This was a great performance to get the train back on the tracks. It was on the road, the team had to overcome adversity, injuries, a juiced up opponent and take their will away and we did that. That 2nd half was straight domination and you could see the tide turning after FAU hit us with some good punches. Also loved to see JRP get a great game in and continue to develop and for Gus to make the calls he needed to. Games like this are great but it doesnt frustrate me we couldnt figure out a way to pull out the UL game...
UCF Fast:
UCF Fast:
- JRP: I got some heat last week for defending JRP but my read on his performance against UL was that a lot of other parts of the team let him down from special teams, to play calling, to skill positions, injuries, penalties, etc... he was NOT getting much help from anyone. Clearly he didn't have a great game but all things considered i thought he did enough against UL to win that game. His ability to basically get 3 or so yards anytime he wants to really extends drives for UCF. It isn't the same thing as a great passer that you can always count on converting but JRP is so fast and has no regard for his body, he can almost always throw himself in their for a few yards and extend a drive., Really stresses the defense and you could see that against FAU when the FAU defense was basically gassing out due to those extended drives most of which was JRP just making plays. That in my opinion is the biggest reason he got the start over Keene. I mean Plumlee ran for 120 yards and threw for 340. It is one thing to have a running qb run for a bunch of yards but 340 passing on its own would be a great passing day so to have the both on the same night, especially on the road with wet conditions was really impressive. And shout out to that sell out on the goal line where we flew 10ft in the air. That is how you get your team to follow you. Great Game.
- Gus: I shat on Gus last week for play calling but he bounced back pretty well this week. He called a great game for the players he had. The motions, misdirection's, the ways he got Holler involved on easy passes, the slants, the fact he kept taking shots. My only beef was the hurry up under center call when i think it was 1st down or so on the 5 yard line. That in my opinion was classic Gus getting to cute. Gus gonna Gus i think someone said, LOL. Clearly you dont expect the under center snap to go that way but i just didn't see a reason for it. We were gashing them, just line up and do what we do, seemed unnecessary and almost screwed us big time but we overcame it and that is what is important. Solid play calling by Gus and great job rallying the troops, also made some good changes on special teams that were much needed, went for it on several key 4th downs, solid all around game. Also got J Rich the ball more. I know he fumbled that one but he again avg 9 yards plus a touch. Also figured out a way to get Harvey in and you can tell it meant a lot for the team for him to get that score.
- Javon Baker: Just watching him play you can tell he is special. Glad he got going in this one pretty good we really need him to help JRP. He had another awful drop which he has to clean up but he had a few more snags that were solid. ROK had a bad drop as well as Gamble. They have to clean that crap up but Baker had a solid night outside of that drop
- Alec Holler: Made some big catches, had over 100 yards, no drops, did some good dirty things we needed. I am not sure about this but i think he made the td saving tackle on the pick and that may have been his biggest play all game. He hustled to make that tackle, you cannot have enough guys like him on the roster.
- Townsend: I really like what this kid brings as a true freshman, excited for what he can do for us in years to come. I thought he came along a lot last night, was called on to spell ROK and i thought he did well.
- 2nd Half Defense: They really missed JJB in that first half and i was really worried because no one could tackle number 22 on FAU. They were gashing us silly but the defense settled in. That Celiscar play where he made the tackle in the backfield was a tone setter kind of like the Montalvo play last week to help the settling in. Brash made some big plays, i think he got the the XP block as well. That series where we nutted up and kept them out of the end zone was back breaking. To watch FAU run all over us in the 1st half and then see them only get like 10 yards of total offense in the 2nd half is just incredible. Credit to Twill as well. Love me some Twill
- Jaylon Griffin: The worst play all day by JRP was that under thrown INT. That was an awful throw and that shit is going to happen but the effort from Jaylon Griffin to tackle the defender was really poor. He kind of jogged after him and in real time i was screaming for someone to make a tackle because in my mind i knew how well our defense was playing and the absolute worst thing there would have been for them to get something cheap on us, especially 7 pts. I am not 100% sure who made the saving tackle, i think it was Holler as i noted above but whoever it was saved the day. That was a huge momentum issue and Griffin who should have been fast enough to make a play didn't give it his all.
- Lester: I know i have shit on this guy a lot over the years but anytime i see him back there i just feel like he is over matched and i felt that way again yesterday. Maybe that is unfair when the snap count comes out because i am not sure how many plays he was in but only registered 1 tackle. Just makes me feel worrisome for safety depth that he keeps finding his way on the field.
- Turnovers: It is odd, the game stats on several sites only showed 2 turn overs and Gus only said 2 turnovers in his presser but unless i am losing it there was definitely 3. Really hard to win a game big with 3 turnovers and losing the turnover battle with the opponent. The JRP pick, the JRP under center fumble exchange and the Richardson fumble. All were really costly turnovers, the Richardson and under center fumbles were on early downs when we were going into score to help put the game out of reach and the int almost ended up in a pick 6 when we were up 9. We have to clean that up long term. The turnovers and those three big drops (ROK, Gamble, Baker) we need to clean up. The fact we won so big in spite of these plays was impressive.
- Gold Pants: Ok, let me get this out of the way, i personally don't give a shit what we wear as long as we win. It is absolutely secondary. With that said i have never been in favor of gold anything outside of an accent but especially pants. I don't want all gold jerseys or pants. Just doesn't look great, white, black, anthracite all superior. This is NOT a big deal but if i never see the gold pants again i will be happy for it.
