UCF Knight Talk

https://twitter.com/UCF_Football/status/773645140711923712

Two weeks to go

OK it's actualy 15 days until kickoff of the 2016 football season for the UCF Knights.  The plans are being made for the first tailgate of the season which basically comes down to what food am I going to serve to go with my beer.  I am very excited about seeing all of the changes that have come about since the close of that miserable 2015 football season.  As I mentioned in the previous post we have an all new coaching staff who have taken the program in a completely different direction than we had been going.  The culture has surely changed drastically and it is apparent from all of the interviews with all of the coaches and players I have seen going all the way back to spring football.  New uniforms have made it to campus and they look really sharp.  I was kind of against not having gold be more of a prominent feature of the uniforms, I mean gold is one of our primary colors but in the end I don't think gold on a jersey or pants ever loos very good.

Speaking of new, our new video board at BHNS is starting to take shape and not a moment too soon.  I am not sure why they decided to wait so long before constructing it but it appears as though it will be finished soon.

Video panels going up! pic.twitter.com/5E07905YB9

— Patrick Ransdell (@PatrickRansdell) August 18, 2016

Yeah, this video board is going to be sick!!

I am also look forward with much anticipation to the new audio system that is supposed to be installed for this season.  The old audio system was awful, it was just big and loud which is OK if you are sitting at the opposite end of the stadium as the speakers but not so great if you are sitting in the north end of the stadium.

So here a are a few weeks away from the first game of the year and the excitement is palpable.  I'm so excited I just can't hide it!



via GIPHY


Go Knights! #ChargeOn !!!!

What a nightmare! and A New Hope

What a nightmare!  I just woke up and had this terrible dream that our beloved football team just completed the worst season in our relatively young history.  Not only did we go 0-12, our offense was the worst in the nation by a large margin and the defense was not that much better.  We lost to FIU and Furman at home (yes, Furman).  At the end of each of those games the visiting head coaches got Gatorade baths.............................OK it wasn't literally a nightmare but it sure did feel like one.  By the end of the season the entire team was completely demoralized and it showed. The hardest part about living through last year was that we had just come off of back to back Conference Championships, and an 0-12 was a complete letdown (understatement of the year).

2016 is a new year. We have a new head coach , a new Athletic Director, new uniforms, new video displays at Brighthouse Stadium (soon) and a bunch of optimism.

Yeah......new uniforms.......



Our new head coach comes directly from being the Offensive Coordinator at Oregon, a team that is known for being able to put a lot of points on the scoreboard quickly and efficiently. First appearances show that he is completely opposite in style from our previous head coach which probably is a good thing considering how last year went.  A total separation from last years disaster was going to be the only way that any optimism could get off the ground.  Coach Frost is promising to go fast (see #UCFast) and try and bring the brand of football that has been very successful for the Oregon Ducks.

This video is a few years old but it gives you an idea of the type of offense that we'll be running:



Now you can get an idea why me and a bunch of other Knight fans are so excited about the upcoming football season.  Last year ended very badly but I don't think that the excitement level I am seeing and experiencing would have happened had Danny White (new A.D.) not hired Coach Scott Frost.

52 days and counting.  Go Knights! #ChargeOn !

College Football Eve - The FIU game preview

Since this is the beginning of the season I do not know too much about our opponent tomorrow.  They seem to have a good defensive line and linebackers that could make running the ball a problem for us.  We'll have to see how the new receiving corps handles the game time situation.  I have full confidence in Justin in that he will be able to get the ball to his receivers throughout the game.  I can't make any predictions on the games outcome because of course I see the world through black and gold glasses.  I just hope the young players that need to step up do so and start us off on the right foot as we prepare to defend the championship of the American Athletic Conference.

Go Knights! #ChargeOn

2015 Football Wish List

Last night during a period of deep sleep the college football gods came to me in a dream and asked me what my wishes were for the upcoming 2015 football season.  I have been giving it a small amount of thought and hadn't really put much effort in to what I would like to see most in this upcoming season.  Not wanting to anger the college football gods with my indecisiveness, I ventured into the schedule and came up with my wishes for UCF Football 2015. OK I know that when I have conversations with other Knights fans on a wish list for the upcoming season, the comment "You mean besides winning the conference and beating the cows?" always comes up because these items kind of go without saying.  However, even though these are always on my annual wish list (actually they are on my perennial list because there are other sports than football) but we are talking about football right now so they will be added because they are wishes.

1. Just like last year this year is no different.  We need to keep our momentum from the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl win going.  In order to accomplish that we have to win at least one of our two games this year versus our "power five" opponents.  I'm talking about a win against either Stanford or South Carolina.  One of these games in my opinion is a must win for us to keep the credibility that we earned from beating the Big 12 champion Baylor Bears about a year and a half ago in Glendale Arizona.
2. I contemplated this next one for a while only because I feel that this one really goes without saying but here it is anyway: BEAT THE BULLS!  Actually the details for this wish would be to see us return the favor from 2007 and really put some deep hurting on them by lighting up the scoreboard like a pinball machine.
3. Three-peat! Host and win the AAC football championship game. Another one that kind of goes without saying.
4. Put UCONN back in their place after our bad performance last against them.
5. Another bowl game trophy is kind of important and would definitely help our brand out tremendously, especially winning against a "power five conference" team.

So there you have it, my wish list for 2015.

Go Knights!  #ChargeOn

Not the finish I was hoping for - Bowl and Season review.

The bowl game was a bit of a letdown considering the wave of emotion we were riding after the game winning touchdown against ECU.  I really believed that our defense was up for the challenge against a very good NC State team.  We battled back late in the game like we always do but unfortunately we gave up too many points earlier that made it difficult to overcome.  Close game at the end but we just came up short.  I think it was the same attack that UConn used in their upset win (and our only conference loss in two seasons) over us midway through the season.  We seem to have trouble containing mobile quarterbacks and it was all too evident as the NC State signal caller was able to gain plenty of yardage. Hopefully we can fix this before the start of next season.  It was good to see at the end of the game that the team never gave up and kept battling to the end.  Player of the game was Josh Reese with his three touchdowns and some crucial late 3rd down conversions. That shows that the team has confidence that they are always in the game as long as there is time left on the clock.


It is true that this team exceeded expectations and did so by winning another conference championship (yeah I know we had to share it with two other teams).  I believe that most people figured that we would have a down year after losing Blake Bortles to the NFL.  Justin had some rough times in some of his early games but more than proved he belongs in the starting role with a great performance against BYU.  That performance against BYU showed what Justin was capable of because BYU had pretty much shut down our run game and our offense had become one dimensional.  We were still able to move the ball despite BYU knowing that we were relying on the passing game heavily.  I think that even though the offense was inconsistent at times, the defense kept us in most of the games with a few exceptions.  The special teams play was good but not great.  Hats off to Shawn Moffit for becoming the leading scorer in UCF football history.

When it is all said and done, winning the Conference championship is the ultimate goal for each of our teams regardless of the sport.  Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.  Oh yeah, beating the west central florida cows on their own turf was definitely one of the seasons highlights.  Here's to a third win against the cows and a three-peat conference championship next season!

Go Knights! #ChargeOn

Hail Perriman!

Like most away games I was watching the game from the comfort of my living room that evening and could have never guessed how the game would unfold.  We were in a good position going into that Knight game for a chance to win a share of the AAC football title.  In our way was an ECU football team that played very well throughout the season with the exception of a few bumps in the road (namely Temple and Cincinatti).  They were playing for pride and for the opportunity to be a spoiler for our season that turned out very well.  Everything went well for us through most of the game until the guys in purple got a big momentum swing along with 21 points in the fourth quarter.  They continued to ride that wave now with a lead all the way to the ten second mark left in the game.  That is until the game clock read 00:10.  I'll admit it, I had almost completely given up at that point (almost that is, maybe 98%) after seeing us cruise through three really strong quarters only to see our championship hopes wither away as the game clock progressed toward the end of regulation play.

There our offense was, on the field in Greenville North Carolina with only an absolutely slim chance of pulling off a last second desperation heave towards paydirt.  One thing I never doubted for a second was the ability of Justin to be able to reach the end zone with his strong arm.  I was doubting our ability to give him the type of protection that he needed to buy him enough time to make the type of pass required to win the ball game given the poor execution in the previous couple of drives by the offensive line.  From our own 35 yard line with ten ticks of the clock left, would he heave the ball from here or would we try some sort of gadget play to get us in the end zone? Remember though at this time I was pretty disgusted with the turn of events that put us in the situation but as a loyal Knight I am always with the team all the way to the end so I sat and watched.  Holman drops back to pass and finds Josh Reese with a perfect pass and catch on an out pattern to move us 14 yards closer to the destination.

Five seconds left (00:05).  Having no timeouts left we line up quickly, Holman one last time of the night drops back to pass, not much pressure on him he steps up and launches the ball into the cool night air. I'd already played this down over in my head a couple of times by now and the outcome was the same: the ball gets knocked down by a group of defenders or just falls harmlessly to the ground.  It is a play that all football fans have seen many times before and the result is almost always the same, incomplete pass, game over.  As I expected, a group of three defenders were standing in and around the end zone waiting for the ball to come down.  As they jump up to reach for the ball, Breshad gets just behind them at the goal line and comes down into his waiting grasp and his momentum carries him into the end zone for the final play of the game.  TOUCHDOWN!!!  OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOD! DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN???!!! KNIGHTS WIN!!!!

What an incredible way to end a game and a season.  It will join all of the other greatest plays in UCF Football history and give us another trophy to put in the case at home.





Let's go Bowling!

Go Knights! #ChargeOn   - Never Yield!