Sept. 26, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - As Sunday morning devolved into Sunday afternoon, head coach George O'Leary sat slouched in his office chair and poured over the final three plays of UCF's crushing 17-13 loss to Kansas State once more.
There was the play where the linebacker could have stopped the final drive had he just broken on the pass out to the flat on a third-and-four scenario. There was the option play to the right where the line surrendered too much ground. And finally, there was the play where UCF's backer had his legs cut out from under him by a lineman and K-State quarterback Carson Coffman spun into the end zone for the game's deciding points.
``Agony,'' was how O'Leary described the film review. ``That's the difference between winning and losing right there. We played so well until the last series and then gave up some plays that we shouldn't have given up.''
It was little solace to UCF and O'Leary on Sunday that the Knights dominated both sides of the ball and didn't trail until the final 24 seconds of the game. However, the Knights were haunted by missing too many scoring chances early in the game and an inability to get a stop on Kansas State's final drive. The result was another frustrating near miss in a game that could have been another landmark moment for UCF's program.
``It's just very disappointing,'' O'Leary said. ``Defensively, we played very well and put them in some bad positions. They made plays on the last series and there were a couple we'd like to have back, but (the defense) kept us in the game.
"Offensively, I thought we were very inconsistent and left a lot of plays on the field,'' O'Leary continued. ``There were a lot of people open in the passing game and a lot more detail needed in the run game. The disappointing thing is we had our opportunities. When you go inside that scoring zone five times and you get just 10 points, that's not good enough.''
UCF's upcoming week off couldn't have come at a better time considering the frustration level surrounding the 2-2 Knights now. UCF was its own worst enemy earlier in the season in a 28-21 loss to NC State with five turnovers. And the Knights lost on Saturday despite outgaining (344-272) and outrushing (252-83) Kansas State. Of the 64 Football Championship Subdivision teams with at least two losses, only Troy (four points) and Virginia Tech (eight points) have two defeats tougher than UCF's seven- and four-point losses.
The Knights don't play again until Oct. 6 in a nationally televised game against UAB (1-3) at Bright House Networks Stadium. The Blazers lost to Tennessee in two overtimes on Saturday. The game is the first of eight straight Conference USA games for a Knights team that now shifts its sights to winning the league crown.
``The goal is to win, period. When the season starts you want to win every game. But ultimately the goal is to win the conference because that decides where we'll go (in the postseason),'' O'Leary said. ``Fortunately we've gone through the non-conference part of the schedule with nicks and bruises, but not many injuries. Now, we get a chance to get our feet back under us and get ready for conference play.''
O'Leary had high praise for the play of tailback Ronnie Weaver (130 rush yards) and cornerback Josh Robinson (three tackles, three pass break-ups and a touchdown-saving tackle). But he was disappointed in the consistency of the pass game, the defensive breakdowns at the end of the game and the two missed field goals that kept the Knights from building on their lead early in the game. O'Leary was also frustrated that freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey was dropped with an arm tackle following a 20-yard run in the second quarter and wide out A.J. Guyton collapsed into a heap on a swing pass even though he had just one defender to beat - two plays that could have easily been two more touchdowns for the Knights.
He said he's planning to meet with the offense as a whole during this week off to talk about the need to play better and take better care of the small details. After all, those factors are often the difference between a landmark victory and another frustrating defeat.
``I want to meet with the offense and show them about 20 plays that I have tagged where we're a step away or a half-block away from taking it all the way,'' O'Leary said. ``Players make plays and we just have to make more of them.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.