put up a incredible scoring display to outlast the Owls in a shootout.

I’m sure all of you in UCF Nation, like me, have a couple more gray hairs on our heads after this one. Here’s to no more roller coasters, lets just coast through our final home stretch and take home whats been a long time coming, a BCS berth and a win over USF.  …. knock on wood.

Post Houston: Birth of a Rivalry? (Week 11, 2013)

We may have just witnessed the birth of a rivalry. On paper, UCF and UH both came into this match up hungry for a conference championship and earning each program’s first BCS bowl berth at the end of the American’s status as an AQ conference, looking to garner some national respect and get some attention to the dream years we’ve both been having. What we also witnessed on Saturday was one of the most egregious displays of disrespect by a visiting team in my (albeit brief) time watching UCF football. For a visiting team to come into our house, be taunting our players and fans the way they were, and play the way they were is reprehensible. The things they did that I take issue with are common in football games; injuries, late hits, taunting, trash talk, unnecessarily aggressive play, it all happens. However, all these things happening in the span of one game leaves a bad taste in the mouth for the other team.

Regarding the Targeting play, I can’t begrudge the Houston defender for making the hit. Decisions have to be made fast and sometimes injuries will be the result, that’s the nature of the game. The Houston defender got flagged for targeting and was ejected, no fault there. There IS a problem when he tries to return the sideline after taking off his pads and starts antagonizing the home crowd as the whole stadium began to boo him until the officials rushed him back into the locker room. His motives for returning to that hostile environment are up for debate but at the very least, it shows a clear lack of judgment to think it’s a good idea to return to the field after being ejected and injuring one of the home team’s players.

When you’re a visiting team, there’s a certain degree of etiquette and common courtesy expected of you. That’s not to say you can’t celebrate making good plays or are expected to be congratulating the opposing team when they do as well, but just be professional and have common courtesy. It rubbed me the wrong way how the Houston team, excluding a tiny minority, didn’t have the common decency to remove their helmets and take a knee while the injured player was still lying on the field; a gesture of respect as simple as removing one’s hat during the national anthem. There are some people making issue with the Cougars kneeling in prayer in front of the student section or having a little dance before every kickoff but those are just traditions of the game they adhere to (yet they wouldn’t do the tradition of taking a knee out of respect for an injured player?). As I said before, taunting will happen and I believe trash talk is a part of any competitive sport. That said, it is UNFORGIVABLE for ANYONE, let alone the visiting team, to be taunting while a member of the home team lies injured on the field. I’ve yet to see a greater display of classlessness than John O’Korn and the Houston bench jeering at the UCF fans seated in the stands behind them. Houston fans defending O’Korn say that he was provoked by that section heckling the Houston bench all game; that UCF fans equally behaved without class and O’Korn and the Cougar bench were just returning the favor. First of all let’s be honest, if this is the first time Houston is getting heckled by the opposing home crowd, what part of Texas do they play football in? Yes, it’s reprehensible that there were people in the stands who were making asses of themselves (especially the one guy who got removed for throwing a drink at the ejected Houston player) but you’re football players and represent of the program and school you come from. It may not be fair but as long as they wear that UH on their helmets, they need to be professional and take the drunken hecklers nonsense in stride. Instead, they played into it and taunted back, gestured at the crowd throughout the game, started shoving our players after the play was over and even got in some late hits or cheap shots which often were not called. Officially there isn’t any press on some of the happenings of the off-field happenings at the game but the newfound hatred continues to ferment between the two fan bases in forums and discussion boards across the net; grievances waiting to be resolved on the field in our future match ups.

Post UConn (Week 9, 2013)

As the clock strikes 0:00; the scoreboard reads 62-17, just a point shy of breaking our all-time single game scoring record (Charleston Southern, 2011). Against lowly UConn, our team did exactly what we expected them to do; smother their offense and limit scoring opportunities while scoring with ease with an explosive offensive onslaught. Unlike what we saw against Memphis, our team did not look complacent going against an opponent considerably weaker on paper than ourselves; we hit the ground running (or passing rather), and never looked back. We move into the bye week to prepare for a decisive homecoming match up against Houston with a lot of positives to look at.

Our offense didn’t miss skip a single beat this week; Blake threw 20/24 for 286 yards and a career high, not to mention an impressive 10 yard rushing TD. All these numbers were put up in just the first half. JJ Worton had a great return to form after a silent Memphis game and being injured in the first possession of the Louisville game, pulling down 6 catches for a career high 119 yards and a TD against UConn. Jeff Godfrey also had a career game, pulling down 6 receptions for 54 yards and 3 TDs. The offense took advantage of all four of UConn’s turnovers en route to the 62-17 rout we watched at Bright House Networks Stadium. One thing that impressed me is that Blake managed to put up the numbers he did in just one half of play, the backups started coming in after the first possession of the 2^nd half. I’m most impressed by how Coach O’Leary mixed it up in our gameplan and broke tendencies of our offense. We extensively using triple option instead of running his traditional pro-style offense we’re accustomed to. We saw Rannell Hall go in motion and take carries from the backfield, ultimately finishing the game as the team’s leading rusher with 5 carries for 45 yards (including a 17yd rushing TD). We saw Storm Johnson continue to be targeted in the passing game, finding the end zone for 7 yard receiving TD. We saw Blake Bortles keeping or pitching the ball on speed option plays and we saw the Wild Knight being used more frequently than we’ve ever seen in seasons past, albeit to minimal effect. On top of mixing up the play calling, our team showed that they can do it effectively (see, Rannell Hall’s performance) and that our offense can attack an opposing defense in a multitude of ways. Houston’s defense will have their work cut out for them in our November homecoming matchup.

On defense the pass coverage continues to look very impressive, giving up little to no big plays through the air while the first team was on the field. Despite the occasional hiccup like the massive 57 yard in the first UConn possession, the run defense held its own throughout the game, limiting the Huskies to 34 yards on the ground for the rest of the game following that big run. The defense gave UConn no room to breathe, limiting their offense to only 142 passing yards and 91 rushing yards while also forcing 4 turnovers. Sean Maag continues to have a stellar senior year, adding a fumble recovery and interception to his turnover count from this year. Troy Gray also pulled in a spectacular interception off of a wayward pass disrupted by Terrance Plummer and Jordan Ozerities also stood out getting three tackles including a 10 yard sack. Our defense showed up and did exactly what they were expected to do against the 0-6 Huskies. Hopefully the team goes into the bye week fired up from this dominant win and can put the visiting Houston Cougars through the wringer next Saturday on our homecoming weekend.

Post Louisville: An Emotional Historic Win (Week 8, 2013)

An emotional, historic win.

What more can be said about that win? In a historic comeback, UCF returned from a score of 7-28 to win 38-35 in front of a hostile Louisville crowd on the Cardinals’ sold-out, nationally televised homecoming game. With that deflected Hail Mary pass; UCF beat its second ranked opponent in program history, earned its first win over a top ten team in program history, knocked off the preseason favorite to win the conference; all on national television. The program’s national profile has never looked bigger; the Knights are in control of their own destiny in conference with their toughest matchups on the schedule (Houston and Rutgers) both in the Bright House. If we beat Houston and win the rest of our conference match ups, even if we lose to Rutgers we’d have the tiebreaker for the American crown and more importantly, the AQ BCS bowl berth. We’re behind the wheel on the road to achieving the dream season the program so badly needs to put ourselves on the map for good.

A game full of firsts for the Knights, yet I can’t help but notice something familiar about our greatest moments in this game. On the final play of the game, as the ball travelled high in the air from Bridgewater’s hand to the end zone, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the final play of a past game, the 2010 Liberty Bowl. Everything about the play, the emotions, the in-game situation, the impact that completion or incompletion would have for the program. Another comparison can be made about UCF’s final drive, but this time not to a past UCF play. As the drive progressed and Blake continued to commandeer UCF down the field in a 2 minute drill, I was reminded of another closing drive in a tight game that ultimately lead to the game-winning score; The Catch, Joe Montana’s signature drive and touchdown in the 1981 NFC Championship. Like Montana, Blake methodically led the offense down the field with the clock winding down. Out of all the drives I’ve watched Blake quarterback, I’ve never seen him look as intelligent with the ball as he did in that drive. His two incompletions were deep shots in the end zone that was either going to be caught by the receiver or out of bounds.  He maintained his composure and just went back to the two minute offense that the team prepared for just this kind of situation. Blake stepped up into the pocket, made the right checks and reads, and found the open man while not forcing the issue or throwing to a single receiver. He spread the ball around and the receivers did the rest. The drive was an excellent performance by the offense as a whole but Blake in particular showed his mettle and his composure in the face of extreme pressure, comparable to what we saw from the NFL great.

               

Our Greatest Hour

Home from Culpeppers and watching the Louisville game.

For one night, every Knight rejoiced as we celebrate our greatest victory. even the most staunch and stalwart naysayer renounce everything they’ve once said and too join in celebration. Tonight is why this Knight writes this blog, why I cheer and try so hard at the games, why I give my all as a fan to this game; for just one night, UCF fans are united.

I have no shame in admitting I was openly emotional as the clock struck zero. With this game, our team exercised a lot of demons nagging around the program: U-Can’t-Finish, UCF can’t win the big one; UCF is only a one half team. We proved all doubters on the outside looking in wrong; but most profound for me is the impact this win made on our own fanbase. The first status I saw on my Facebook newsfeed was from FireCoachOLeary.com, the dedicated, alumni-run, anti-Coach O’Leary page running since as far back as 2005. They’ve embodied the naysaying and pessimistic attitude of a lot of the fan base over the course of Coach O’Leary’s tenure and through the rough times grew into a reservoir for a lot of negativity within our own fanbase. Knowing that, to see that page write “I take it all back George, I take it all back…” was simply overwhelming. Even what I consider the staunchest of skeptics whose faith was weathered by the worst of the rough times were shedding their convictions and jumping on board with the team. When Jeff Godfrey pulled down that final TD reception and Clayton Geathers swatted down the final Hail Mary pass, they did more than make the game winning plays. For one night, the world went as silent as the Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium home crowd and all that could be heard was the jubilation of the UCF faithful, the chants of UCF echoing beyond the field. For one night; not one doubter, qualifier, or second guesser among our fans could be heard over the sounds of our cheers. For one night, we were united; and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to see from UCF Nation; that’s why I write these blogs, that’s why I follow our team so closely, that’s why I put my heart into everything I do as a Knight. Once a Knight, always a Knight ever proud.

Proud doesn’t describe the feeling, ecstacy couldn’t describe the joy. This night, the Knights are on top of the world. Here’s to you, UCF: 

Charge On till the last Knight falls, till there is nothing left in this world but black and gold; Go Knights!

Pre Louisville (Week 7, 2013)

The first thing that comes to mind when you say Louisville football today is Teddy Bridgewater. This is with good reason; he is arguably the most NFL ready QB prospect in the nation and expertly commands the Cardinal offense down the field each game. In our coming showdown at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, we need to bring attention to their more overlooked defense which has been silently doing its work against its adversaries. While Bridgewater leads the offense up and down the field to put up points, the defense has held their opponents on average to 7.3 points per game (albeit playing lesser competition). Watching the Rutgers game, the Cards pass rush showed that their numbers are real and they pose a serious threat. Constant pressure and 8 sacks caused Rutgers QB Gary Nova to break down under the pressure, making bad decisions under duress which lead to 4 interceptions and a poor offensive showing by Rutgers especially in the 2^nd half. While Blake has shown better composure in the pocket under pressure than Nova, that doesn’t negate the fact that every quarterback increasingly feels the effect of a constant pass rush. While Teddy Bridgewater’s play statistically was not much of a drop off from the norm, the continuous hits and pressure from the Rutgers defense made an effect on his mechanics and decision making, making him look uncharacteristically sloppy. Louisville’s defense thrives on turnovers, largely caused by miscues and mechanical errors made under duress from the pass rush.

On offense, we need to look to the O-line to continue to limit sacks the way they have been doing since the FIU game. They also need to be ready to contain pressure long enough for Blake to get into rhythm and take control. When faced with an aggressive pass rush, the way to take advantage of the defensive over pursuit is quick passing and screens alternated with delayed handoffs and runs to keep them on their back foot and unsure of how our offense is going to hit them next. Their coverage isn’t dominant but they’re good enough to make plays on the ball when the play is there; we cannot allow them to single out our receivers or else they will find an opportunity to take the ball the other way. We can counter their secondary by spreading the wealth to all our best receivers: Rannell Hall, JJ Worton, Breshad Perriman, Jeff Godfrey; the former 3 each having had at least one 100 yard receiving game. If the receivers show up all hands on deck, that will enable Blake to move the ball around the entire field and keep the defense spread out.

On defense, we need to be wary of Louisville’s run first offensive style. Despite having the outstanding passer they have in Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville still follows the old adage of having the run set up the pass. They have a viable rushing attack that is effective at opening up the pass game to allow Teddy Bridgewater to pick apart the secondary as they cheat up to defend the run. The secondary needs to be wary of this and a tendency by Louisville to get big chunks of yards on play action passes; our safeties can’t afford to overcommit and risk allowing big plays. Bend but don’t break will be the mantra against their rushing attack, the safeties will have to be on top of their game to prevent any big plays in case the rushing attack makes it past the linebackers. If the pass rush manages to get enough hits on Bridgewater, we could possibly force some bad throws and mistakes as we saw from him against Rutgers where he was regularly getting hit by the pass rush.

Overall if we limit our mistakes and execute as we should, we very much can move past this week the favorite to earn the coveted BCS bid for the AAC champion.

Post Memphis (Week 6, 2013)

The story of the game which left Tigers fans leaving Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium heartbroken on October 5^th was UCF’s offense playing like a completely different team than the one we’ve seen the past 4 games of the season. We saw a photo negative of UCF, poor 1^st half performance highlighted by a spotty offensive showing and the defense bailing out the offense long enough for them to get in the right gear to make the come-from-behind win.

                Coming into the game, the Tigers defense was making a name for itself, looking pretty impressive despite the team’s overall record. Utilizing various blitz packages, they maintained high pressure on Blake and kept him and the offense from getting in rhythm for the entire 1^st half. Credit their defense for a well-executed gameplan. However the number of mental errors and missed opportunities were ample cause for alarm; specifically the key drops and penalties. JJ Worton wasn’t able to pull down a reception the whole game and Memphis drives were extended despite the defense making stops due to penalties like illegal formation, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc. While the dropped passes are concerning signs from our receiving corps, we also demonstrated the depth in our receiving corps; when the starting players are having a bad game, we can count on the other receivers in the unit to step up and carry the team. While the rest of the receiving corps individually was held to 2 receptions or less, Breshad Perriman carried the passing offense with 7 receptions for 107 yards. If the defense can manage to deliver another performance as they did against Memphis (namely, generating turnovers), we have to see the rest of the offense show up and not leave points on the field when we get a free possession.

We’ve seen an interesting development in the defense; not only did we force multiple turnovers (including two interceptions by Terrance Plummer), we managed to literally double our sack numbers for the season thus far with 5 in one game largely thanks to a couple fresh faces in the D-line. Freshman DE Blake Keller got to the QB twice in his first collegiate start while Freshman Seyvon Lowery, who’s getting an increase in his minutes, also got a sack on the day. Hopefully this new rotation can up the production of a thus-far underachieving pass rush; it’ll be needed against Bridgewater. In addition, the coverage has shown continued improvement, generating two interceptions through Terrance Plummer.

Overall, poor execution nearly cost UCF their first American conferences win, but thanks to a strong defensive showing, a reinvigorated 2^nd half showing, and some lucky plays going our way; the Knights walked out of Memphis the victors. Hopefully during this bye week, the players iron out the wrinkles and clean up our offensive execution to prevent losing needless yards in this week’s Friday matchup against Louisville on National TV. Louisville’s defense will prove to be just as much if not more of a challenge as Memphis.

Pre South Carolina (Week 5, 2013)

                The offense made its statement at Penn State against their defense, most notably the offensive line. Despite losing starting left tackle Torrian Wilson to a knee injury against FIU, the reshuffled O-line demonstrated their flexibility, containing the Penn State D-line from getting a sack on Blake Bortles and allowing Storm Johnson to run for 117 yards, including a 58 yard rushing TD. With Wilson returning, we hope to see more of the same from our replenished O-line against an even bigger test, Jadeveon Clowney and the Gamecocks’ defensive line. A point to note however, Clowney is playing injured with bone spikes. While that does not mean he’s no longer a threat; we can hope his injury slows him down enough for our blocking scheme to be able to contain him. Expect extensive use of tight ends and fullbacks to help contain the pass rush to keep Blake clean long enough to move the ball down the field. South Carolina’s secondary will have their hands full keeping our multitude of receivers in check, we have an even matchup in that regard. It’ll be paramount that our offense is able to maintain some sort of rhythm, ideally scoring early to get momentum on our side and not give up an early lead to the Gamecocks. If history shows us anything, it shows that UCF, at least its offense, is not geared for a come from behind game. If the offense is able to answer the other team when they score on us, we should be able to stay in this game.

Both teams have an explosive and productive pass offense so expect the secondary to have their work cut out for them on both sides. Gamecock QB Connor Shaw has demonstrated tremendous football IQ, making smart decisions with the ball and not forcing throws en route to throwing 7 TDs and more importantly 0 INTs this season. If the pass rush fails to get to Shaw, he will find the holes in our secondary in no time. UCF’s pass rush has been lackluster thus far this season and look to improve each week. At the same time, the D-line has to be careful not to over pursue and give Connor Shaw an opportunity to show off his 4.64 40-time and scramble for large gains. The South Carolina rushing game  We’re without starter Willie Mitchell at the outside linebacker spot so our linebackers may have their hands full containing the Gamecock rushing offense featuring 3 players who have rushed for over 100 yards on the season.

                In this matchup, look for the defense to try to limit the big plays made in the air. As I see it, our best shot at winning this game is to contain the production of the passing attack and the quick strikes and force South Carolina to run the ball, coming at our strong linebacker corps and preventing quick drives. The early game will be vital; history shows that UCF has never had much of a come-from-behind offense. If we allow South Carolina to gain an early lead, it’ll be a tough fight to regain momentum against the SEC athletes we’re lining up against. Special Teams will be a factor in this game, any mistakes on either side in special teams could be a game changer. If every facet of the team works as they should, we should easily be able to stay in this game and upset the favored Gamecocks.

Post Penn State: A Historic Win (Week 4, 2013)

We just witnessed a historic moment in UCF Football’s program history, a victory over a highly anticipated marquee opponent. Without question this is one of the biggest wins in program history; bigger than at Tuscaloosa 2000, bigger than the C-USA conference championships, and I would even go as far as to say is comparable or even bigger than the Liberty Bowl over Georgia. Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, hear me out. Emotionally and in terms of significance to the program, the Liberty Bowl without question is the biggest UCF win in program history yet. However strictly in terms of on-field accomplishments, I would argue that the Penn State win makes the biggest statement about this team and this program as a whole. For me personally, this win gets the edge over both the 2000 Alabama game and the 2010 win over Georgia in the Liberty Bowl because unlike those games, we’ve beat a storied program who is still a competitive fixture in their respective level. In the wake of the NCAA sanctions on the Penn State football program following the scandal, Bill O’Brien has lead the Nittany Lions to a 10-4 record from the start of his coaching tenure in 2012 to just before the match-up with UCF. Compare that to our win at Tuscaloosa in 2000; as great as it feels to say we beat Bama at Bryant-Denny, we still have to qualify that and remind ourselves that it was against a Crimson Tide team that ultimately finished 3-8 that year. Not the same dominant Bama as the present dynasty or the Bear Bryant days. The same can be said about the 2010 Georgia team we faced in the Liberty Bowl. We faced a 6-6 Georgia Bulldogs team who barely scraped its way into the postseason after being mangled in SEC play, a shadow of the team contending the SEC title the past two seasons and arguably a top 3 team in the conference this season. In the grand scheme, the Liberty Bowl win is unquestionably the biggest win in program history considering that it was our first bowl win, it capped off the best season in program history which included a ranked finish, and was a win against a talented Georgia team. However, the Penn State game pitted us against a team that was still making headlines for its collective on-field success and also sets up even more anticipation for the upcoming rematch in Ireland. From that day forward, UCF finally has that signature win over a strong opponent this program has been thirsting for since the beginning of the program.

Pre Penn State (Week 3, 2013)

Week 2 gave UCF an opportunity to tweak its team against an injury-riddled and depleted FIU roster. On Friday, UCF’s offense started off looking a bit sluggish and once again, the play at the line of scrimmage was a bit lacking. On the offensive side, UCF’s O-line allowed FIU defensive linemen into the backfield twice in the first half though they seemed to get going just as the offense began to click. On defense, the D-line still failed to generate significant pressure against a depleted and inexperienced O-line. Those two facets of our team will be exactly what we’ll need in our first real test of the season against a formidable Penn State Nittany Lions squad.

Under center, Penn State has one of the premier young talents at QB in Christian Hackenberg. On defense, Penn State has arguably the best defense in the Big 10 conference; highlighted by the play of DT DaQuan Jones and LB Glenn Carson. Their rush defense yields a smaller average yards per carry than our own (1.8 vs 2.6). It is a bit concerning however when the leading tackler on the Penn State squad has the same number of sacks on his own as our entire defensive unit. Going into Happy Valley, we have to hope for the O-line to be able to slow down this fierce defense and allow Blake to stay clean long enough to make the play. Between Blake Bortles and Christian Hackenberg, Blake Bortles is looking like the better QB in the mix-up. He has thrown 4 TDs and 0 interceptions to Hackenberg’s 3 TDs and 3 interceptions. In the past, Blake has shown tendencies to try and force a play when there wasn’t one and that was where a large amount of his interceptions early last season came from, outside of the pocket usually throwing on the run. Since then, he’s developed and is smarter with the ball. He manages to spread the ball around to the multitude of receivers we have fairly evenly, yielding high yards per catch numbers which sharply contrast Penn State’s comparably lower YPC numbers.

 Looking at this matchup, this game is going to be decided at the line of scrimmage; if UCF can put pressure on the QB, it’ll make it easier for the secondary to take advantage of any mistakes. If our O-line manages to contain the pass rush long enough, our pass game can get going early, taking some pressure off of the rush attack and making it easier to run the balanced attack Coach O’Leary likes to employ. Our rush defense has been solid in our first two games, albeit against lackluster opponents, but they will be put to the test against a very solid, three headed dragon that is the Penn State rushing game featuring 3 RBs who each have over 100 yards on the ground coming into this game. Penn State, like our offense, utilizes a balanced offense and if our D-line doesn’t disrupt the flow of their gameplan, it will only mean trouble for the rest of the defense trying to defend the multitude of threats attacking them downfield as the game goes on. 

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.