UCF Fast & Slow – Temple Owl Edition
I always talk to a lot of UCF people before and after these games and many folks were very confident going into Temple that we would roll them if KZ played. I was confident we would win but I never saw this as a blow out UCF win. My reasoning was knowing the coaching staff pretty well on the Temple side. They are no joke and they wanted this game very very badly being a lot of x UCF coaches/players/Olreay disciples. I heard a story that Geoff Collins dressed up like the All State Mr. Mayhem guy on the plan ride down to Florida and preached to his guys that he wanted them all to cause mayhem on the field. They certainly did that in the first half. I thought they were legit sized guys, solid speed, very well coached, respectable QB play, etc… Temple may have tripped up early in the season but they are a legit team and have my respect and I am sure the respect of UCF. Of course the National Media will never give us any credit for beating them by only 12 even though we did cover the 10 pt spread AND we probably could have added 7 with that pick at the end had we ran it out but we all know the only story line will be the points we gave up to a middle of the road G5 school blah blah blah…
UCF Fast:
· McCrae: Let’s get this out right out of the gate, he was the best player on both teams last night. I have loved this kid since I saw him light up the scrimmages I watched. To think he just got a scholarship this past year and had to walk on here is crazy. He has the best acceleration of the RBs and probably the best balance and vision. He doesn’t hesitate, he hits the hole fast and usually picks the right one, almost never goes East & West and rarely goes down on first contact despite not being a massive guy. I think I lost my voice screaming at Hype to keep McCrae in. When they went back to AK after that dominating McCrae drive I was beside myself. McRae was running for 10+ yards every single time he touched the ball and he carried the ball 16 times!!! How insane is that. 12 yards a carry avg on 16 carries, that is almost unheard of. He is by far our best option for those RPO plays where we run up the middle, but I am all for playing all four guys but when it is clear one of them just has it rolling it is ok to stick to the hot hand and McRae was hot. He may have been the difference last night that got us #21. Shout out to Taj as well, scored two TDs and averaged 9 yards a carry, similar player to McCrae just doesn’t have McCrae’s acceleration and top end.
· Trysten Hill: I cannot get enough of watching him play. A man as big as him isn’t supposed to move the way he moves. My hang up with him is that he has such dominating plays that you wonder what is going on the rest of the time. How does he hit that crazy sack last night bowling over his guy or the other sack where he leapt up causing the QB to fall on pump fake but then he disappears for long stretches? I know he eats up blocks, so it is hard to give him shit but he is a really really really good player, I just want to see even more.
· Home Crowd: Well done Knights. I know Thursday nights, especially 7:30 starts can be tough but we showed out last night. Place was almost full, everyone was loud and they did a great job staying all the way to the end. No early exits despite the 4 hour game time. That first quarter took so long. I looked up and realized it has already been 1.5hrs and we had 2 minutes left in the first, LOL.
· Last FG Cover: I haven’t bet UCF all year but I decided to take us to cover this game. I made the bet once the line hit 10 liking it better then the initial 12. I would have happily lost the money if we won by 9 but it made it a little extra sweeter to get that cover kick, LOL.
· Halftime Defensive Pep Talk/Adjustments: I don’t know what they say or do at half time to our defense but my GAWD. Just like I said after Memphis, common knowledge would believe that after being on the field for a ton of plays and giving up close to 40 pts in the first half would leave your defense gassed and they would only get worse in the 2nd half yet somehow NOT UCF. We actually play better after getting our ass run over. Temple owned our ass in the first half. Beat us to the spot, ran over multiple defenders, manhandled us, did what ever they wanted and some how we got stronger in the 2nd half, just crazy how that keeps happening.
UCF Slow:
· Jasinski: Important to point out that he was clearly hurt and was putting on a gutsy performance so I hate to call him out with a slow because he was not 100% and was giving it his all so maybe this one is on the coaches for leaving him out there or maybe we just don’t have the depth for someone who would handle it better but he was getting torched on the slant routes. They would isolate him up on a WR or RB and it wasn’t even fair. He could keep up with them and he couldn’t drive through the tackles. It was a tough coverage game for all the LBs but Pat had an extra tough game but again I know if he wasn’t hurt this likely wouldn’t have went the way it did.
· Geoff Collins 4th & 20: Don’t get me wrong here, I am happy he makes this call but this was confounding to me. They are down by 9 and he passes up a middle of the road FG to try a 4th and 20 with 8 or so minutes left in the game? You have to score twice so how do you not go for the FG. I know the kicker missed one earlier and it wasn’t a gimme but the % chance of hitting that FG had to be significantly better then picking up a 4th and 20.
· 1st Half Defense: Here are my excuses for the defense, there was a fluke 3rd down pick up that should have been a sack and punt that turned into a TD, then we had the BS running into the kicker with the fake FG TD and our offense scored incredibly fast whilst also going 3 and out incredibly fast so the first half was filled with a lot of time on the field and weird things happening but in the end the amount of yards we gave up was obscene. They were on pace to have 1,000 yards of offense after that first quarter. I don’t care WHO we are playing be it Alabama or Oregon or whomever, there is little excuse to give up that many yards in that fashion. I am glad though that we pulled it together and played well in the 2nd half and similar to Memphis the lucky stuff wasn’t going to last all night and we caught up to them but that first half was still hard to watch. Guys were way to open and we were bouncing off people on missed tackles and an alarming rate.
· Special Teams: Our FG block, running into kicker, FG fake TD, kicking out of bounds on kick offs, bad squibs, etc… not a great game. Mac though had some really nice punts and we didn’t let them break anything but still could have been better overall.
In conclusion, I have no voice from Temple running 98 freaking plays. I felt like I got my ass kicked when I left there. That was a late one, after work, lots of yelling, losing at half, etc… For UCF though I know this game doesn’t help us Nationally but had we lost we would have gotten crushed so after a game like this it really shows what is the most important thing, just win baby. Survive another week unbeaten is the most important thing we can do no matter how ugly. Also dealing with adversity like we have for the Memphis and Temple game is good for later in the year. WE have won so much we need to have some tough games and figure out ways to get a W. Temple did virtually everything right. They have to be shaking there heads just like Memphis trying to figure out how they ended up losing that game. We are in the midst of a run the likes of which we may never ever experience as UCF fans. We have an absolutely elite offense, crazy offensive depth, an incredibly talented qb, 21 straight wins, etc… it is just crazy to think about. To help put it in perspective with the voting season coming up, just tell your buddies that other college teams maybe having good seasons but only one team hasn’t lost since Obama was President… and eat a bag of dicks, LOL
I always talk to a lot of UCF people before and after these games and many folks were very confident going into Temple that we would roll them if KZ played. I was confident we would win but I never saw this as a blow out UCF win. My reasoning was knowing the coaching staff pretty well on the Temple side. They are no joke and they wanted this game very very badly being a lot of x UCF coaches/players/Olreay disciples. I heard a story that Geoff Collins dressed up like the All State Mr. Mayhem guy on the plan ride down to Florida and preached to his guys that he wanted them all to cause mayhem on the field. They certainly did that in the first half. I thought they were legit sized guys, solid speed, very well coached, respectable QB play, etc… Temple may have tripped up early in the season but they are a legit team and have my respect and I am sure the respect of UCF. Of course the National Media will never give us any credit for beating them by only 12 even though we did cover the 10 pt spread AND we probably could have added 7 with that pick at the end had we ran it out but we all know the only story line will be the points we gave up to a middle of the road G5 school blah blah blah…
UCF Fast:
· McCrae: Let’s get this out right out of the gate, he was the best player on both teams last night. I have loved this kid since I saw him light up the scrimmages I watched. To think he just got a scholarship this past year and had to walk on here is crazy. He has the best acceleration of the RBs and probably the best balance and vision. He doesn’t hesitate, he hits the hole fast and usually picks the right one, almost never goes East & West and rarely goes down on first contact despite not being a massive guy. I think I lost my voice screaming at Hype to keep McCrae in. When they went back to AK after that dominating McCrae drive I was beside myself. McRae was running for 10+ yards every single time he touched the ball and he carried the ball 16 times!!! How insane is that. 12 yards a carry avg on 16 carries, that is almost unheard of. He is by far our best option for those RPO plays where we run up the middle, but I am all for playing all four guys but when it is clear one of them just has it rolling it is ok to stick to the hot hand and McRae was hot. He may have been the difference last night that got us #21. Shout out to Taj as well, scored two TDs and averaged 9 yards a carry, similar player to McCrae just doesn’t have McCrae’s acceleration and top end.
· Trysten Hill: I cannot get enough of watching him play. A man as big as him isn’t supposed to move the way he moves. My hang up with him is that he has such dominating plays that you wonder what is going on the rest of the time. How does he hit that crazy sack last night bowling over his guy or the other sack where he leapt up causing the QB to fall on pump fake but then he disappears for long stretches? I know he eats up blocks, so it is hard to give him shit but he is a really really really good player, I just want to see even more.
· Home Crowd: Well done Knights. I know Thursday nights, especially 7:30 starts can be tough but we showed out last night. Place was almost full, everyone was loud and they did a great job staying all the way to the end. No early exits despite the 4 hour game time. That first quarter took so long. I looked up and realized it has already been 1.5hrs and we had 2 minutes left in the first, LOL.
· Last FG Cover: I haven’t bet UCF all year but I decided to take us to cover this game. I made the bet once the line hit 10 liking it better then the initial 12. I would have happily lost the money if we won by 9 but it made it a little extra sweeter to get that cover kick, LOL.
· Halftime Defensive Pep Talk/Adjustments: I don’t know what they say or do at half time to our defense but my GAWD. Just like I said after Memphis, common knowledge would believe that after being on the field for a ton of plays and giving up close to 40 pts in the first half would leave your defense gassed and they would only get worse in the 2nd half yet somehow NOT UCF. We actually play better after getting our ass run over. Temple owned our ass in the first half. Beat us to the spot, ran over multiple defenders, manhandled us, did what ever they wanted and some how we got stronger in the 2nd half, just crazy how that keeps happening.
UCF Slow:
· Jasinski: Important to point out that he was clearly hurt and was putting on a gutsy performance so I hate to call him out with a slow because he was not 100% and was giving it his all so maybe this one is on the coaches for leaving him out there or maybe we just don’t have the depth for someone who would handle it better but he was getting torched on the slant routes. They would isolate him up on a WR or RB and it wasn’t even fair. He could keep up with them and he couldn’t drive through the tackles. It was a tough coverage game for all the LBs but Pat had an extra tough game but again I know if he wasn’t hurt this likely wouldn’t have went the way it did.
· Geoff Collins 4th & 20: Don’t get me wrong here, I am happy he makes this call but this was confounding to me. They are down by 9 and he passes up a middle of the road FG to try a 4th and 20 with 8 or so minutes left in the game? You have to score twice so how do you not go for the FG. I know the kicker missed one earlier and it wasn’t a gimme but the % chance of hitting that FG had to be significantly better then picking up a 4th and 20.
· 1st Half Defense: Here are my excuses for the defense, there was a fluke 3rd down pick up that should have been a sack and punt that turned into a TD, then we had the BS running into the kicker with the fake FG TD and our offense scored incredibly fast whilst also going 3 and out incredibly fast so the first half was filled with a lot of time on the field and weird things happening but in the end the amount of yards we gave up was obscene. They were on pace to have 1,000 yards of offense after that first quarter. I don’t care WHO we are playing be it Alabama or Oregon or whomever, there is little excuse to give up that many yards in that fashion. I am glad though that we pulled it together and played well in the 2nd half and similar to Memphis the lucky stuff wasn’t going to last all night and we caught up to them but that first half was still hard to watch. Guys were way to open and we were bouncing off people on missed tackles and an alarming rate.
· Special Teams: Our FG block, running into kicker, FG fake TD, kicking out of bounds on kick offs, bad squibs, etc… not a great game. Mac though had some really nice punts and we didn’t let them break anything but still could have been better overall.
In conclusion, I have no voice from Temple running 98 freaking plays. I felt like I got my ass kicked when I left there. That was a late one, after work, lots of yelling, losing at half, etc… For UCF though I know this game doesn’t help us Nationally but had we lost we would have gotten crushed so after a game like this it really shows what is the most important thing, just win baby. Survive another week unbeaten is the most important thing we can do no matter how ugly. Also dealing with adversity like we have for the Memphis and Temple game is good for later in the year. WE have won so much we need to have some tough games and figure out ways to get a W. Temple did virtually everything right. They have to be shaking there heads just like Memphis trying to figure out how they ended up losing that game. We are in the midst of a run the likes of which we may never ever experience as UCF fans. We have an absolutely elite offense, crazy offensive depth, an incredibly talented qb, 21 straight wins, etc… it is just crazy to think about. To help put it in perspective with the voting season coming up, just tell your buddies that other college teams maybe having good seasons but only one team hasn’t lost since Obama was President… and eat a bag of dicks, LOL
