This was an interesting game to watch. It is perplexing to me how our defense looks like they are going to get absolutely housed during the first few plays of every game. Think UL, FAU, etc... the other team goes through us like a hot knife through butter. We look confused, cant tackle, etc... and then we end up basically shutting the offense down the rest of the game. Really odd how that is playing out. The offense took a bit longer to get goin but once they did they were on fire as well. I don't think many of us would have taken a bet at half time when we were down 13-10 that we would end up scoring 41pts in the game. Literally 31 unanswered points, crazy considering how bad the offense looked in the first half. This game kind of felt like the offense may have turned a corner...
UCF Fast:
UCF Fast:
- 2nd Half JRP: He figured some shit out in that 2nd half. I think the playing calling from Gus is almost as important as JRP's reads. Gus needs to call the right plays for JRP and i feel like he did that much better in the 2nd half. The quick slants to Baker are a must to keep going. I am not sure what JRP's 2nd half stats were but they had to be elite. I think the only incompletion was that awful Baker drop he is good for once a game. Ran when he needed to, was accurate, put it all together. Big turn around from 1st half.
- Baker: Besides that awful drop on the slant he showed why he is on a different level when he gets his hands on the ball. This offense needs to do a better job getting the ball into the hands of Baker, Kobe, Okeefe and Richardson. Those guys can all be dynamic. When we get rolling it is impossible for defenses to key on all those guys and account for JRP.
- Okeefe: Great to see him get going. he has been quiet this year and he started looking like 2021 Okeefe today. I know he was banged up, great to see him back at it.
- Kobe Perry: That tackle he made on the TE on that 4th down pass was really incredible. That guy was like double his size and he only needed a yard for the first down. That was an amazing play. Overall i felt he played with energy and was around the ball a lot. I assume Bullard was hurt, hopefully he is ok because he is too good of a tackler to not be playing.
- Defense Overall: The defense held SMU to 13 pts and that includes basically spotting them 7 to start. TMB had some big plays although i thought we lacked consistent pressure. I hated the big cushions to start the game but hard to argue with the results. Montalvo had himself a game as well. Barber with some nice stops. Solid effort.
- UCF Stadium Music/Interaction: For those of you that do not like the Frankie Valley song i do not believe they played it unless i missed it. They did do the lights up and down thing which does get everyone pumped. Just wish they did it when we were on defense. I like how they added the smoke and fireworks to get the crowd going. I really like the house music build up with the smoke. I still feel we could really seperate our game day experience AND get students in the seats if we had a DJ booth in or above the student section really getting after it.
- Kicking Game: I really love how we fixed our kicking game. It was awful the first few games and with the change at Kicker and Punter in combo with our kick off guy and Osteen coming in for the short punts, we have a great balance.
- Students: I get why some of the normal fans cannot make a Wed night game that was rescheduled twice but what is the students excuse. I assumed students would be in full force and it would be light on the sides and it was the exact opposite. The fans came out and supported, it was a decent crowd all things considered but the thing that was missing was the students. I just don't understand what the hell they are doing on a Wed night? What else are you doing that you cannot come watch the game? Am i missing something here? Any explanation for why there were maybe 1/4 or a 1/5 of the normal amount of students at the game?
- Stadium Replays: I shit on this every week but we have to do better. For example the fumble on that first drive for SMU after the blown coverage, i have no idea who caused it. I couldn't tell in real time, tried to watch the replay and of course no replay. How do you not show a replay on a big play like that? We need a bigger jumbo-tron and better lightning but that costs money and time, replays should be an easy get. No valid excuse i an aware of. just do better.
- PI Calls: There were a few borderline PI calls but i thought two of them were really bad. The one on Thornton i thought he made a good play on the ball and timed it well and they threw the flag. I believe that saved the drive. Then later, possibly on the same drive, the under thrown ball to the left, possibly back shoulder, their WR held our CB up from making play back on the ball, could have been offensive PI and they called it on us. Those were two really shat calls. Other then that the game was called pretty well, not a lot of penalties but those two were bad and were both drive extenders.
- Not Using Richardson: I assume he must have been hurt and if so i will give Gus a pass but how Gus doesnt find more ways to get JR the ball is really beyond me. he is too special to only touch the ball 4 or so times a game. I know we have a lot of mouths to feed but i had to scratch my head on the Coles play on the goal line. Seemed like a weird time for him to get is first carry of the season. I feel like they can line JR up at WR and get him the ball quick out in space. I feel the same way about Gamble, if they want to one on one the WR and stack the box get a mismatch and just lob it up to the big man. I am not sure what it is but on offense i don't feel like we are taking full advantages of the mismatches we have. Again hate to complain after a win like that. I am hoping JRP and the play calling figured something out in that 2nd half.
