Agree, how is y’all a OL? I heard one started opted out and a couple in the 2 deep as well? Not sure if that’s true or not.
GT vs UCF game
- Thread starter Techwreck47
- Start date
We thought last year they were going to be dominant. They weren’t. Jury still out.
Any chance that the weather could be an issue? With Sally predicted to slow down its going to bring a lot of rain to Georgia.
I don’t think so. It’s showing no rain Saturday and the field is turf now so it should be dry. I believe game time temp is suppose to be around 70.Any chance that the weather could be an issue? With Sally predicted to slow down its going to bring a lot of rain to Georgia.
IF UCF presses with tempo , Tech will be reeling. Tempo is Heupes great negater in so many areas. I am assuming UCF worked on that in camp and will continue UCFast. This game is easily winnable for the Knights.
Do you even know how to math? How did you get into Tech? Kidding! I hired my first chemist into my lab in 1992 in Tampa. He was a scraggly self proclaimed Dead Head that graduated tech with BS Chem and took the next two years to follow jerry and the boys around the country living in his car with his georgeous ex fiancée Rolled up to my business on fumes in a pinto or some shit full of trash. Nailed the interview. One of the Smartest men I have known in my life. Ended up 20 years later way up high in mgmt in our field before marrying a pharma executive and retiring to the outer banks at 48 while I was still paying college tuition for three kids. And that’s why I hate Ga Tech. Actually love and respect but some hate. Respect. Hate. Confused. True story btw. I know so much about the inside story of the dead heads. That is Due to Ga Tech Grad
Lol, I’m actually a rare breed of a sidewalk fan for GT.
up Your game. You’re Tech Fan. Wear a t shirt with math on it or something for intimidation.
Welcome Techwreck47! I always enjoy friendly and informative input from opponent fan bases. I will try to provide some answers about your questions and some stuff I see on your guys message board about us.
Strengths
- Explosive up tempo offense that I am sure you already have been told about enough times now. We have a AP era record of 31 consecutive games with 30+ points scored until it was snapped by Cincy last year. When things are clicking, we expect to score quick and have the defensive faking injuries to slow the rhythm down.
-Qb/Rb/Wr - You have probably heard of Gabriel already, who is widely regarded as the 2nd best freshman qb after Howell. He was great at home and shaky away (all his interceptions), so it will be really interesting to see his improvements. Not to sound cocky but I feel like UCF will always have talent at rb and wr, that is the case this year as well. I saw some posts that we don’t have a rb that looks impressive, that’s probably because they share a lot of touches when honestly I would be happy even having just one of the top 3 on the team.
Weaknesses
Some misconceptions I see on your forum:
I’m really looking forward to the matchup, I think both sides will be impressed by each other’s talent level by the end of the game.
Also sorry in advance for any spelling or grammars, I had to switch to mobile halfway through.
Strengths
- Explosive up tempo offense that I am sure you already have been told about enough times now. We have a AP era record of 31 consecutive games with 30+ points scored until it was snapped by Cincy last year. When things are clicking, we expect to score quick and have the defensive faking injuries to slow the rhythm down.
-Qb/Rb/Wr - You have probably heard of Gabriel already, who is widely regarded as the 2nd best freshman qb after Howell. He was great at home and shaky away (all his interceptions), so it will be really interesting to see his improvements. Not to sound cocky but I feel like UCF will always have talent at rb and wr, that is the case this year as well. I saw some posts that we don’t have a rb that looks impressive, that’s probably because they share a lot of touches when honestly I would be happy even having just one of the top 3 on the team.
Weaknesses
- o-line- our o-line was hyped up at the beginning of last year and I think it was our worst unit on the team. All I can hope is for improvement. In general it is pretty difficult for G5 teams to consistently recruit quality o-line and d-line, so we usually have smaller ones when facing p5 teams.
- TE’s - we haven’t found a player that fits yet but should have a lot to use now
- Red zone scoring - I think we should have used more packages with dual threat qbs but Heupel was skittish until the end of season
Some misconceptions I see on your forum:
- The 10 opt outs are crippling- Tay Gowan is the only legit starter at cb we will truly miss. While Cholewa was a projected starter at D-line, we rotate a lot of d-linemen throughout the game. Mack, who was our backup qb for awhile was presumed to be getting passed up by another backup and would probably be 4 with Milton back
- Gabriel is immobile- he is not a dual threat and would probably rather pass than run but his stats are kind of misleading. Whether it was because he was a freshmen or Heupel had anxiety after Miltons injury, it seemed like coach did not want him to run until the end of the season
I’m really looking forward to the matchup, I think both sides will be impressed by each other’s talent level by the end of the game.
Also sorry in advance for any spelling or grammars, I had to switch to mobile halfway through.
Yes, this is what I was interested in! Great information. I think the LOS is kinda where GT will be able to stay in the game or else I would be a lot more worried. Should be a really fun game!
Gabriel. Blackman. Gabriel. Blackman Seems. Like an even match.
Not even close. DG is heads and tails better.
And if you insist on going to the Varsity, better rehearse your order over and over, until you can blurt it out the second you are prompted, "What'll you have?" They don't tolerate indecision or hesitation, and you are sure to irk them if you have the gall to check out the menu!
Yes, the year before. Actually, we destroyed Pitt and they couldn't get 100 yards of offense before our 3rd team D was in mid-4th quarter.
But Milton was our QB then.
Luckily Gabriel is closing in on his level of experience now... and looked far better than Milton did in his first year too.
That said...
1) UCF is good for 30+, 40+ often
UCF is good for at least 30 points, period, even against great defenses... although 3+ turnovers can challenge that. Gabriel (3rd string QB to started the '19 season) threw 0 picks in 10 wins, 7 in the 3 losses by 7 points total. If O-line gives him 4 seconds all day, it will be 40+ with the dogs called off as Heupel will use 2nd half as practice (we do NOT run up the score, and slow the pace).
2) No big QB
With 6'4"/230lbs Mack Jr opting out, we don't have a short/goal line option QB, which hurts... Gabriel is likely staying in at all times. But if Gabriel has 4 seconds all day, again, won't matter. Jones is now 2nd string (4th out of camp last year).
3) D v. D
We're down 2 D starters (of 10) opt outs, and we're rotating D around. We'll win any shootout as GT must play lights out D to stop our O. But I still think GT will put over 200 yards on us on the ground as a result, ripping off at least 3 big (30+) gainers, as we are still picking Dstarters.
My prediction?
2 or less UCF turnovers, 41-17
3-4 UCF turnovers (-2 margin), 33-27
5+ UCF = under 30 points, GT wins
Betting: Take the under on 62... I don't see UCF getting over 50 as GT running game will slow us down. If we turn it over 3-4 times, we'll be down to low 30s, and GT will have 20-something, but not 30.
Vegas is basically saying UCF is in game 1, while GT has a game under its belt, so UCF will make mistakes, have 2-3 turnovers (-1 margin at least), give up a few big runs, so... only a TD for UCF. That's fair.
To get 62, it would have to be 35-27. I just don't see us getting quite 35, if GT has 27.
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Really depends on how Gabriel comes out on the road.
Home - 66% completion, 17 td, 0 int, 4 sacks
Away - 55% Completion, 12 td, 7 int, 18 sacks
As for D, last year the team was notorious for putting the opponent in 3rd and long situations and then the opposing team picks up 15 yards. Have they figured that out.
Other aspect is Penalties, seems like every year the team has more penalties. Has this been cleaned up.
Home - 66% completion, 17 td, 0 int, 4 sacks
Away - 55% Completion, 12 td, 7 int, 18 sacks
As for D, last year the team was notorious for putting the opponent in 3rd and long situations and then the opposing team picks up 15 yards. Have they figured that out.
Other aspect is Penalties, seems like every year the team has more penalties. Has this been cleaned up.
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Last year we had a major dilemma about who would be our starting QB and had lost our starting defensive line to graduation. We found our starting QB and DL over the course of the season and they grew up before our eyes.
GT won their game last week because the QB of FSU was pretty bad for 3 quarters of the game. The GT QB definitely has talent but our DBs are going to get >2 picks off of him. If our DL tackles well it could be a long day for GT (this will probably determine the closeness of game). If our DL doesn't tackle well and the GT QB has a big day, we don't deserve to win.
We know that we've probably got the most experienced talented depth we've ever had at RB and WR period. Frost leaned on depth that came from George O'leary to go undefeated. GOL wasn't known for having deep depth in all positions and speed. Our team is very close to if not P5 depth right now where one guy goes down and you watch the next guy come in and wonder why he isn't starting.
GT won their game last week because the QB of FSU was pretty bad for 3 quarters of the game. The GT QB definitely has talent but our DBs are going to get >2 picks off of him. If our DL tackles well it could be a long day for GT (this will probably determine the closeness of game). If our DL doesn't tackle well and the GT QB has a big day, we don't deserve to win.
We know that we've probably got the most experienced talented depth we've ever had at RB and WR period. Frost leaned on depth that came from George O'leary to go undefeated. GOL wasn't known for having deep depth in all positions and speed. Our team is very close to if not P5 depth right now where one guy goes down and you watch the next guy come in and wonder why he isn't starting.
thanks for the info, I think GT at only 17 points if there are less than two turnovers will not happen. This game scream shoot out if anything to me. I don’t see UCF defense really stopping GT on offense if they play like they did against FSU minus the turnovers. I think people are looking to much at GT and last year but they are completely different this year on offense.
the one thing GT has going for them is how good our secondary is. That will allow us to go man in coverage and bring pressure to make y’all a QB uncomfortable. Not saying GT wins but this game imo will be close.
See my other post, our defense is very stout this year but a big, running QB who throws the ball nice will certainly be a challenge. I was hoping your freshmen QB wouldn't start. The UNC QB would have been our other big challenge in the cancelled game this season. I wanted to see us beat both ACC teams this season and go undefeated again to prove that we would be a nice addition to the ACC. We'll see how the season goes. We have great youth and depth on the UCF roster, not going away as a strong football program. Florida has great recruiting and a lot of transfer portal talent is coming back to Florida and going to UCF now because we have ALOT of players in the NFL and players are getting good looks from NFL scouts.
I guess my point in saying I don’t think y’alls defense will stop GT that easily is that our OL this year should be pretty good. I mean, we just pretty much manhandled a very good front 4 in FSU. Also what makes you think they will be so stout on defense? Wasn’t y’all a defense last year pretty average?
y’all like to get aggressive on 1st and 2nd down right?
Sims is a mobile QB, thats the only thing that annoys me. A few times last year we could have shut down drives but a QB scramble extended them.
ill give you that. trenches of power schools on average are better so I cant disagree. Sometimes we handle them sometimes not. You did well vs FSU. I believe a starter d-lineman opted out for us as well but usually our lines comes to play.
I agree with the previous poster who said this feels like the Pitt game. And I’ll probably get some flak for this...but I think we lose (I hope I’m wrong.)
GT has one huge advantage over us, they played last week and we didn’t. They got to learn their deficiencies and will work on fixing them.
We didn’t hear much about the team over the past few months, but if you ask me, this team feels distracted. Some worried about Covid (Perhaps rightfully so, I can’t judge them for this), but then you have the social justice guys, and then we hear UCF is leading the charge to petition the AAC with a list of demands...yada yada
We have 10 guys sitting out. 2 starters, but some on the DL and I promise you that will be felt.
I know we have a high flying offense, but if Gabriel didn’t improve like we hope, I fear we are going to get hit in the mouth by P5 OL/DL lines that now have a game of experience under their belts, preseason jitters for them are gone.
I just don’t have a good feeling about this game.
GT has one huge advantage over us, they played last week and we didn’t. They got to learn their deficiencies and will work on fixing them.
We didn’t hear much about the team over the past few months, but if you ask me, this team feels distracted. Some worried about Covid (Perhaps rightfully so, I can’t judge them for this), but then you have the social justice guys, and then we hear UCF is leading the charge to petition the AAC with a list of demands...yada yada
We have 10 guys sitting out. 2 starters, but some on the DL and I promise you that will be felt.
I know we have a high flying offense, but if Gabriel didn’t improve like we hope, I fear we are going to get hit in the mouth by P5 OL/DL lines that now have a game of experience under their belts, preseason jitters for them are gone.
I just don’t have a good feeling about this game.
Middle of the road guy chiming in here...
I think UCF fans should think more of GTs defense. This game will be the level of playing Cincy or tougher. Plus, as has been said, they have some game-speed experience to learn from.
I think this will be a great match up of offense vs defense!
I think UCF fans should think more of GTs defense. This game will be the level of playing Cincy or tougher. Plus, as has been said, they have some game-speed experience to learn from.
I think this will be a great match up of offense vs defense!
The difference of bludgeoning Pitt at the Bounce House in '18 and playing them on the road last year was like night and day. We DID have trouble protecting Gabriel, and they used a trick play expertly to pull that game out. I went to Pitt last year expecting laughs and high drives and it was a nail-biter down to the wire!
My buddy and I talked with JJ at the team hotel last year- he is such a nice guy. We agreed that he could be nowhere near the 320 pounds listed for him. We guessed closer to 270 or so, but we're no experts. Still, we wondered if his change to a more vegan diet might have cost him some bulk necessary for center. Just speculation. Wondering if Matt Lee is up to 300 now - have read good things about him.
My buddy and I talked with JJ at the team hotel last year- he is such a nice guy. We agreed that he could be nowhere near the 320 pounds listed for him. We guessed closer to 270 or so, but we're no experts. Still, we wondered if his change to a more vegan diet might have cost him some bulk necessary for center. Just speculation. Wondering if Matt Lee is up to 300 now - have read good things about him.
When I go vegan, I go 'raw' diet. Virtually 99% of the 'vegan' products out there on the market are worse than eating fresh beef. I wish I was kidding, but I'm not.
Processed veggies are virtually as bad as processed meats. It really all depends on the processing.
So I eat 'raw,' but mix in meat -- unprocessed -- 3 times/week. I could probably go meatless, but unprocessed, fresh meat is excellent for you, and removes the need to find other ways without going 'processed' with vegan.
I wish people would push 'unprocessed' instead of 'meatless.' That's why I'm 'raw' diet, plus added, unprocessed meat. So much processed vegan out there ... worse than doing such, far worse.
UCF's defense is far better than FSU's. I know the 'P5' fanboy'ism says otherwise, but it's really 'P1.5+Clemson' these days. The ACC's record against the AAC isn't that much better, and the PAC-12 is crap (1-6 in the last 3 years).
Almost every computer had the AAC's SoS stronger than the ACC's last year. Usually 1-2 P5 conferences have a worse SoS than the AAC. We're not like other G5s. That's why we have TV deals that are worth 3-10x more than the other G5s ... more than all the others combined, twice-over.
Simply put, the AAC is better than the Big East it formed out of. One has to go back to pre-2005 Big East to find when it was better than the AAC.
Yes. I didn't have GT last in the ACC, but more 'middle of the pack.' FSU is near the bottom though.
We do have a beefy O-line for our running game. We run first, not pass.
Of the AP Top 25 the last 3 years, our O-line has typically been in the Top 10 size-wise (e.g., Top 7 in both '17 and '18). We're not small.
100% agreed! Cincy-like, defense-wise.
That's why I said 3-4 turnovers, even if no more than -1 margin, and it's going to be really close. And if 5+, we lose for sure.
I think it's going to be more D v. D -- our D is better than FSU's. That's why I say we win, even though I recognize GT has had an extra week.
I think GT gets 17 by ripping off at least 3 big runs against our still meshing D with many rotations. If we're turning it over 3+, it could be 27.
A lot will hinge on them stopping our run with our beefy O-line. If so, Gabriel will be relied on too much.
I don’t doubt that UCF is good and better than a lot of power 5 schools. I asl think FSU’s front 4 is better the UCF’s front 4 and that’s where games a lot of time are won. I also don’t doubt that y’all a OL is beefy, but another poster on here said y’all a OL wasn’t that great last year.
Not as great as we expected.
I would be surprised if Blackman is the starting QB after FSU next loss. He doesn't look that good passing. Gabriel is ten times better.
I agree with you 100%. UCF better be prepared to play a good defense, don't be surprised if they don't put up 30 points. The good news I think UCF defence matches up well. They just need to contain the QB.
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