UCF Head Coach George O’Leary was adamant that the wide receiver drops played a big factor in the outcome of the UConn game at a press conference on Monday.
“Last week’s game, the biggest issue was the nine dropped passes,” O’Leary said. “And you know when you look at time of possession, 38 minutes to 21 minutes. Six of the drops occurred on third down which would have prolonged the series and obviously the field position.”
The drops that plagued the Knights definitely played a factor in junior quarterback Justin Holman’s play as well, but that could be attributed to the fact that most of the receivers that he played with in the first two weeks were not there on Saturday.
“When I left, the same guys that are playing now weren’t there, you know, that were starting the game,” Holman said. “So I just had to get adjusted to that, but we are working this week to get that on track.”
Jordan Akins is out indefinitely with a knee injury and Tristan Payton missed last week’s game with a hand injury. That left Tre’Quan Smith and Nick Patti as the only two receivers that had started with Holman in the first two weeks.
The state of the Knight’s receiving core has been in flux week to week which can cause issues when developing chemistry with the starting quarterback. However, barring any more injuries, true freshmen receivers Cam Stewart and D’Erren Wilson will have all the time they need in the coming weeks to begin developing that chemistry.
“Yeah, we’re young and we had a lot of injuries, but we got to keep moving and its next man up,” Holman said. “[Our coaches] have done a great job of showing us the good things we are doing throughout this whole season.”
The offense will have to get back on track quickly against an undefeated Temple team this Saturday night at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
