Title says it all. I have family coming into town and need 2 extras.

It was kind of unique that we had a quarterback in the game that could complete a forward pass...

I FINALLY WON!!!!

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Been asking what’s up with him for weeks.

He was listed as having a tackle. Maybe on special teams? Is he back?

If so, finally some good news.

A shake up of the UCF Knights football staff happened on Monday, with defensive coordinator Ted Roof fired, and coach Gus Malzahn handing play-calling duties over to offensive coordinator Tim Harris.

Sons reporter Andrew Cherico was on campus and joins for this quick update.

Please click here ... from the Sons of UCF.

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Following KZ's freshman season a lot of fans weren't sold on him as the QB and were clamoring for Frost to give another QB a try (Mack, Vedral). Then KZ shut up all the doubters and became a UCF legend and the "official apology" thread was created.

About two games into the JRP era I was convinced he had no business playing QB at this level. But after what I've seen Gus do with the QBs he's put out there this year* it has to be a minor miracle that JRP was as productive as he was in this mess of an offense.

I'm sorry, JRP that I never appreciated your greatness. I see what you had to overcome and I now think you had the skill to be a serviceable back up at a decent program.

*I'll reserve judgment on Rizik and Colsen until I see more (hopefully with a new coach).

In a Q & A between Calvin Barrett, Editor at Lawless Republic and Ericka Brockish, a staff writer at FanSided and site expert for Knightly Review, this was said about Gus Malzahn:

Q: I picked the Knights as a dark horse championship contender before the season. Why have they fallen short of expectations this year?

A: Two words, Gus Malzahn. The play-calling this season has been the most predictable play-calling I have ever seen. There is no creativity within the offense and other than getting the ball to RJ Harvey, Malzahn is not getting the ball to his playmakers. The defense has also looked at it worse since 2019. The fact that our defensive coordinator will not make adjustments at halftime and is hell-bent on sticking to a game plan that isn’t working is a clear problem and the very reason we can’t stop high-flying offenses.

I know everyone is asking for Gus to go, but even if we were somehow able to make it financially happen do we even want Terry around to make that next hire? I think Terry should go first and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the next coaching search. UCF built its name this past decade on the up tempo offense and speed. We had offensive minded coaches in Frost and Heupel who worked very closely and well with QBs and their development in the passing game? So what did Terry decide to do? Go and hire a big name coach who's offensive style was the complete opposite of what UCF built their success on. A run first QB and a ground and pound offense that goes down the field methodically unless RJ breaks off a big one.

Terry only cares about making "splash" big name hires to try and drive his own stock up to get on out of here for a bigger school.

Just look at baseball, the dude tried to hire Joe Girardi, a guy who has zero experience with college recruiting and more than likely would of been in way over his head trying to adapt to college sports when he had a home run hire staring him in the face the entire time in Rich Wallace, an alumni that bleeds black & gold and knows how to recruit in the state at the college level that wants to be here for the long run.

Terry has only viewed these coaching searches on what the outside perception and national media will think, rather than making the rational decision with the schools best interest in mind

That is all.

Gus' peak was beating the Florida Gators who had an interim Head Coach and Gus was using a QB he wanted to get rid of.
It has been all downhill since then.

I'm amazed some posters still want to keep him around or think Gus will make meaningful changes.

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Arizona having some challenges with health and meeting preseason top 25 expectations, but would still expect the Space Game to get closer to a pick ‘em come kickoff.

Edit: VKnightTAT has made me whole! Just wanted to clear his name

Sold @VknightTAT a parking pass for Cinci and he said he’d meet me today to provide payment. He’s ghosted me on messages this week.

We all know those changes will stabilize the program and calm the fears with players and recruits. With that being said, please vote.

You can vote three times (for each of wins)

Go back and watch the clips from Gus’s pressers during fall camp. Whenever anyone asked him about KJ, you never heard him say how great KJ was slinging it, no mention of him throwing darts, that the ball never hit the ground during practice, etc. It was always about KJ
being an experienced guy, played a lot of football, not his first rodeo, etc. Gus never spoke about KJ throwing the football because
he was obviously struggling, not living up to expectations. This is in addition to the dude being 20-30 lbs overweight.

It all makes sense now. What is so disappointing is that instead of doing immediately what would need to be done eventually,
(getting Brown/Colson ready to start the season), Gus elected to sell us a bill of goods re KJ, thus setting up the fan base for a major
disappointment when KJ took his poor practice play to the game field.

I think Gus is basically a decent guy but he totally whiffed on the way he handled the whole KJ issue and owes the fans
an apology

Ted Roof is obviously a horrendous defensive coordinator! His defenses have not improved whatsoever, and they give up super easy yardage every single play. This is beyond embarrassing for this school.

I went back through some observations from the 2nd scrimmage and it's clear to my now that we just didn't acquire the QB room to win games. Obviously there was a lot of hope around KJ coming in and helping this offense, that didn't happen. Brown adds a spark and is a heck of a runner but I think we all saw last night why he wasn't named the starter before. He throws at one speed and doesn't have good accuracy. From what I've seen, he gives us the best chance but I'd like to see EJ get some run. I didn't have any issue with keeping Brown in there last night, he had us up/winning. It just seems like we won't find wins until we find a QB. I don't see good QB's wanting to play for Gus, it's been a struggle for quite a while. With how this season is unfolding, it would be nice to see what we have with EJ. I don't have high expectations but it seems the younger guys are playing with a chip, which I like to see. Credit Brown, he is tough and making runs with his body on the line.

swift996 said:

KJ and Brown both look a little raw. Brown got a lot of run, very young in his progressions, very much a run first type and throws some questionable passes. He’s very athletic though. Should be a solid backup. Better than Timmy physically but Timmy threw a better ball. Similar immaturity in reading defenses and going through progressions.

Click to expand...

The news is spreading fast and furious this afternoon. Yes, the report is true. Tim Harris is indeed returning to UCF. He will be the wide receivers coach and yes - the offensive coordinator.

Following the season, Malzahn evaluated everything and decided he needed to make several moves in order to win now and put UCF in the best position to win the Big 12 championship. 6-7 was an unacceptable outcome.

Gus Malzahn always had his hand in the offense to start the 2023 season and did collaborate with Darin Hinshaw, but after the West Virginia game Malzahn reassumed full-time play calling duties. This was for a couple reasons.

Penalties were piling up as well as turnovers. UCF ranked 100+ in both categories. He felt reassuming full control of the offense would give UCF the best opportunity to win and it did: UCF won three of their last four games to become bowl eligible.

Darin Hinshaw will still remain co-offensive coordinator. Malzahn decided it was best for him to focus on his area of expertise, which is quarterbacks, and his strength being quarterback development. The development of John Rhys Plumlee from year 1 to year 2 helped him rank among the national leaders in past efficiency in passing yards per completion. Hinshaw is viewed as a valuable member of the staff and they don't want this to appear any other way.

With Gus taking back full control of the offense, that was an important factor for KJ Jefferson and his decision to transfer. He specifically chose UCF to play in Gus Malzahn's offense. Gus will indeed continue calling plays in 2024.

As for Tim Harris returning to UCF, elevating him to offensive coordinator was important for a couple of reasons. Gus sees him as a future head coach similar to GJ Kinne. He has strong recruiting ties to South Florida, but perhaps most of all he is familiar with Gus Malzahn's offense and what they need to do to win with KJ Jefferson. He is more in tune with Gus' preferences.

Overall, Gus feels bringing back Harris is a major coup for the offense as a whole that makes the team a lot better.

This is just one of several sweeping changes in this offseason. Gus previously made a change in strength coaches and brought in Ted Roof as defensive coordinator.

Nothing confirmed yet, but Gus may hold a press conference on Friday to detail these changes.

I honestly don’t know. I heard in the game thread he wasn’t there. Often he is on the sideline to celebrate a big play and I know he was on campus that day (he had a video greeting players while they came in).

Can anyone answer?

I saw Darren Henshaw last year, and he had real good things to say about Rizk Apparently Gus was not as approving, and wanted to have a full back as a quarterback, instead of real quarterback.

We deserve better as a fanbase

On this episode of Sons Today, Adam and Brian discuss the UCF and BYU result, which included some interesting decisions by the coaching staff.

Plus: what is UCF doing at QB? The guys also discuss the near term future for UCF Football.

Click here to watch.

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LMAO this could be a glorious cluster**** if the media ask the right questions.

Rivals has continued its partnership with Pro Football Focus (PFF) which grants me access to their comprehensive analytics and statistical tools.

After each game, two separate analysts grade every player on each play of the game and the two totals are averaged out. Obviously no subjective ranking system is perfect, but I am finding that my real world impressions of a player in a certain game usually reflects the PFF grade.

PFF Grading Scale

90 and above - Elite
80 to 89 - Great
70 to 79 - Good
60 to 69 - Average to Above Average
50 - 59 - Below Average
49 and below - Poor

Team Offensive Grade (by game)

New Hampshire - 68.4
Sam Houston - 88.3
@ TCU - 79.3
Colorado - 62.9
@ Florida - 66.5
Cincinnati - 65.6
@ Iowa State - 64.9
BYU - 63.1

Overall Offensive Player Grades (Snaps Played)

QB Dylan Rizk (18) - 84.6

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