Close game but we got the W

It appears that the offense did enough to win, no wait, it looks like both the offense and defense did just enough to win the ball game. I think we ran the ball very well but once again it did not seem like we could ever get in sync. I guess I should take that back about the defense as we did limit Houston's offense who had been averaging 41 points per game to only 14. It was the end of the game that both the offensive and defensive units could have done more to complete the win. We had the ball and the lead with a couple of minutes left in the game and were unable to get just one first down and gave the ball back to the other team's offense. Just one first down by our offense late in the game would have made all the difference in the world and would have let us cruise in to the W column much more easily. The defense at the end of the game just had to make the game exciting by giving up some big plays on the last drive.

Well now that I got that off my chest I can say great win by the home team. Once again proving that great teams find ways to win no matter what the situation. Let's keep this good thing going Knights!

Go Knights! #ChargeOn

What is there to say

That was easily one of the most one sided games that I have ever witnessed. I was hoping for a good showing against UCONN but that exceeded my expectations. The Husky defense was powerless to stop our first team offense who scored 55 points very early in the third quarter. The defense did just as well by not giving up too many points in fact the only scores they had was on a turnover on a botched punt return and later in the game when the refs gave them a couple of cheap pass interference calls to keep a drive going. It was certainly great fun by all who wore black and gold that day.

 ChargeOn!

 

That moment in time

Seven minutes and fifty-two seconds left in the third quarter and the visiting Knights were down by a score of 28-7. That moment in time I was disgusted with the turn of events that had just transpired since the resumption of play after the halftime break. That moment in time I had just turned off the surround sound speakers because I did not particularly care to hear the Louisville fans celebrating so loudly in my living room. That moment in time was a gut check time for our young team having to decide then and there were they going to fold or were they going to fight. That moment in time they came to a decision to stand up and fight, not letting the situation get the better of them. I can't say enough how much heart it must have taken for the team to pick themselves up during that momentum swing that was after the other team had after picking up a fumble and running it into the end zone to go up by three touchdowns. Well, unknown to everybody watching the game last Friday Knight at that moment in time the momentum pendulum was about to swing back the other way in a major way. Before the end of the third quarter expired we had tied the score at 28 points a piece and letting the folks up there in Louisville know that at this moment of time we now have a new ball game. At that moment in time when Teddy Bridgewater's hail mary pass hit the ground in the end zone we witnessed a total team effort that only happens with full commitment by everyone on the team. As Knight Fan Stan says "Every day is a great day to be a UCF Knight", but at this moment in time its just got a little sweeter. Go Knights! Charge On!


Join the Knight Celebration!



P.S. Louisville head coach stated in some post game interview that he felt the best team on the field did not win the game. I wonder which game he was talking about and who was he trying to convince. I don't care who you root for but the better team on any football field anywhere does not let a visiting team beat you after you take a 21 point lead half way into the 3rd quarter. Eventually the pollsters got it right and ranked us ahead of the team we defeated on their own turf. Sorry Charlie, UCF was the better team on the field that night, we were the better team in the conference, and we were the higher ranked team at the end of the season.

The Great Memphis Escape

That was definitely a lot closer than it should have been.  The offense never looked in sync all game but were able to come up with a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 17 all.  Most of the night on Saturday night after the game as well as a good part of Sunday I was of the opinion that we were not as good team as we thought and never should have let that game be that close on  the scoreboard.

After much thought though it has always been said that good teams find ways to win even when it appears that the chances at winning seem slim.  On the ensuing kickoff after we tied the game late true freshman Will Stanback made the play of the game with a huge hit on the kick returner that caused a fumble that redshirt freshman Drico Johnson scooped up and ran into the end zone giving the Knights the lead.



The drama was not over at this point unfortunately as Memphis took the ball and drove the length of the field quite easily but on third down the running back was attempting to throw a pass into the end zone and Clayton Geathers tipped the ball that was caught by Terrance Plummer to seal the victory.

Again we came up with the play we needed and were able to come away with a victory like good teams do.

Charge On!

Memphis Preview

With a 2nd roadtrip to Memphis in the same amount of years it makes me remember this last time that I personally made a trip to the city and watched our historic win over the Georgia Bulldogs for our very first bowl win.  We have had plenty of success up there over the years partly because the Tigers have not put much of a fight over the years.

From what I have been reading and hearing about Memphis football this year they are an improved football team and we will most certainly have to work much harder to earn a victory.  I do believe if we play our game and control the tempo we can beat even an improved Memphis football team.

Charge On!

Too many mistakes

We came close but unfortunately fell short by 3 points to South Carolina.  I thought at the end of the first half that we had a good chance of winning by keeping the Gamecocks off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes.  I was pleased the way the defensive line was able to get a little bit of pressure on the quaterbacks. On the offensive side of the ball I thought we ran the ball well when we did run but I don't understand why we got away from the run so much in the second half.

It was without a doubt one of the more exciting games that I have ever attended.  We came back from a large deficit to close the score to 28-25 but we just ran out of time when the scoreboard got down the the 1:54 mark left in the game.

In the end it sucks to lose this big of a game but it is a nice feeling that we can go toe to toe with one of the better teams in the SEC.

Charge On!

Less than 48 hours

OK Knight fans, we are less than 48 hours away from one of the biggest games in program history.  I'd be willing to bet that the excitement that we will witness on this coming Saturday will rival the energy that was on display about 6 years ago when the Longhorns came to town.  A win against South Carolina will definitely put us up on a level that has not been seen by this program since its inception way back in 1979.  From what I have been reading it looks like our opponent on Saturday might not have the defense that they wish they had, not unlike us.  I'm guessing that there might be a few points being scored in the Brighthouse in a couple of days, hopefully our defense will play like they are fully capable of and giving us a chance at the W.Once again just like a few weeks ago we are at the time where we want to take the next step as a program and being victorious over an SEC team that is ranked in the top 15 can be that step.

Let's do this Knights!

It's Time!

Charge On!

Not so Happy Valley

We did it! The Knights of UCF went up to State College Pennsylvania to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions and came back with one of the top victories in UCF football history. This is the type of victory that will get people's attention in the rest of the college football world. I'm sure going into the game on Saturday most casual fans expected Penn State to beat us and not even give it any more thought. Even before this game was played I have started noticing that there have been little bits and pieces about UCF football leading up to the past weekends game. We even got some attention from ESPN on two separate occasions. On College Football Gameday Lee Corso picked us to upset Penn State. I am so glad he got it right. Also on the back end of the college football weekend when they were handing out helmet stickers we (actually Blake Bortles) got a helmet sticker presented to him and the team by none other than Lou Holtz himself.

 The offense looked great Saturday Knight and the defense played well enough for us to win the ball game. Of course that is all you can ask of any unit on a football team. I was very impressed with the way the offensive line played all Knight, blocking well for the running game and giving Blake plenty of time to find the receivers down field. That was I believe the key to our victory and to think that we did it without starting left tackle Torrian Wilson. On the defensive side of the ball I thought the team did very well for the most part. Yes there were a few too many big plays given up by us but their punter had to come out to punt more than a couple of times during the game. I still would like to see us get a better push up front with the four down lineman but maybe that is something they will continue to work on in practice.

 The last time I was this excited about a win had to be when we won the Liberty Bowl against the Georgia Bulldogs back in 2010. Once again these are the games we have to find a way to win more often than not for us to continue to grow as a program.

 Go Knights! Charge On!

 

The Latest Opportunity

Once again we have standing before us an opportunity to get noticed as a major player in the college football world.  Respect is definitely something that is earned and although I believe we have earned a very modest amount of respect in the last few years, I still believe that we have a long distance to travel.  Beating a traditional football power from one of the "power" conferences on their home turf is one of the jobs that must be accomplished. 

Enough with the preaching, let's look at the game.

Not unlike us, Penn State did not seem to be tested in their first couple of games of the season.  They probably played down to the competition a little bit as well kind of like what we experienced early on in the game against FIU.  After reading more than a few short reviews of our previous contest, I am not alone in thinking that the line play on both sides of the ball has to keep improving for us to have a chance to leave Happy Valley with a win in our back pocket.  This will be our first true test as a football team this young season and honestly it could not come at a better time with  South Carolina coming to our house in two weeks.  Not that I am looking  past our current opponent its just that playing a couple of teams that are down right now does not get us ready to play one of the better teams in the SEC.  Penn State will definitely give us a great game and I know the players are eagerly looking  forward to today's game.

Go Knights! Charge On!

FIU game review

After a little bit of a shaky start the offense got the ball moving well and was in control for the rest of the game and finished off FIU 38-0.  At least as long as the first team was in anyway.  Justin Holman got to take a few snaps in the fourth quarter and showed what a strong arm he has.  He also showed that he was a true freshman by having the ball snapped to him when he wasn't ready and hitting him in the shoulder.  He was able to hold onto the ball though and no damage was  done.  I think that Storm had a much better performance this game than the opening by taking advantage of the blocking that was in front of him.  As for Blake what can I say, except for a couple of passes that were not well timed early in the game (one of them almost for an interception possibly even a pick six) he performed as good as we've come to expect from him.  Speedy Hall had a very big game as well by hauling in 4 passes for over 100 yards for the game.

A review of the game would not be complete without mentioning the combined effort by Caleb Houston and Sean Galvin of the kicking team. Sean had 6 kickoffs for touchback in the game which helped the special teams tremendously and considering the job of punter was such a big question mark coming into the season Caleb did an outstanding job punting the ball with an average of 43 yards per punt.

When you keep the other team from putting up points on the scoreboard you must be doing something right.  I am still hoping to see more of a pass rush from the four down lineman but overall I think the defense played very well.  The pass coverage must have been good because it seemed as though Panther QB Medlock had a tough time finding an open receiver for most of the night.

Now I know that we sometimes have trouble filling up our home stadium for games and it is something that we can definitely improve on as a fan base but the attendance at last Fridays game down in Miami was downright pathetic.  Truly I would be completely embarrassed if I were an FIU fan.  I was very cautious about not calling this a rivalry game as I would not like to be accused of acting like those folks over there at that school over in Tampa did a few years ago acting like they were way above us but you can't call this a rivalry game when you need help from us getting 50% attendance at your home field.

I am really anxious to see how we measure up to the Nittany Lions of Penn State this coming Saturday and I hope we can bring home a win.

Go Knights!  Charge On!

FIU game preview

It did not seem as though FIU gave Maryland much of a fight last week for their opening game.  Maryland put up some rather impressive offensive numbers on both the run and the pass.  Given that our offense performed very well last week, I think we have a good chance of coming back home with our second win of the season.  Of course two years ago I probably felt that way about our team taking on FIU and we left Miami with a disappointing 17-10 loss.  There are more than a few players in Black and Gold who made that road trip a couple of years ago and still remember that long bus ride back to Orlando.  I believe that will be a little bit of motivation that can give us the edge we need.  I really want both our offensive and defensive lines to perform a little better than they did on opening knight.  Hopefully we can get a few more sacks for our defense and prevent any from happening on offense.

Go Knights!
Charge On!

Akron game review

One well played game under our belts and one in the Win column as we defeated the Akron Zips by a score of 38-7.  Overall I think the effort was great on both sides of the ball as well as special teams.  Blake looked very poised in the pocket and made some very accurate throws to all different receivers.  I think the pass protection will have to be worked on in the coming weeks but I have no doubt that it will improve.  Storm looked pretty good except for the few times that he was dancing around just a little bit too much.  I think that he realizes that he is talented enough to break away on every play and sometimes is not just willing to take what is given to him.  I'm sure the coaches will remind him of this in practice.  Cedric Thompson looked good as well as true Freshman running back Will Stanback who got a few carries in the fourth quarter.  On the defensive side of the ball I thought the run defense was pretty stout and the defensive backfield did a very good job keeping the extra yardage after the catches down to a minimum.  In addition, the defensive backs did not allow any big yardage plays from scrimmage which was a small concern considering how young the players are back there.  I would have to say that I was slightly disappointed that the defensive line did not put too much pressure on the quaterback and got only one sack.  Great job by Terrance Plummer being named the AAC defensive player of the week.  It was most deserved as he had 10 tackles total with three of them being tackles for loss.

Four days and about one and a half hours (at post time) left

The Akron Zips are coming to town on Thursday to help us open up the 2013 football season.  My feelings about this match-up are pretty much the same as they were last year.  From what I have read, it does not appear that the Zips will be about as good as they were last year which unfortunately for them is not that good considering they went 1-11 last season.  They seemed to have lost a few players from last year including their quarterback and top receiver from last year and will be starting a QB without much experience.  They run a spread type offense which really is not anything we should worry about just for the fact that almost every team we faced in CUSA ran a spread offense.  On the defensive side of the ball they have to be a little better than they were last year only because they were not very good at all.  However, any improvements that they will have on the defensive side of the ball will probably be offset by the improvements that we will have on offense this year.  It should be a good opening game of the season for us before we go on the road down to FIU for our first road game of the year.

GO KNIGHTS!
CHARGE ON!

2013 Football Wish List

Hmm, let's see where do I begin.....My wish list for 2013 is as follows:

1. Beat the Bulls
2. Beat the Bulls
3. Beat the Bulls
4. Beat the Bulls 
5. and finally Beat the Bulls

Now that we got that out of the way let's focus on some other goals that I would love to see us achieve in the upcoming football season.

1.  We need to go up to Louisville and take care of business. Louisville is getting a lot of attention this year and this is another game that we need to win for us to take that next step into the bigger college football world.  Of course the implications of this game are huge.  I am talking about BCS implications.  I know that this should probably be my number one priority but if we don't at least win one from either South Carolina or Penn State then even if we beat Louisville no one will give us respect.  After much deliberation I made a change and moved this to the top of the wish list (it was originally number 2).  This is our best shot in the foreseeable future at college football glory in its current system.  There is no doubt right now that the AAC championship is going to go through Louisville.  They are returning a bunch of starters on both sides of the ball and their confidence is sky high.  It is very clear to me though that we can go up there and give them a very good run for their money

2. We have been able to prove in recent years that we can run with the big dogs, now we have to start beating them on a regular basis.  I would love for us to beat both Penn State and South Carolina this year but I would still be happy if we only beat one of them.  This is something that has to happen for us to be taken seriously in the college football world.  It's time.  Let me say that again.  It's time.  We are never going to get any attention that we deserve unless we start beating the big dogs more often than not.  Are we going to take that next step? I believe we will.

2013 - It's Time!

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

OK, now only 13 days left until the kickoff of the 2013 season.  I guess it is that time of year to make out my wish list.  Before we do that let's take a minute to review last years wish list.  We came close but did not win a conference championship last year as we were narrowly defeated by Tulsa last year.  Of course they were helped late by a blown call by the referees.  We still had a chance to win the game though and could not pull it off so I can't really blame the loss entirely on the refs.  Number two on the list was to crush FIU at home.  Well we didn't exactly crush FIU although I thought we would the way we played in the first half but it was still a convincing win anyway.  Number three on the list from last year was to beat Misouri at the Brighthouse which we did not accomplish unfortunately.  Once again we came up short late and let another team get away with a win in our house.  Next on the list was to win a second bowl game - mission accomplished.  The convincing way that we beat Ball State in the Beef O Brady's bowl was a great way to end a good season.  The last item on the list was a bit of a stretch but I was hopeful that if we kept the game close we could come out ahead on the scoreboard against Ohio State in the big horseshoe.  Too many turn overs probably cost us the game but we did stand toe to toe with them for a short while.  It was a long drive up to Columbus and even though we did not win that was a game that I will always remember we had a great time seeing all of the Black and Gold faithful up in Ohio.  We were able to make it to Schmidt's in the German Village of Columbus and had a wonderful time.

48 days and counting

If my math is correct of course there are about 48 more days until our opening kickoff at the Brighthouse on the beautiful campus of the University of Central Florida. I am still not sure if I am going to make it to the opening game since it will be on a Thursday night which I am not really too happy about. We will definitely be there when we host the South Carolina Gamecocks. I just wish that we had some kind of idea of what time kickoff is for that game. I will be there regardless but being that the game is in the middle of September I would prefer it not to be a noon kickoff, that is just brutal sitting there in the scorching Florida sun at that time of day. Of course the weather depends on where in the world you are in September.

 The weather should not be quite as hot in Dublin Ireland next August 30th when the Knights take on the Nittany Lions of Penn State in the Croke Park Classic 2014. I was not real happy about losing a home game for next to a game that will be played in Ireland but I guess the idea is growing on me. If the rumors that I heard were true about Penn State never intending on a road trip to Orlando next year with a possible buyout of the game, I guess this might be almost as good. Yeah I know it is a game that I will most likely not be able to attend in person but I suppose it will bring some kind of national exposure to our program. It will be played at 8:30 in the morning Eastern time in the U.S. (would that be 1:30 PM local Dublin time) on ESPN2 so maybe there will be enough die hard college football fans that want to start the new season early that Saturday morning.

Lady Knights Rule

Let's here it for the Lady Knights. We have our first ever NCAA champion in track and field thanks to an outstanding performance by Aurieyall Scott in the indoor championship 60 meters. She had Octavius Freeman in the next lane pushing her and we took two out of the three medals in that race with Gold for Aurieyall and Bronze for Octavius. Way to represent the Black and Gold Ladies!


Now we are on the eve of the Lady Knights Hoops playing for a possible third CUSA title in the last five years. What an unbelievable run in the tournament. The Knights were the eighth seed going into the tournament and now they have a chance to make history with a win tomorrow night. 8 PM tomorrow night on CBS sports network. You know I'll be watching. Go Knights!

3 month wait

Well maybe 3 months is a bit too long between posts. Much has happened to the Knights since we last met. An Eastern Division title and a 10-4 record is pretty damn good no matter which conference you reside in. I really thought we were going to beat Tulsa in the championship game but a really messed up play killed the momentum that our defense established in the second half. I thought the referees blew the call and it should have been reviewed. Sometimes weird things happen in sports like that and unfortunately we got the short end of the stick on that deal. On to the Beef O Brady's Bowl in St Pete.

Awesome performance by the Black and Gold on both sides of the ball. Blake threw the ball well and once again proved that he is also a threat to run the ball at times adding that extra dimension to the offense. I was kind of disappointed that Quincy did not get much of a chance to show off in front of a national audience but I guess when you are 2nd in the nation in kick-off return average and one of the fastest players in all of college football teams will tend to try not to kick to you. It appeared that a number of younger defensive lineman got some playing time and they made the most of their opportunity. It was very chilly during the tailgate with the temperature being in the 50's I think and windy. Probably not what the Ball State Fans were hoping for when they came to sunny Florida. I am not a big fan of playing outdoor sports indoors but it was actually a real nice atmosphere in the Trop. We cruised to a convincing 38-17 win over the Cardinals and look forward to the kick-off of the first game of the 2013 season. 233 more days and counting. Go Knights!!