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***DC Travis Williams reflects on Tulane, talks challenge of defending Navy's option ⚔🏈

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UCF's defense was down three starters against Tulane, including their top linebacker and both safeties. Defensive coordinator Travis Williams looks back on the performance and also discusses the challenge of this week's game against Navy and defending their triple option.

UCF Fast & Slow - Who Dat Edition

This was a crazy ass game. I said going into this game i thought all the pressure was on Tulane. Tulane was the higher rank, at home, lots of spotlight on the game, bigger crowd & media attention then usual, Tulane had a softer schedule to date, etc... it seemed to me that they had a chance to come out tight or over hyped. I predicted UCF would win by two scores. I thought our offense was going to have to outscore them though because the defense was going to give up some points on account of the injuries. Overall played out sort of how i expected but the game flow was insane. At one point it felt like we could have/should have pulled away and blown the out but stupid crap kept happening and with all that stuff there were tons of breaks for both teams. It felt like a game that we were winning comfortably while also about to lose at the same time. Some odd feelings for sure but we got it done...

UCF Fast:
  • JRP: Accounted for over 300 yards and 3 touch downs with no turnovers. When JRP needed to make a play he did. That run for the 1st down on the last TD drive he was not going to be denied. The throw into the wind across field to Hudson to extend the drive where his feet weren't set was clutch. He had some other solid 3rd down conversions. Not everything was clean, there was some stuff you want back but i thought not all of the ugly stuff was on JRP either. First, there was some insane wind at that game. That stadium is not build into the ground to cut down on the wind, it was really windy at field level and it absolutely impacted both passing games. I also didn't love Gus's play calls on the goal line where we tried to pass when we probably could have ran twice and scored. Defense also didn't help but we kind of knew going in that was a possibility. It just felt like the offense couldn't take any drives off, had to score every time. Some of those passes got knocked down. Bottom line though JRP showed out. Anyone that tries to argue otherwise or is upset with how he played is just a hater and the first slow below is for YOU.

  • Baker: That first drive big catch by Baker was an absolute stud catch. He made another great grab on the left side, both saved the drives. Again the wind made those throws even tougher and he had glue on his hands and then the big balls running up and fielding what was a really solid onside kick was another great play. He just wasn't going to be denied.

  • Offensive Line: You don't rush for 300+ yards and give up no sacks and not have a great game. Love giving props to the big uglies. Well done boys.

  • Ricky Barber: Toward the end of the game RB was able to get pressure on the QB all by himself. That is huge for a defense that is thin at LB not to have to blitz to generate pressure, he had himself a game inside.

  • ZFG: I have said it many times before, i feel like Gus can be more of an entertainer then a coach at times. The two biggest Gus issues for me for this game was his play calling in the first half inside the red zone was just way to cute. We got away with what could have been a pick on a tipped ball that we should have ran on one drive. The next drive we turned over on downs on the 1 yard line because of two pass plays we should have never called. Gus being Gus but then Gus raised the bar for Gus being Gus to a whole new level. Last week he tried the 64 yard field goal and this week the Bowser roll out to JRP on our own 40 yard line on 4th and an inch. That play literally scrambled my brain, i thought i had a stroke, if not for the penalty flag i may have. What do all of these plays have in common... we should have just run the ball every one of those times. I am not saying the play calls were bad from a match up stand point but in those situations with what we were doing up to that point they seemed to be more risk then reward. With all that said Gus had his guys ready to play. We went on the road and beat the #17 team in the Nation despite injury issues. This was a MUST win for UCF. We lose this game it is likely lights out for the rest of the year. Gus had some really solid play calls like the screen to Richardson and others that were well timed. Gus for the most part called a great game outside of the notes above. Got to give the man his props. Truly ZFG in this game. I figure there maybe more to the Bowser throw when the press conference comes out.
UCF Slow:
  • JRP Haters in Game Thread: Good lord. I always get mad at myself for reading that game thread but some of the JRP takes from some of you supposed UCF fans were absolutely garbage takes. There are always questionable takes in game threads but i feel like the JRP haters have taken their hate to JRP to a new place. It is like you are rooting against JRP so you can sling shit in a game thread instead of pulling for UCF's starting quarterback. Go back and read some of those posts. You would think we are losing by 35 pts and JRP had 3 turnovers. Instead he basically accounted for the entire offense. Yes there were bad plays here and there but you act like if MK was playing he wouldn't have had any bad passes or series or anything negative happen. I love Mike and I believe MK could have played and won this game as well but you cannot convince me after what i just watched that Gus was wrong to start JRP in this game. Especially with the wind conditions. Those of you that shit on JRP no matter what need to remember he plays for UCF and you are supposed to be a UCF fan. Be as critical as you want to be but when you are just shitting on him in a game like this where he is playing about as good as i believe anyone of us could have hoped for then you are just showing your ass.

  • Harvey: I love Harvey, he has been big for us a lot this year and had some nice runs in this game but two plays land him here, first the bad fumble that Sam Jackson jumped on is likely why he ended up riding the pine late in the game because Gus could trust Bowser wouldn't fumble it. Harvey also had a bad drop on the screen play to the left side that was wide open. Looked like that was set up to be a big gainer and JRP put the ball right out in front of him, hit both his hands and he just dropped it. The drop and the fumble both hurt. On the positive side we got to see more of JRich this game and he looked solid, great to have 3 solid RBs.

  • Defensive Drive Before Half: This one is on the defense and the refs but WTF was that drive before half time. We stopped Tulane at least 4 times and they still ended up scoring a TD. We had two Pass Inference calls on 3rd down, neither of which were catchable balls and were questionable calls at best. The 2nd one the DB shouldn't have touched him at all but still super weak calls. Then we cause a fumble and try to pick it up and then force a fg that the guy misses by a mile but we run into the kicker. We kept giving them every chance. That was a huge series because that drive coupled with us turning the ball over on the 1 yard line on downs was a potential 14pt momentum swing. The game went from being a blow out to a game Tulane was still with in distance on. That was a hard series to watch.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!!! The boys made us all proud today. We had serious limitations on defense with JJB out, both safeties out, playing lots of true freshman. The offense had a lot of pressure on them to score virtually every time they got the ball vs. the top rated defense in our conference and the offense did just that. Our offense dominated TOP and only punted 3 times and that includes the pooch punt at the end. We controlled the line of scrimmage and despite the wind conditions we completed passes when we had too. We absolutely should win at home vs. Navy and i refuse to accept we could or would lose to usf so if we handle our business we should be in the AAC championship game with this win and i believe would host that game at UCF. We should be in the top 20 this week and by the time that championship game comes around likely closer to #10 then #20 with the chance of playing and beating a ranked team in that championship game. This win was huge, this can be a special season here. 8-2 boys with 10 wins likely and potentially 12 if all works out. GO KNIGHTS!!!!

SOLD - 2 for Senior Day (Navy) with D-1 parking Section 111 row 6 -

2 for Navy and D1 parking - recycled season thread - $350 or reasonable offer

Finally got to sit in our seats for Louisville but back to dreary old San Diego until Navy (nope)

easy access to restrooms as well as food and beverage stands

great view and a solid group of neighbors to enjoy the game with. (they stand and yell when appropriate but will also hold up 3 fingers so theses seats may not be for you 🤷‍♂️)

*****Call it Now - Tulane Edition*****

Simple game. Call the first score by UCF. Winner gets name on the Wall of Fame and a pair of Coozies.​


Rules: you MUST call both the QB and receiver for passing scores along with the yardage. For all other scores RB, kickers, defenders, punt/ kick off returns you must call the yardage and the name of the player. Closest to the yardage wins. Price is right rules: If two people are exact yardage apart, closest without going over wins. You can only play once per account.

2022 Wall of Fame:

South Carolina State - Knights4lyfe

Louisville - tmbj#UCF (perfect call)

FAU - Justin6996

GA Tech - Reddog8132

SMU - greenvilleSC_knightfan

Temple - sjb43

ECU - Lhall24

Cincinnati - Nickiv2

Memphis - JonesUCF34

Tulane - ?

Congrats to @JonesUCF34 who makes the call of RJ Harvey from 17 yds. Actual was from 22 yds. DM me with address if you want the Coozies!

This week I’m calling MK to Holler from 16 yds out!

Go Knights!!!

2021 Navy game rewatch

I decided to torture myself with watching the highlights.

not taking anything away from navy. They won.

UCF had some serious miscues and still had a chance to win the game at the end.

blocked punt for TD
penalty on 4th down giving navy a first inside the 5
The fumble on the yards after catch
MK first start
Our playcalling inside the 10 at the end

this year UCF team is better. This year Navy team is worse.

can’t take them lightly but the more I watched those 2021 highlights the more I think we win comfortably Saturday.
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