Nov. 15, 2005
ORLANDO - UCF head coach George O'Leary met the Orlando media Tuesday to discuss the Golden Knights' win at UAB and this week's Conference USA game at Rice. With a win Saturday, UCF would clinch a spot in the inaugural Conference USA Championship Game as the eastern division champion.
Opening Statement:
Just to recap the game last week, I thought it was a game we played in spurts. I think anytime you play away and you are down and have a chance to come back, thank god for turnovers. We got four of them in the fourth quarter, but more importantly, we got points off of them. It is one thing to get points and help your field position, the next thing is to get points off of them and that is what we did.
It was a good win against a good UAB team and obviously it puts us in contention (for a C-USA Eastern Division title) this Saturday with the Rice game. With Houston helping us Sunday night everything is on the table, there is no guess work. You win you have a chance to play in the conference championship.
There is no more counting on anyone else. It is on our shoulders to go out and get the job done. I think the players understand that. As I tell them, if you practice well you have a chance to play well. That is pretty much what they have done this season. It is amazing that when you are playing well how many more opportunities you get through turnovers to make good things happen. We are looking forward to this game this weekend. This game will pretty much set the tone as far as what comes after it.
On facing a different type of offense with Rice:
Well it is the wishbone (offense) and different formations with the wishbone. I think that is what makes it unique. You do not see it any other time during the year. It is the wishbone and then the quickness of the wishbone. You really can't duplicate it in practice.
We probably have as good a quarterback as anyone to try and duplicate it in Marquel Neaseman because that is pretty much what he ran when he was in high school. It breaks down the responsibilities of your defense in that somebody has the dive, somebody has the quarterback, somebody has the pitch and somebody has the play action. I always look at missed assignments because all it takes is one and somebody is running free.
It really makes the defense focus on their responsibilities. When you run that kind of offense you don't get a lot of people pursuing because they are involved in other facets of the option game. They will have their work cut out for them. They (Rice) ran for 396 yards last weekend and that is a lot of yards.
The only team that has held them under 150 rushing yards has been Texas. I think they average about 226 yards per game on the ground. Their 90 passing yards per game are all quick strikes. You are so involved in stopping the run game that all of the sudden somebody is behind you in the passing game. It is going to come down to accountability with the defense this week and how well they fulfill their responsibilities.
On how satisfying the turnaround has been given all the road games and the amount of younger players contributing:
That is one thing that people have overlooked, is the amount of away games this team has played (seven). That is a lot of games and a lot of new stadiums. The one thing that I have seen, even last week, was that the band was there and our fans were probably louder than UAB's.
We are getting a little more each game following us which I think is good and helps with a young club. You really don't want to be traveling a lot with young teams. I think they have reacted well. We have been ahead and we have been behind in away games. They have reacted by not worrying about the setback but realizing that the next play is the most important play.
On how the younger players have grown up this year:
I think we are playing seven freshmen and seven redshirt freshmen. Once they play they are no longer freshmen. I have made it very clear that freshmen that play right away don't act like freshmen. They ask the right questions and they come from football programs, not football teams. They come from programs that have a weight program and a structured high school program.
Other guys that come in from a team don't always have a good weight program and they don't follow up in the off-season with the kids. Those kids struggle early because they are not use to structured environment and time management. The kids that are playing for us right now came from structured high school programs. They had a year-round program and the coaches stayed on them as far as time management and making sure they did the right thing. That makes it a little bit easier to play as a true freshman.
On Matt Prater's performance:
I was so happy for him because he has taken a lot of hits. He is a good kicker and he keeps looking to see what the problem is. I thought the problem was between his ears. I went back and looked at film on him last year and he had a different style. I spoke to him and told him to go back and look at the tape. He was yanking everything and wasn't following through. He went back and looked at it and made the adjustment. When you look at kickoffs, he has done a really good job. He has just been off on his field goals. He is a very good kicker and I would put him up against anyone in our conference.
On keeping up the intensity at practice:
I have always said that if I see a mistake, I am going to correct it. I don't miss much on the field. If I don't blow a whistle and I don't see anyone else correct it, then I am going to blow the whistle and will correct it. I think if a mistake is made and you don't correct it, then shame on coaching. We get paid to make sure we correct things. That may be the play on Saturday that the kid makes the same mistake and it costs you the game. I am going to correct things. You have to make sure that the players and coaches attitudes stay the same. If we don't correct mistakes then it will no longer be a mistake, it will be a problem.