Press conference was cut off under 10 minutes, there were definitely more questions to be asked. I asked about Dillon's lack of running. Heup seemed upbeat and chipper, but seemed to be aghast that he was asked about redshirting Dillon.
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It's the first game week since 2016 that a UCF team is coming off a loss.
The Knights lost a 35-34 game at Pittsburgh on Saturday, snapping their streak of 25 consecutive regular season victories. There were certainly opportunities missed at Pitt, but now it's about learning from the experience and refocusing as conference play begins this week against UConn.
Here's everything head coach Josh Heupel had to say at this weekly press conference on Monday.
What have you seen from your team in the last 24 hours?
"Disappointed obviously. That happens when you put a lot of time and energy into something. And you compete as hard as they did. We didn't complete perfectly, but they competed hard. But they were good today. Came in, accepted what they saw on tape, and got a little bit of work in on the field. Ready to go."
How can the adversity Dillon Gabriel faced make him a better quarterback?
"It helps everybody. I don't care what position you're playing. Every rep helps make you better. Adversity that you face, as long as you're willing to accept the things you see on tape and learn from experience, it's going to benefit you as you go down the road. He'll be better for us."
How do you want 2019 defined?
"2019 defines itself one week at a time. We've got a mantra of going 1-0. Doesn't change whether you win the previous week or lose the previous week. I wanted to make sure, it'd been a long time since our players had felt that during the course of regular season play. It's important in that moment to one, know that it hurts, but two, understand that doesn't define the entire season. High and lofty goals, aspirations of this team, none of that changes. Come back on Monday and be ready to go and let's move forward. Focus on the one thing that we can control and that's today. Preparing ourselves for UConn."
After looking at the offensive line play on tape, what did they struggle with?
"I've said this before. There's such a fine line between success and not being as successful as you're capable of. Five guys operating as one up front, when it's going really well, it looks easy. It's not. Sometimes, it's one of the 11 guys just being a little bit off. Might be hand placement. Might be communication. All these play a part in it. Good defensive line that we faced. There's some things that they did that caused us issues. There's some things that we self imposed. Things that we'll learn from and be better from."
There were occasions Dillon Gabriel could have rushed for some yards, is that an area where he'll improve with more experience?
"I think young quarterbacks, finding out when is the right time to step up into the pocket and get out, when is the right time to throw away, those are all things that come with experience sometimes. There's some things that he wants back, whether that's a throw or moving in the pocket or running on a play where he's outside of the pocket. Those are all things you continue to watch, learn and be better for."
This is obviously Dillon's first loss, what would you like to see...
"Not just his first loss. It's our first loss."
What would you like to see him do this week?
"At the end of the day, we've got to take care of the football. It's one of the things that's really important every football game. It's really important when you're on the road. You've got to win the turnover battle. We didn't do that. We were on the wrong side of it. It's a major issue for us moving forward if we don't correct it. We've got to take care of the ball. We've got to create turnovers. There were times when the ball was on the ground and we weren't able to get on it defensively. We've got to be on the right side of that. Things that we practice, preach every single day. We'll be better at."
The slow start and early deficit, what is more of what Pitt did or was it more self inflicted?
"There's subtly maybe some things they were a little bit different schematically. There's some things we did early offensively in that ballgame that put us in adverse situations. Simple things. To me, you've got to match their energy on the road. You've got to match and surpass their execution. We didn't do that early in the football game."
As you look back on this, just how difficult is it to be perfect and do you feel pressure is taken off the team now that there is a loss?
"I don't feel that there's any pressure taken off of our football team. We have high expectations with what's within our walls, every day. I think our players have been really good about not focusing on the end prize. Just focusing on the journey of that week. Staying true to our motto, going 1-0. What's special, and happened in the past, during the course of the season, is you get one 60-minute clock. They've got good coaches. They've got players that have scholarships every time you walk on the field. At the end of the day, you've got to find a way to be good enough. Saturday was not good enough from us. We're a point short. There's a lot of things that we can do to be better. We'll correct those things and move forward. At the end of the day, during this 2019 journey, it's true every single year, you're in a race against yourself. You play an opponent every Saturday, but you're in a race against yourself to be as good as you can as fast as you can. Having urgency to be on the right side of the play that makes a difference. At each position, each person individually, to be the absolute best that you can. That's got to be the focus for us moving forward."
Is this a good time to be back at home against a team that you're heavily favored against?
"It's just the next game on our schedule. Our players will be excited about walking into that stadium. I don't expect our environment to be any different since I've been here. Packed house. We open up conference play. This is the beginning of conference and our kids are excited about that."
How frustrating was it that penalties played such a large role in the game?
"Penalties, there were a few things we were on the wrong side of. I mentioned turnovers earlier. Red zone opportunities offensively that we don't take advantage of. Don't score the point that we're capable of in those situations. You add all those things up and it's how you end up on the wrong side of it. We've got to be smart. We've talked about it earlier in the season too. Playing penalties are going to happen. When you play aggressive and you try to play physical, some of that is going to happen during the course of snap to whistle. What you can't do is hurt yourself before the snap and you can't hurt yourself after the whistle. There were some things that we did that we're in control of that we didn't do a good job of."
Was there any point in the first half when the offense was struggling that you considered putting in Brandon Wimbush or Darriel Mack to get the offense going? Did you think about sitting Dillon for a little bit?
"Nah. Felt good about Dillon in there. There were some things he could have done better. There's some things that were not on him that weren't right either."
Earlier in the fourth quarter you went for it on fourth-and-two, then later on took the points. When it's a six-point lead, that tells Pitt to be in four-down territory. Is that always a fine line on what the correct move is because six points makes it easy for them to figure out what to do?
"It does. I think distance mattered as far as the fourth-down situation that we were in there at the end. The fourth and two, at the end of the day, judgement call by me, how I feel like it's best for us to play out the last half of that quarter. And there's a lot of things that go into that decision."
After four games, how do you evaluate your special teams especially when you're getting penalties on kickoffs?
"Obviously the blocked punt can't happen. That's a game-changing play. We want to control that third of the game. Win that third of the game. I do think we've gotten better in our cover units in a lot of areas. I thought on the whole we played pretty solid on special teams. You can't give up big plays and that defines the day for us on special teams."
What kind of response are you looking for from your team this week in practice and the game?
"Come back and be focused and engaged. High energy. I don't expect our players to be any different than they have been. Yes, we lost a football game. We got another one to play. Let's get ready to go play. I think our kids will be absolutely excited about the week of preparation and ready to go."
You're through the first four games. Was there any thought at any point before the season started about redshirting Dillon Gabriel and now being where you're at, do you think about redshirting him?
"Dillon won't redshirt. No."
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