A bye week couldn’t have came at a better time for the UCF football team.
After setting a school record for most rushing touchdowns in a game and outscoring opponents 92-3 in their first two games, the Knights seemed to have hit a wall.
Back-to-back losses against FIU and BYU pretty much derailed all hope of UCF being a BCS buster this season. All pessimism aside, the chances of the Knights playing for a Conference USA championship is still definitely attainable.
Even with the two recent blemishes, the Knights haven’t lost any in-conference games, meaning they are still in good shape as they head into C-USA play this week – starting with Marshall.
Dissecting the previous losses, it comes down to simple and fixable mistakes. On paper, it looks like they played solid in both games, but it was turnovers that plagued the Knights in both losses
Missed field goals, muffed punts, interceptions and fumbles were all mistakes that killed UCF’s momentum in the games- both on the road.
The main problem that the Knights have had is getting the ball into the end zone. It has become customary for the Knights to drive the ball down the field 40 yards and have nothing to show for it. However, this was usually due to a costly turnover in critical moments of the game.
Head Coach George O’Leary told the Orlando Sentinel in an interview that “The big thing is you can’t turn it over. And that’s what we’ve done. And that comes back to haunt you as far as you can’t give people easy points, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Defensively, the Knights have played lockdown defense up until the FIU game. It wasn’t that the team played bad defense against either BYU or FIU, it was a matter of not stopping them when they needed to.
Against FIU, it was offensive turnovers that lost them the game. A Jeff Godfrey fumble that turned into a touchdown and a Josh Robinson fumble that put FIU within the UCF 10 yard line ultimately sealed the Knights fate.
In the BYU game, the Knights failed to stop the Cougars drive every time they entered the 20-yard line. They also muffed a punt return, had a interception after driving deep into BYU territory and had other key turnovers that cost them the game.
The bye week is a time to recuperate, plan for the rest of the season and analyze previous mistakes. Now that the UCF Knights have gotten all of their early season mistakes out of the way, they return home for their first C-USA matchup of the year this Saturday and a get a chance at redemption.
Marshall (1-3) has struggled early on this season, and the Knights could be recharged in front of a home crowd. UCF still hasn’t allowed a touchdown at Bright House Networks this year.
