PALO ALTO, Calif. – After falling in a surprise loss to FIU in week one of the season, UCF is now 0-2 on the heels of a 31-7 loss to the Stanford Cardinal in which the defense surrendered 491 yards, Justin Holman left with an injury to his throwing hand, and a defensive back led the team in tackles for the second week in a row.
“Your defense has got to play well. I thought they played sporadically in the first half. In the second half I was very displeased with just what we did from a lack of tackling to a lack of pressure. Again, I think give credit to Stanford. I thought they made plays when they had to make them,” said Head Coach George O’Leary after the game.
Even though offense was totally out of sync after Holman went down, UCF’s biggest issue was that the defense was unable to stop anything that Stanford threw at them. Kevin Hogan threw for a career high 341 yards and three touchdowns and true freshman receiver Bryce Love caught two passes for 135 yards and one touchdown.
The fact that safety Drico Johnson led the team with eight tackles was a clear indicator that something was wrong up front. Stanford seemed to take the majority of their plays into the Knights’ second level – the Cardinal managed 6.9 yards per play.
UCF was gashed for 130 yards by the Stanford running game, led by running back and all-around threat Christian McCaffrey who had 20 rushes for 66 yards. McCaffrey tacked on four receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown in addition to leading his team on the ground.
The Knights defense did extend a Stanford streak of what is now 16 straight games without a hundred-yard rusher.
“We want to be physical up front. We want to run the ball,” said Stanford Head Coach David Shaw.
For UCF, nothing seemed to click on offense. Justin Holman left the game after only two pass attempts and the productivity dropped off the map. He was later seen returning from the locker room with a heavily bandaged throwing hand and his arm in a sling.
In the first quarter the Knights managed -5 passing yards. Two freshman quarterbacks were left to man the helm after Holman left the game, neither of which seemed to be able to effectively operate outside of anything but the shotgun formation.
True freshman Bo Schneider played the majority of the game for the Knights and amassed a whopping seven completions, 46 yards and one interception in 19 attempts.
His backup compatriot Tyler Harris notched 105 yards, one touchdown and seven completions on only fifteen attempts. His 36 yard touchdown pass to Tre’ Quan Smith was the Knights’ only score of the day.
“The two kids that played are very similar, very similar, both freshmen,” said O’Leary about the young guns’ performances. “I thought they gave us a lot of different looks secondary-wise, coverage-wise. I thought the kids did a good job of getting the ball at times. At times they didn’t. At times they made freshmen mistakes.”
Taj McGowan started in place of an injured Dontravious Wilson. The freshman managed to better the Knights’ abysmal week one rushing total by carrying the rock 20 times for 70 yards. William Stanback just barely got in the game with two carries for five yards – but fumbled on his first attempt to put an end to the most effective drive Bo Schneider had orchestrated all game.
With the disparity of the offensive play and the lack of containment from the defense it was a wonder that Stanford only scored 31 points on UCF until the penalty influence is considered. Stanford committed 12 penalties for 137 yards – often times acting as the only thing keeping the Knights’ offense alive.
Coach David Shaw was clearly unhappy with his team’s penalties after the game. That being said, he didn’t put all of the blame on his players.
“I won’t take any questions about officiating. I will make one blanket statement that I was very frustrated today. That’s all I’m going to say, and I won’t talk about officiating besides that,” he emphasized after all was said and done.
UCF cannot continue to rely on opposing team’s missteps to keep a competitive edge moving forward. Either Tyler Harris or Bo Schneider will emerge as the new UCF quarterback and the offense will adapt, but this team will have to make major adjustments fast if it will have any chance at their third American Athletic Conference Title.
