ORLANDO, Fla. — The Knights dropped their first home opener since 2007 Thursday night in a lackluster upset against the FIU Panthers, losing 15-14 after Matthew Wright’s last second field goal attempt was blocked in front of a crowd in full disbelief.
“That kid hits field goals blindfolded from there,” O’Leary said in reference to his decision to play for the field goal instead of taking shots to the end zone.
With time winding down and a one-point deficit to overcome, the Knights chose to play for field position and clock control rather than attempting to pass downfield to gain extra yardage.
“I think it was more important – because we weren’t stopping them in any phase on defense either, too many big plays – to get those timeouts out of there and kick the field goal for the win,” O’Leary explained.
The defense gave up 391 total yards and the run game was almost non-existent behind a revamped offensive line.
“When you don’t block, tackle, do the things you need to do primarily to win games that’s usually the end result,” O’Leary said.
Dontravious Wilson got the start ahead of William Stanback in a somewhat surprising revelation. He struggled before getting hurt halfway through the game, rushing 12 times for only 37 yards. When Stanback got a chance he fared even worse, averaging only 0.6 yards per carry on 10 attempts himself.
Seven of Stanback’s 12 yards came on one run. O’Leary reiterated that there were far too many runs that went for negative yardage as FIU racked up eight tackles for a loss.
On the bright side Justin Holman and company looked explosive at times, with both Jordan Akins and Tre’ Quan Smith posting huge numbers on the day.
“I thought the one bright spot was probably Holman,” said O’Leary.
The receiving pair collected nine receptions and 104 yards apiece, the only difference being that Akins reeled in two touchdowns while Smith was held scoreless. Holman ended the day 23 for 34 with 249 yards and two touchdowns.
Akins was dominant in the first half. His two scores came early on and he was virtually uncoverable before FIU made a few second half adjustments, but he creates mismatches all over the field that UCF will continue to exploit this season.
He blew by a defender for his first touchdown, a nine-yard score, and then tore through coverage over the middle for a 33 yard touchdown early in the second quarter.
“I’m getting used to the speed and the tempo of the offense and the plays, you know just overall understanding the game as a whole,” assured Akins.
Defensive backs Shaquill Griffin and Drico Johnson combined for 17 tackles on the day, and Johnson recovered a fumble to set up UCF’s first scoring drive. It’s a problem when the secondary leads the team in tackles, meaning that there were missed opportunities with most initial contact.
“Defensively it was probably as poor of a tackling demonstration as I’ve seen in a while,” said O’Leary.
Griffin agreed that the defense did not play up to their potential.
“I feel like we underestimated our opponent today. I feel like we let ourselves get to the point where we kinda played down. I feel like we cannot have those problems. I feel like we’ve got to play full speed and play everyone like they’re the best team in the nation,” he said.
With Stanford looming next week, the Knights will have to make some major adjustments as it is only the beginning of a long season.
Photo Credit: Nick Russett
