ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF’s nightmare of a season has finally come to an end; a 0-12 record is no longer a terrorizing thought, but a morbid reality.
The Knights were expecting to blackout the bulls, but instead USF erased the knights and ended their misery with a 44-3 blowout.
Redshirt senior H-back, Joseph Puopolo said that he liked the all-black uniforms and it gave them a little bit more motivation to go out and beat USF.
“It was a great change of scene,” said Puopolo. ”We never done that here…it definitely gave us a little bit of motivation to go out there and play. We like it, it was a good change.”
Motivation was not enough for the Knights; disappointment has been the word to this describe the Knights all season and interim head coach Danny Barrett echoed that tone after the loss.
“Because I’m an in-the-moment guy, right now my emotions is about disappointment,” said Barrett. “For these guys, that we didn’t win a game this year. It’s been a long time since that’s happen around here.”
The last time UCF finished 0-12 was in 2004, George O’Leary’s first year as head coach. UCF has won back to back conference championships and they are used to winning; It has been a difficult season for the Knights, especially for the seniors.
“It was very difficult,” said redshirt senior defensive end Thomas Niles. “Obviously a lot of young guys playing, guys that never played before. That’s going to affect you, no matter who you are or where you’re at, that’s going to affect you.”
Niles touched on youth as the reason the Knights’ season was so disastrous. UCF was hit with a numerous amount of injuries and they had to rely on their youth. 71 percent of UCF’s 2015 signing class played this season, the highest percentage among all of UCF’s signing classes since 2004.
“The main thing is the inexperience,” said Niles. “That’s what got us. And not seizing opportunities, missed opportunities. A lot of missed opportunities.”
