Sept. 22, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - On Tuesday afternoon, UCF held its weekly press conference to discuss Saturday's contest against East Carolina.
During the press conference, head coach George O'Leary spoke about what he will expect from East Carolina, the importance on winning every conference game, among other topics.
On his team's performance in the Buffalo game:
"We looked at the film after the game, and after our first drive, I do not think our guys did a very good job in the first half at playing to the speed of the game. I thought defensively we were playing too soft, and we were not able to pick up that transition to the ball. The second half is more of what we would like to see out of our guys; and playing all three aspects of the game very well."
On UCF's upcoming game against East Carolina:
"This is going to be a big conference game for us. I think that East Carolina plays very well, and they are a good football team with a lot of size, speed and experience on both sides of the ball. I think their sixth year quarterback does a great job of controlling the team, and is surrounded by some good receivers and big physical running backs. I think to be able to play them well, we cannot take a play off or have a bad half, and be able to start and finish the game strong. The beginning of the game is going to show a lot of differences on both sides, but, when push comes to shove, we will both get back to we do best."
On conference play:
"Right now, we still control our own destiny within the conference. We do not want to be put into that position where we have to count on someone else losing once or twice. I think our guys understand that very well, and understand our goal each year of winning the conference. To do that, we have to be able to win the division first, and cannot afford to suffer any more losses within the conference."
On the defense's performance carrying over to East Carolina:
"We told our guys at half time of the Buffalo game to just let go and go out and attack. I think most of our mistakes were self-inflicted, and after the coaches made the adjustments, our guys really responded well. I told my guys that it all comes to blocking and tackling, and that whatever 22 players come out of the locker room is fine. I slammed the door, and I'm glad that all of them came out behind me. We have to be able to control the line of scrimmage and force turnovers."
On running back Brynn Harvey:
"Brynn has a done really well, but I am concerned with his short yardage play. I feel he has to do a much better job of making one cut and getting north and south. We will address more of his yards after contact, and being able to use more of shoulder pads."
On Brett Hodges:
"We did not expect to see Brett run the ball that much, but if he could, he would still be running. Brett is an edgy player and he's doing a fine job running the offense. He does a good job of taking what options he has available, and if those options are not there, to be able to take off and go. He's also shown that he is smart enough to be able to take to the ground when he gets out into the open field."
On Jah Reid and the offensive line:
"Jah is a 6'7", 315 pound guy who has a long reach, but he has to be able to get more hands on people. He has a long reach and at times has his arms bent too far out. We are working on him being able to get his arms and hands into a push-up position rather than a bench press position. We have some excellent guys at both the guard and tackle positions, and I still feel that they have not played their best game yet."