So after I tweeted a few times from the Alumni tailgate in the Hyundai Club, I got a DM from KD asking if it was sold out. I told him it was but I said that I thought there was probably no reason why he wouldn't be able to get in. He responded back that he needed a ticket. So this raises a few questions..........Is he still on the team? If he is why wasn't he with the team like most other injured players? Why was he watching the game from the stands and not on the sideline?

If someone would have told me at the start of this season we were going to win 9 games and beat UF in a Bowl Game I would have took that shit no hesitation. This season started out with such high hopes and tremendous adversity tempered those but to finish how we did and beat UF in Ray Jay, our home away from home, it was almost too perfect. The game went pretty much how i thought it would play out. I predicted 24-20 Knights win with solid defense and points being hard to come by. There were no turnovers in the game which was pretty amazing considering the set up but there were plenty of close plays. The Gatewood pass should have been picked, both teams had kickoffs they almost fielded back (MAR had one of the best plays of the game jumping on ours to retain possession), several other close ones. In the end UCF dug deeper to pull that one out. You can see we took their will in the 4th quarter. It was a beautiful thing to witness live especially for someone that witnessed both losses at UF, we have come a long way no doubt…

UCF Fast:

• ROK & Bowser: They had to account for 85% of our offense. Both guys were on fire for us last night. Bowser looked like he did in the opener and ROK showed out every time he touched the ball. The play of the night being the bomb to ROK where he deuced the defense. That was such an incredible moment and a great ode to Juice. 2 would be proud smiling down on us no doubt for that. As for Bowser the Gators knew at the end he was getting the ball and they couldn’t stop him. Had Gus not stopped us trying to get cute we would have continued to roll over them for what seemed like a 10 minute drive. Will stealing type drive. Loved it. Please come back for 2022 big man.
• 
  
• Defense & Twill: The whole defense came to play. Guys were flying to the ball, tackling well, playing with emotion. Game plan was solid, guys executed great. Cam, Bethune Big Kat, Hodges, Brown all had great games. Love how Big Kat didn’t sit out or even pussy foot around it, he played like a Captain should not like a sock sales man would. Really excited for our future secondary. Hodges, Thornton, Brown are studs, got some great players coming in, who knows with the portal, defense should only be better next year especially if Kalia comes back which he should.
• 
  
• ZFG: ZFG was on full display last night. Coaching was a huge difference in last nights game. You can see it on the Gators side, the inexperience at HC was hurting them. The fact they had the ball in the same place three different times on our side of the field and did three different things (went for it, 51 yard no chance field goal & punt). Should have kicked the FG on the first one and went for it on the other two. Just poor coaching. Gus called a solid game. I still think Gus gets bored and unnecessarily tries to spice up his play calling. The 2pt conversion attempt I hated. Clearly Bowser is in domination mode and Gus starts trying to throw with Gatewood which was almost a disaster. Other times we are in control of the game and we are attempting double passes or way to cute short pass routes. We are lucky we didn’t take a game changing type turn over. The fact that Gus tends to do this when we seemingly have the drive-in hand and are closing in on scoring is maddening but overall Gus coached extremely well, deserves an incredible amount of credit and props for this season including his transfer portal gets. If Hype was still our coach I can promise you, even with DG playing all season, we don’t have this good of a season long result. Defense alone, who the hell would have been playing?
• 
  
• Offensive Line: You don’t run for 250+ yards against an SEC defense with out your offensive line having a game and they absolutely did last night. Especially in the 2nd half, they were engaging blockers, getting to the 2nd level, they looked solid all night. I hope Schneider comes back, that would be HUGE.
• 
  
• Alex Ward: I have never given any long snapper a UCF Fast but Alex is Mr. Consistent and has a great attitude and deserves lots of credit. I hope he has a 15-year NFL career long snapping. Well done sir.
• 
  
• UCF Fans: We were loud AF. It was obvious to me our fan base brought more energy and passion to the game. I get why it meant more to us but it was still an obvious difference between the two. Anytime any good music came on all of us were jumping like crazy like a sea of black. Well done brothers & sisters. We deserved this one. As for the fight that broke out in my section with UCF on UCF fan violence. That was stupid. How bad do things have to get that you would be willing to get yourself kicked out of that game and miss beating UF just to punch another UCF fan? Stupid.

UCF Slow: Only one UCF Slow for last night… I Fing 4. That road owns my ass every God Damn Time. I knew it was going to suck heading over and it certainly didn’t disappoint. On the way back at like 12:30am passing Champions Gate area it was a parking lot heading West, I just had to laugh, all this money they invest in that road, fix that shit. Build a second road out that way, something needs to be done. Just awful.

Incredible Knight, incredible season considering all the obstacles we had to overcome. Anyone at UF that was saying shit about not having a coach can eat a D because they had their starting QB playing and we were on our true freshman 18 year old kid plus the amount of big time injuries to big time players was a material impact to UCF so the opt outs or injuries to UF clearly had an impact on them but you cannot argue it was more of an impact the UCFs situation so lets not even go there. I am hoping this gives us that recruiting momentum we need to close out the transfer portal and push into the Big 12. Cant wait for Spring Ball, Go KNIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Espn: Just the beginning. We can win the whole enchilada here

Remember? Merry Christmas 🎄 *

Transferring to Bama. Don't know if this has been discussed, but sure makes beating GT next year seem wayyy easier. He was their best player by a mile.

Lots of smoke that he’s going to transfer in. He was at Maryland last year, tore his acl and reshirted. Was a top 50 recruit in the 21 class. Has a prior relationship with T Will when he was at Auburn and Miami. IF his head is right, he’s a stud.

“We’re definitely pumped up,” UF tailback Malik Davis said of the matchup with the Knights. “That’s what makes it more exciting. Everybody wants to talk about who’s the best team (in the state). UCF is a team who’s been playing well over the past few years. So, it'll be a good game. “They're not in our conference, so we’re hyped up to play against them. I know they’re hyped up against us, too.”

“It would mean, shoot, we’re the best team in Florida, honestly,” Elam responded. “That's what the game would mean.”

“This is a big game for us,” Knox said. “Our kids are approaching it that way, and they're excited about playing this game. We had a great talk (Monday) after our last practice in 'The Swamp,' and our guys are really, really excited about being here.”

Only previous Bowl Game Bowser played in for Northwestern (missed 2 others due to injury) was the 2018 Holiday Bowl where his Wildcats beat Utah, 31-20, as Bowser lead NW on 23 carries for 70 yds (3.0 ave) and no TDs.

Bowser of course ran 35 times for 155 yds and 2 TDs vs UF (4.4 ave).

Isaiah Bowser seems to be REALLY enjoying his time at UCF...especially after missing basically half the season to injury. So glad he was healthy to RUN DOWN UF's throat on those time consuming 4th Q drives.

Observation:
1. UF players were highly amped up and motivated. High 5s, jumping around, congratulating each other, dancing etc. I don’t want to hear any of this not motivated crap!
2. Both QBs made some great throws, had some big drops, and missed some open receivers. Jones is a better runner obviously but I don’t think there is a huge gap in talent between him an MK and MK is a freshman who could improve a lot on the off season.
3. Refs made and didn’t make some bad calls both ways. Big Kat was getting mugged almost every play and I don’t think there was even one holding call. I did not see a punch that warranted an ejection. On or second to the last drive when Navarro had the bad snap our receiver was yanked to the ground way before the ball got there and there was no PI. Many other instances of bad calls.
4. UCF was clearly the louder fan base.
5. ZFG seemed to be truly enjoying himself. Except for one altercation with 15 during the big injury break towards the end. I have no idea what that was about.
6. Speaking of 15 I did not think the tackle was that egregious. It looked like a clean tackle to me.

Happy Holidays to all and Merry Xmas
ESPNU is replaying the big win tonight at 9pm.
One thing that was so cool Thursday and looked great on highlights was the blue lights and the gold lights after the scores..awesome!

Who ya got? I’m pulling for our AAC/Big 12 brethren, and I also enjoy that moment when a team that fires a coach realizes the grass isn’t always greener.

With our offense showing very little with Keene it will be tough to beat UF. In my heart I want UCF to win but if I was betting I would go with UF to easily cover the 7.5 point spread. My prediction UF 35 UCF 24

Login to view embedded media

The view from Raymond James Stadium on Thursday, Dec. 23 during UCF's 29-17 win against Florida in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl.

Kissimmee (Fla.) Osceola features a pair of Class of 2023 four-star prospects on the defensive line, defensive end Derrick LeBlanc and defensive tackle John Walker. The duo visited UCF on Tuesday, then observed the prospect camp held later in the afternoon.

It was actually the second consecutive day on campus for LeBlanc, who also stopped by on Monday with a couple other teammates.

"I wanted to show love to the coaching staff," LeBlanc said. "It's the hometown team. Coach (Kenny) Martin, Coach Gus (Malzahn), Coach T-Will (Travis Williams), I've been talking to them the most and they're recruiting me the hardest. I've got a lot of love for them. It's the hometown, so you can't go wrong with them."

This was Walker's first visit to campus.

"I've had an offer from UCF since I was a freshman," Walker said. "Then the new coaching staff came in with Coach Gus. I've known him since he was at Auburn and he actually offered me there. It was cool meeting him in person today. Coach Gus and the entire coaching staff is really cool. In talking to the coaches and players, it's like I've known them for a while. They have good character. I really like the place. My house is like 30 minutes from here. I really like them. UCF is gonna be something special."

Favorite part?

LeBlanc: "Mostly everything. The coaches, the players. I like the campus in general, how many people there is. It's a really cool place to be around."

Walker: "I like everything. The place is real nice, the field is nice. The people are cool to be around. The coaches. It was really cool trying on the uniforms. I tried on both the white and black. We went on the field and took pictures. It was really fun. They had some music in there so I was jamming."

LeBlanc met several players, including Cam Goode, Ricky Barber Jr. and Big Kat Bryant, the former All-SEC Auburn defensive end who recently transferred to UCF.

"(Big Kat) told me you've gotta be different," LeBlanc said. "Don't follow everybody. Everybody wants to go to a big-time school and be all that, but be a different trendsetter. Go somewhere you can play early."

Walker really enjoyed meeting Malzahn.

"Talking to Gus was really an honor," Walker said. "He told me you could go to all these big schools, but you want to be a leader. You see these people going to Alabama and different schools, but you can be a leader and set your own example. UCF is the place to come and build it up from there while winning championships."

Malzahn offered a similar message to LeBlanc.

"He told me I need to put a fence around you so you can stay home," LeBlanc said. "(He said) you'll love this place a lot. I've been talking to him since my freshman year since he was at Auburn, so he's known me for a while. It was good... I look at the staff and what they did at Auburn, I know he can change the culture and change the way people look at UCF. I'm telling you, UCF is gonna be something you don't want to play with pretty soon."

LeBlanc has additional visits this summer to Auburn, Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama and Ohio State. Walker is planning to see Florida, Alabama and Auburn.

Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media

Dude is killing me tonight.

TRK

Is this going to be a regular occurence now with all of the weird smash and grabs going on? I mean who robs a store with a pick axe.

PICK AXE Robbery Video

Hear me out.

Getting waxed by Cincy sucks. They are night and days better than us right now as a program. Forget about all the injuries we had.

Call me crazy, but this has a much different feel than getting waxed by BYU last year in a similar score. I thought they played tough, brought intensity…something that can’t be said the last couple years.

The players will come, we will get the right personnel, and the right pieces will be there. The outcome of today’s game was exactly what I thought it would be, but the fire was there.

With Ole Miss seemingly now in the picture for Ole Miss, Neal McCready of the Ole Miss Rivals site did some digging and says he spoke to a "close family friend." The only thing he was able to get out of this "family friend" is Ole Miss is the "clear leader" and this source added "UCF is out" as Nix has decided to not to play again for Gus.

I've spoken with Neal before and he's pretty solid.

While I won't get in the debate on which great bowl win (Fiesta, Peach, etc...) are the best or most meaningful...because this win was vs the Gators and some of us live in Gator Country and/or around a lot of Gators (i.e. College Park, Thornton Park, Winter Park, Delaney Park, etc...) or anytime you enter a Walmart Parking Lot, one of the best ways to DIG into every Gator Fan and remind them of their loss is to KNIGHT YOUR RIDE!

Every time you pass a Gator or even better...STOP in front of a Gator at a red light (there is a FREE 2-3 min message) or even best (stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on 408 or I-4 and you remain in front of them for 5 mins...10 mins...maybe 15 mins), your KNIGHT Plate will make them STEW...and maybe, just maybe, a few will even flick you off in the rearview mirror or when they force themselves to pass you.

UCF Plates current sit in 15th place in the State with 33,021 plate sales. (UF sits #3 with 94,585 and FSU sits at #4 with 71,344). Miami is at #19 with 28,342. cow u (I had to scroll way down) is at #37 with 15,037 plates...with is a -23 from their total back in August.

KNIGHT YOUR RIDE(S)!

How to Knight Your Ride

Surprised.

Login to view embedded media

I’m going to go search the Twitterverse. Would be curious if people are chattering about our win.

Kudos to Johnny on another explosive game. Johnny touched it 6 times for 69 yards and together Johnny and Ryan touched it 19 times for 267 yards. Having both of them in the lineup gives UCF a dual threat to take it to the end zone on any play. Any smart transfer QB (or an existing one or recruit) has to consider having 2 of next year's most explosive college football players to get the ball to as a big advantage. They made up 114 of our 148 receiving yards...in other words our QB's only threw for 34 yards to the other WR's and TE's....that's got to improve significantly. Just imagine if we had a QB who could spread the ball around and run with it if necessary. Gus, you've got to go get or develop one of those. Back to Johnny, looking forward to Gus using Johnny selectively in 2022. Johnny's proven his explosiveness to the NFL scouts and if he can stay healthy and show his skills whenever he touches the ball that's what will get him drafted (higher than we may think). He'll be an explosive specialist in the NFL and that's how Gus should continue to use him. And Johnny should understand that he needs to make every play count while not having to worry about doing the heavy lifting (leave that to Bowser). We're in a good spot with the right QB, keeping our explosive skilled players healthy and getting all of them to the next level.

Let’s hear it . Y’all been doing good