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UCF defensive coordinator
Ted Roof takes full responsibility for the Knights' defensive struggles following their 48-21 loss to Colorado.
Coverage and pass rush go hand in hand, and neither played complementary football to slow
Shedeur Sanders and the CU passing game.
This week, UCF heads to Florida where they'll encounter a two-quarterback system between
Graham Mertz and
DJ Lagway.
Here's everything Roof had to say in his Sunday evening press conference.
Coach, after looking at the film against Colorado, what was your biggest takeaway?
"The biggest takeaway for me is that I've got to do a better job. I'm responsible for everything that's on that tape. And everybody owns a little piece of it, but I own all of it.
"And so I've got to do a better job, and we've got to coach better, we've got to play better, execute better. And it's not any, we're not looking to play the blame game, we're looking to fix things and get better, because that's what this is all about. It's certainly one game, it's a missed opportunity because it was a big game with all the national spotlight and things of that nature.
"And but at the same time, that's gone now, we can't let yesterday beat us this week. We got to make sure that we've learned from it, we grow from it, we understand the urgency to get better, how quickly we've got to get better, and then move forward. And it certainly stinks, losing stinks, it always has, it always will.
"And it just eats at your gut. But at the same time, if we expect our players to move on as coaches, we've got to do that as well."
Ted, you look at getting pressure, applying pressure, that was a focus in fall camp, you guys talked about wanting to be aggressive. What has it been? Has it been something schematically? Has it been the fact that you face some teams where they've gotten the ball out quicker? What's been the issue when it comes to the lack of pressure on the quarterback?
"Yeah, you made a good point. Some of it is teams are, when we played TCU, the average get off was like 2.04 seconds, which is 1,001, 1,002, and the ball's gone. But at the same time, we've missed some opportunities. And we played a lot of base defense the first two weeks of the season, because that's what we wanted to focus on. But our deal, we've got to be aggressive, we've got to attack, and we've got to scheme some things up.
"And we had a couple last night (vs. Colorado), and we missed a handful as well. So we just got to, as coaches, do great jobs and improve. And at the same time, ask the players to do the same things."
Quadric Bullard talked on Monday about miscommunication at TCU. There looked to be some miscommunication against Colorado. How do you improve that going into a hostile environment this week?
"Well, it's something we can generally harp on, communication in an environment like last night at home, when it's loud, when the opposition has the ball on third down, that's a wonderful thing.
"But we had worked on that. We had used crowd noise for us in our third down periods defensively. So it's something we work on. There were some lapses in it last night at times.
"And again, that's an area that we've got to continue to improve in, and everybody's got to take ownership of it and understand the repercussions if you don't do it. It's not something that's a little something.
"And all these things that some people think are little things, they're all big things, and a sense of urgency to improve in every area. And that is certainly one of them."
You had the extra time to prepare coming out of the bye week. Did Colorado show you anything differently than you had prepared for?
"Well, what they did is they were predominantly, about 80% of the time, they were in four wide outs and one running back. And last night, they went into 11 personnel, which includes a tight end, 67% of the time. So they totally flipped the script on what they had done.
"They had some success against the previous opponents running the ball. So they were more committed to the run to show some balance. And then when they put the tight end and the running back in the backfield together, you got the counter, you got the zone, and you got the seven man protection for the shots with the receivers.
"So they had done some different things. And at times we handled it well, and at times we didn't."
Opening drive, you guys got, I think it was a three and out with an interception. What did Colorado maybe shift after seeing that first look? Or what did you see that maybe you guys weren't able to replicate?
"Well, what they did in the first series, there were some screens involved. And then we got some pressure on the third down. We had a guy running free to hit the quarterback, and he evaded him and threw it back over the middle. And Deshawn (Pace) had done a good job reading the quarterback and came back with his eyes and picked it off. And that was a really good start for us.
"But unfortunately, we didn't sustain that. So it's just, I don't wanna sound like a broken record, man. But we just gotta keep working to get better. And gotta have a sense of urgency to do that. And understand, again, how important these things called little things are. Little things make big things happen."
How would you evaluate the secondary from last night and the coverage of their receivers, knowing hey got some great players like Travis Hunter.
"Yeah, they're very talented. They've got some really talented guys. And at times we were good, and at times we weren't good. So it's a blend of that."
You've got Florida this week. What do you see from the Gators so far?
"Well, anytime you go into a place like that, an environment like that as a road opponent, you gotta embrace that. And you gotta attack that. And we're looking forward to it. And thank goodness there's another game coming up. So that way, last night's not our last game. So there's another opportunity. And it's, again, not letting last night beat us next Saturday.
"They're very multi-dimensional on offense. And they've got good players. They've got highly ranked recruiting classes. They've got good players. They've got good coaches. And it's a challenge for us, and at the same time, a fantastic opportunity."
Florida uses a two quarterback system. What's the challenge and what's something that you like facing a system like that?
"Well, I have not seen enough of it yet to speak on that. We spent today, we watched our game tape about three times now. And now we're gonna move on to Florida. I briefly got to glance at some. I watched a lot of them this summer in my summer study.
"But I've coached against Coach (Billy) Napier a couple times before. And he's always had good offenses. And they've got good, like I said, they've got good players.
"They've got a good scheme. We've got to make sure this week that we've got a huge focus on getting us better, and then letting the chips fall where they may."
On that point, what adjustments can you make to not be as susceptible to the short passing game?
"Well, you can drop eight, you can play man coverage. Because when you're rushing four, and they're getting five out, five short out, unless you're gonna play certain types of coverages, which you don't wanna play against the team we just played. Because it isolates people in space and makes people play with their back to the ball. You've gotta be able to move and match off the quarterback's vision and off his eyes.
"And so you get the horizontal passing game going with vertical threats, that's something that stresses defenses."
We saw TCU able to stretch you guys vertically like Colorado did. What needs to be tweaked or how do you guard against it?
"Well, people can say it's this or it's that, and reality rush and coverage work together. The more people you add to the rush, the less time the quarterback should have to throw the ball, okay? And then the more people you add to the coverage, the more time the quarterback may have to throw the ball cuz you get into three man rushes and things like that.
"So it all goes hand in hand, and when your pass rush is clicking, those guys don't have to cover as long. And if you're blanketing guys, then that gives your pass rush a little bit more time to get home. So it works hand in hand with one another."
How's that pass rush developing with the guys at defensive end? I know Malachi Lawrence has been here, Nyjalik Kelly, I know some of the other guys are trying to rotate in a little bit more. How are those guys coming along?
"It's a work in progress, we obviously got a ways to go. But at the same time, I'm pleased with how they're working. It's not an effort thing. So we just gotta keep grinding it until we get there, and then we gotta grind some more."
Deshawn Pace had another interception on Saturday. What have you seen from him in that linebacker spot and how he's been able to showcase so far?
"Well, he's a really instinctual player. He's got great vision, he's got great instincts. And he saw the quarterback move. So he was supposed to be a hook player over to the right, but he saw the quarterback scramble on it. He moved his own, and then the quarterback threw it back to him. So he made a great play on the ball. So very instinctual and really good vision, and that's usually a pretty good combination."
You talked about the DBs having their back to the ball sometimes. What do you have to do to teach them to get their head around?
"Well, that's in certain coverages. That's in certain coverages. But what we do is, yeah, that's what we teach. We teach to get your eyes back around once you've got the route under control and certain coverages. Because then when you turn and you're playing the ball, there's a lot less chance for a defensive PI. And when you get your defensive pass interference, it's usually when you're running with your back to the quarterback and you're not looking back for the ball.
"And that's when more of the flags come out for DPI. So as a base way of teaching, we wanna be able to play the football and attack the ball. So that's how we do it."
When did you face Billy Napier? Was that when you were at App State and he was at Louisiana?
"Yeah."
During two conference games, UCF has given up 82 points, an average of 41 per game. How do you think the defense is better than it was a year ago?
"I don't compare it to a year ago. I don't play the compare game. I compare it to what we were yesterday. So just compare it to us getting us better. I don't play that game."
And how do you avoid, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, but letting this kind of snowball into effect last year. Last year UCF lost a game and then it turned into a five game losing streak. What do you guys as coaches need to do to make sure that doesn't happen?
"Yeah, you just go back to work. That's all I know to do. There's no magic dust, there's no magic formula that you do. You just go back to work and you're very honest and you're very real and you point out mistakes and you look in the mirror to see what you could have done better and how you can improve and how you can help your players improve.
"That's the formula. And then come out with a great attitude and work your butt off."
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