Sept. 29, 2009
Knights Football Central
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Orlando, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - On Tuesday afternoon, UCF held its weekly press conference to discuss Saturday afternoon's contest against Memphis. During the press conference, head coach George O'Leary spoke about last week's loss to East Carolina, the play of the offense and this week's match-up against Memphis.
UCF will play host to Memphis this Saturday, Oct. 3 at 3:30 p.m. in Bright House Networks Stadium.
On his team's performance in the East Carolina game:
"I tell my guys before each game that there are essentially four things we have to do. We have to go out and play hard, play together, play smart, and win the game. I do not think that we played very smart against them. We turned the ball over too many times on offense, and that is not going to get our offense in the end zone. With the interceptions and the fumble, that was about 13 points right there we missed out on. I give them a lot of credit for playing hard in a 19-14 game, but we just had too many missed opportunities. Defensively, I felt we had too many missed tackles, and as well there were too many third down plays we gave up."
On quarterback Brett Hodges:
"Brett is a control guy. He does a good job of controlling the game and taking what the defense gives him. You can see that from two weeks ago to last week, he has taken what he has as far as pass to run. I feel he gets us in the right play, and if a pass is called that he controls the ball very well behind the line of scrimmage. He is not a big runner, but Brett has the smarts to know when the pocket starts to collapse and he has to take off."
On wide receiver A.J. Guyton's performance against ECU:
"A.J. definitely showed what a receiver should play like, and that is being able to get more yards after the catch. I was happy for him and pleased to see him making plays. I felt he blocked well at times, and I have known that he has had that ability the whole time. After last week, he does deserve to get out there more and play a larger role in the scheme of our offense. This week, Memphis will show a lot of press and man coverage. A.J. and those guys that can move their feet well are going to be critical for us."
On UCF's offense:
"Hodges does a good job of making plays back there, but the offense as a whole cannot make mistakes. Charlie (Taaffe) and I cannot stand the turnovers and not being able to move the ball. We feel at times we are giving away points. Brett is a calm and poised guy, but I think that it is when he gets excited when things start to happen. We are making more of a point to calm him down and have him maintain control of the offense. I feel we also need to work on our red zone offense. I am pretty disappointed at myself and the offense for not being able to get it in. We have to generate a lot of long drives, and if we do get in the red zone, we have to be able to get it in."
On Memphis:
"I am very impressed with their receivers, and I think they have some tall, talented athletes out there. They run more of a no huddle offense, and like to throw up a lot of deep, vertical balls. Also, they are big on setting up screen plays and throwing the quick routes. I think that their team as a whole has improved offensively. We will certainly have to be able to get more of a pass rush on them. On defense, I think we are going to see a lot of man coverage. It is critical that we go out, and play well on both sides of the ball. Being down right now 0-2, we need this win to essentially help us in the conference the rest of the year."