Greg McCrae says they've learned valuable lessons from the Pitt loss, moved on and are now ready to get after UConn this Saturday.
Here's a quick conversation with the UCF running back after Tuesday's practice.
You've won so much the last couple years. What was the mindset after that game? Were you angry at the outcome? Second guessing? How do you respond?
"Of course we were upset about it because we inherited a winning culture here. Not winning is not acceptable, especially with what we've done the last two years. Being handed a loss, I think it allowed us to come back and refocus. Just kind of get back to the day one type of things. The things that Heup preaches on, like penalties and just the little details."
I know you guys always preach going 1-0. It seemed like this team never got overconfident or anything like that. But does a loss humble you a bit. Were there some things maybe you could get away with, but now you realize you've got to continue to work that much harder?
"I think we've always had a hard-working culture here. We always know that people are going to give us their best shot. But we're going to give them our best shot too. We've just got to go back to day one things. Make sure we tighten up on the little details because the little things end up being big things. Take care of that and everything else will unfold."
Did anything surprise you with what Pitt presented on defense?
"Honestly, no. A lot of things that they showed, they showed on film. That game is behind us now. We're refocused now and we're on to the next week."
What's been the response this week? I know on Mondays you go over the last one and get ready for the next one. Like you said, you've put it in the past. How have the past few days been getting ready for conference play?
"I've got guys like (Richie Grant) playing around, out there pushing me every day. Bringing the energy every day. We practice hard every week. I do feel like there's a lot more attention to detail this week than we've had in the past."
The previous loss was Fiesta Bowl and you had to go through an offseason. Now you get to play in a week. Is that good, that you can put it behind you and don't have to dwell on it.
"The fact we get to play a game is a good thing. Just be able to go out there and just play. Be out there with my teammates, my brothers."
Some of these guys haven't really experienced a loss. Did some of the veterans speak up?
"There's wasn't really much to be said. We all know. We know the culture here. We inherited a winning program here. There wasn't much to be said. You can look in everybody's eyes here. We're going to get back to it."
The goals are still out there, everything you wanted to accomplish. Conference championship is there. You might be a little help for New Year's Six, but it's still possible. Any talk of the goals still being attainable?
"No. We don't worry about that. We only focus on going 1-0 every week."
