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Nov. 21, 2006
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF Head Coach George O'Leary discussed a variety of topics at his final weekly press conference of the 2006 season on Tuesday at the Wayne Densch Sports Complex. The third-year coach talked about his team's final regular-season game with UAB as well as it being UCF's final game at the Florida Citrus Bowl before the team moves on-campus next season to the Bright House Stadium.
Kickoff is set for Noon on Saturday between the Knights (3-8, 2-5 C-USA) and Blazers (3-8, 2-5 C-USA). The game will be televised regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast, marking the ninth telecast of the season for UCF. The Knights own a 3-0 advantage in the all-time series with the Blazers.
On the Tulane game:
"As a head coach when you look at a situation like that, I think that is probably the fourth game this season that I think we were out there and sort of beat ourselves as far as doing things that you cannot do in games that you need to win: penalties, missed kicks, and turnovers at the wrong time. I always look at the game as far as the good things, I thought that defensively that was the second week in a row that defensively, we stepped up to the plate and did a good job. Offensively, Kyle [Israel] went in and was 16-of-20 throwing the ball and really did a good job. There are a lot of positives there, but right now as I look at the season there are probably four (games) out there where we sort of beat ourselves because of things you can not do in games: penalties, turnovers, missed kicks, and fundamental stuff that you need to do, if you are going to win games. The one good thing about all that stuff is that it is all correctable. Obviously, I think the problem in coaching is when you do not know what the problem is. I do know what the problem is and again we have an off season to get a lot of that stuff corrected."
How was today's practice?
"I thought pretty good. I tell you what, this team, in my experiences in talking to a lot of coaches when you are out of the bowl season, a lot of teams tank it, this team has not. They practice hard, they are enjoying practice and we have a lot of good young players that are getting better. I think that is the reason, defensively, they are getting better. I think the young players are getting better and the light bulb finally went on with some of them. They have been practicing hard, today was a good practice. I have been saying this all along, that we are getting into games and shooting ourselves in the foot at times. You would like to have three or four plays back every game, but that is not the way it works. It is something that can be correctable and I will correct it in the off-season."
It seems like the little things have really hurt this team this year. How are you able to teach the players in the off-season to not make the same mistakes?
"I thought that the last game was an indicator, normally, when you are 3-7 and you lose a game like that it does not bother a lot of kids. Our locker room was dead silent after that game and they know. As a coach you do not have to pointing it out or harping about it all the time. I thought that defensively, every dog has its day, they did not play well in the first half and they were too shy in coverage, I thought. They just let too many things happen in front of them instead of closing and having a little more confidence with their foot speed. In the second half, I thought they went out and did a heck of a job.
"Offensively we struggled. The four three-and-outs in a row were the killers to me. You have to make plays. We just did not make plays. Our offensive line did not have a great day as far as establishing the line of scrimmage. Overall, again the leading receiver in receptions in the country is [Mike] Walker and he is the one who drops the ball. Now do I jump all over Mike Walker? He felt worse than anybody. Things happen, but we are always talking about ball security and stuff like that. Again, when you get down into the red zone, everyone wants to get on the kicker and the fumble.
"I look at the red zone and the execution in the red zone, which still bothers me from a stand point of scoring touchdowns. We are fine from the 20 to the 20. We get inside the 20 and they sort of squeeze the offense in and our lack of speed in some areas is negated. That is when we end up having trouble. Everybody is manned up down there and they are playing some one-on-ones. You have to win. You have to win the routes. A couple of routes were there. We threw the ball a little late. Again, it is something I am harping on with the coaches all the time about is the packages down there and the runs that were called down there. I know people are yelling and screaming, but (the plays) are there. If we just block what we are supposed to block.
"It is a team game for a reason. It is not the quarterback. It is not the receivers. At different times it is different pieces of that puzzle. Again, I do see improvement in some of them, especially defensively. I think they are playing now the way I thought they would play from the get-go. I think that it is important to get the right people on the field. I think the addition of Chance Henderson has really helped. He is going to be a fine player. We were going to play him earlier, except he got hurt. When freshmen are out there, they do not understand that they still have to learn the game and anticipate the game plan.
How would you define the 2006 season?
"I would probably say disappointing. I think that we closed on a lot of teams that the year before beat us on the field pretty good: Southern Miss and South Florida. Those are games that this year that we had opportunities to win, but you cannot, as a I said earlier, we are beating ourselves in certain segments of the game. But, they are all correctable. I would say disappointing, but encouraging from the play of the young players."
The seniors have had such an up and down time at UCF. How do you react to them?
"That is what is important to me. I addressed some seniors and some fifth-year players that will be graduating too. That is what is important to me, is getting your degree, very little playing in college ball, less than one percent, gets a chance to play more ball. They need to get their lives set. I just hope that they walk away from the program understanding what responsibility is and that you are accountable to your actions. And that they end up being very professional people in what ever life they choose. I will do whatever I can do to make sure that they get their degree. I have been in the NFL and I know how long it lasts, not very long, but you need to get your degree.
"All 17 seniors will graduate, so I am pleased with that. It has been a tough season for them. Really, when you look at the senior class, really only two or three of them play right now. It does not surprise me, I said that back in August, that I thought we were in a situation that a lot of young kids were going to be more productive. That is pretty much what happened. I think the senior class, a credit to them, is that they hung in there. It is hard when you are a senior, I've tried to sprinkle them into special teams, but they have been out there. and have not hurt this football team. The big thing is that they have helped us on special teams. Besides [Mike] Walker, [Chris] Welsh, and [Steven] Moffett, there are not a lot of seniors out there, but I think they are in practice and trying to help us get better."
What are your thoughts on the last game at the Citrus Bowl?
"I have been there a number of times. My first time in there was the championship year, we beat Nebraska when I was at (Georgia) Tech. I think it is a great venue. I just think, obviously, UCF went in the direction they should go and have their own campus site. You will see that it is coming along really well. It really is. I think the dynamics of that new stadium, people do not really understand yet really how much it is going to play into UCF becoming a name because you are going to get a lot more people on campus, there are going to be a lot more things happening. It is going to become a work day for a lot of people.
You are going into another off season with a lot of returning starters. How is another off season with a lot of young players help the team?
"If they have played, they are no longer youth. Basically, we still red-shirted a lot of freshmen. The problem with this year is when you lose the bowl game. It is not the bowl game, I've been to plenty of bowls. It is the practice that you are missing out on. - another ten days of practice with those young kids. That is big because that is like another spring ball. That is why teams that go to bowl games continue to go back to bowl games. Some just have outstanding talent already, but I think that the extra time with kids as far as bowl practice time it is like another spring ball before heading into spring ball. You miss out on that. That is the real big benefit to coaches. Obviously to the fans and players, it is a nice trip and a lot of gifts and all that. As I coach I look at it as, I miss out on the chance to check out some of these freshmen red-shirts that have been on the show teams the whole season. We do not work on technique with them at that time, but these next ten practices when you would be at a bowl game, that is where you sort of fall behind a little bit."
What are your thoughts on UAB coming in on Saturday?
"I tell you what, they played a tough schedule, Georgia and Oklahoma. They have been in every game. I think they have probably a little bit of the problem we have, as far as having some problems in why you lose games and why you win games. They have a big offensive line upfront and two defensive ends that are very talented in the pass rush. Again, a lot of games that they had, it cams down to the fourth quarter where they could have won or lost in that fourth quarter, so they have been in every game in conference USA that I have seen on tape. They have a senior group of backs, we will have to play well defensively and offensively make some chunk plays to get the ball down field to see where we can go. Again, it is the last game for the seniors and I will try to play a lot of the seniors in some type of role. Whether it is on special teams or get them into the game somewhere because I think that is the right thing to do."