UCF football has been working hard this week to correct its mistakes that cost the Knights their first loss of the season last week against Tulsa in the 34-26 loss.
Need to fix mistakes
Penalties and turnovers killed UCF in this matchup. In three games, UCF is the most penalized team in the country with 45 penalties, 18 in one game including 19 false starts in the last two games. The Knights’ offense committed 25 false start penalties so far this campaign and 11 in the loss to Tulsa.
With this bye week, players were able to get some time off to heal up any nagging injuries and give an opportunity to some to gain more practice time heading into the weekend.
On Friday, head coach Josh Heupel said, “The penalties kill you and you’re playing in long-yardage situations and for us, we never got into our rhythm, we never got into our tempo, that hurt us. You add up all those issues and you have way too many things to overcome during a 60-minute ballgame. You put a lot of time and energy and prepare to do those things. We did things that hurt us in that ball game that you can’t do. Our kids do take it personally and at the same time, they came back, and they’ve been great all week.”
When asked about losing out on an undefeated season, Heupel said “Guys are disappointed, the expectation here is to win.”
Moving forward
Now, the Knights prepare to play Memphis in what should be a good bounce back game for UCF. When asked about this week’s upcoming matchup, Heupel said, “Memphis is a good football team. I think they have skilled players on the offensive side of the ball and they’ve done a good job over the last couple of years.”
On Monday afternoon, UCF will begin its work week for their battle at Memphis, which kickoffs at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be aired on ABC.
UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel will look for a strong performance considering his last outing ended with mistakes and most importantly a loss. So far, he has thrown for 1,155 yards on 87 of 139 attempts and nine touchdowns with a pair of interceptions to go with it. Running Back Otis Anderson has 194 yards on 42 carries and two scores on the season himself. Star receiver Marlon Williams has 32 receptions for 388 yards and two touchdowns. Memphis is 1-1 heading into the next week, and UCF looks to gain control of its season sitting at 2-1 so far.
Injury update
Wide receiver Tre Nixon, guard Parker Boudreaux and running back Greg McCrae are all questionable for UCF football. Wide receiver Marlon Williams is probable.
Photo courtesy of UCFKnights.com
