In the wake of a 38-10 loss to the Missouri Tigers in which the Knights were handedly defeated, Head Coach George O’Leary made it clear that team will have to significantly improve their focus in pursuit of the conference championship.
“There’s a mental aspect to this game too, and anticipating tendencies, anticipating movement; all those things take place between the ears,” O’Leary said. “That’s where we have to grow up as a team.”
Penalties, missed tackles and turnovers are the result of these mental mistakes, all things that O’Leary said contributed to the Knights shooting themselves in the foot during what could have been substantial drives.
Then there was what O’Leary called the “hidden yardage”, the short yardage situations on third down that allowed the Tigers to extend drives by falling forward a yard or two. Missouri was ten of fourteen on third down, while UCF only converted seven of fifteen.
It is a game that the Knights must drain for each and every hard-taught lesson afforded.
“It’s a learning process. After two games I think some of them have gotten better each week, but it’s by feet and not by yards,” O’Leary said.
Though there is an emphasis of individual one-game seasons around the team, a mantra that keeps players from dwelling on the past or looking too far forward, the last two games will not be ignored as motivation moving forward.
“You move forward to the next game, but at the same time you still have a chip on your shoulder,” Troy Gray said. “You’ve got to put it behind you but… it pushes you forward going into the rest of the season,”
This team is still struggling to establish a core around which to stabilize themselves, but expect a quantum leap in chemistry in the weeks to come. Gamedays forge a bond amongst the players that nothing in the preseason can replicate.
“Taking it on to Saturday, when it’s a different atmosphere, when stuff gets sticky – how the team corresponds with one another and how we go out and execute… really formulates a team,” Rannell Hall said.
UCF will take on an undefeated Bethune-Cookman on Saturday in their home opener at 6:00 p.m.
