Oct. 6, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Its dreams of an unbeaten season gone after crushing losses to NC State and Kansas State, UCF's football team has set its sights on an unbeaten stretch of a different sort now.
The Knights (2-2) are finished with the four game non-conference portion of the schedule and can focus solely now on the remaining eight games of the Conference USA slate, beginning with tonight's game against UAB (1-3) at Bright House Networks Stadium. Kickoff is at 8:05 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
UCF players have had 10 days to bounce back from their heart-breaking 17-13 loss to K-State. They started the recovery with a players-only meeting and have since gone back to work on the practice field by looking ahead instead of behind them. The focus now is entirely on beating UAB and ultimately going undefeated in the next eight conference games.
``We all feel that we could be 4-0, but there was a lot of stuff that prevented us from doing that,'' senior wide receiver Brian Watters said. ``In order to be undefeated you have to be almost perfect and we did some stuff to take that opportunity away from us. Right now, we're just focused on being 8-0 (in conference play).''
UCF is hoping to set a student attendance record at tonight's game and put on a good showing of the school before the nationally televised audience. UCF's students and all other local colleges have been invited to the game in an attempt to fill Bright House Networks Stadium's 45,000 seats with a big chunk of students. UCF is ended classes at 12:30 today and the tailgating lots open at 2 p.m. in an attempt to build the crowd.
UCF coach George O'Leary said he doesn't mind playing on a Wednesday because of the national exposure it gives to the Knights football program and the UCF campus. And O'Leary likes it even better considering that the Knights two Wednesday games - they play in Huntington, W.Va., against Marshall next week - come in consecutive order.
``It helps having two Wednesdays in a row rather than just one Wednesday and splitting it up,'' O'Leary said. ``The big thing is that there's two in a row. The kids get used to that schedule and it's not so bad two weeks in a row. You take the Wednesday night game because you're the only game on TV, so it's great exposure for the teams playing and the UCF campus. ESPN usually does a great job of getting around and making sure everything gets included in the tape as far as the campus itself. I think it's great exposure throughout the whole country.''
UCF hopes to put on a good offensive show and expects to use two quarterbacks and at least two tailbacks against UAB. Freshman phenom Jeff Godfrey will make his third consecutive start and hopes to add some consistency to his flair for the dramatic. The last time he played in Bright House Networks Stadium he directed two touchdown drives and nearly a third one as UCF nearly clawed all the way back from a 21-point hole against NC State. Godfrey ran for 99 yards - second most in UCF school history for a quarterback - two weeks ago in the loss at K-State.
Junior Rob Calabrese, who started the first two games of the season before giving way to Godfrey, is expected to play as O'Leary tries to manage the workload on his freshman signal-caller from Miami.
``Both of the quarterbacks bring two totally different things to the game and I think it's a good decision to play both of them,'' senior wide receiver Jamar Newsome said. ``Their job is to get the ball to us receivers and our job is to catch it. There's really not an issue working with two guys. Because we work with both of them during the week, it will be just like practice.''
Ronnie Weaver, who has climbed his way up the depth chart from third-string walk-on to the starter, will open at tailback again. He's helped soften the blow of UCF losing standout back Brynn Harvey to a knee injury. He ran for 130 yards and a touchdown against K-State and has averaged 5.9 yards a carry this season while scoring three times. Jonathan Davis will backup Weaver at tailback.
UAB has seen plenty of heartbreak on the field this season. The Blazers, who always seen to play UCF tough despite losing six of the seven meetings, have had three games come down to the final play this season. UAB had a 28-yard field goal blocked as time expired in a 32-31 loss to Florida Atlantic. UAB quarterback Bryan Ellis led the Blazers back from a 23-0 deficit and beat Troy 34-33 with a 44-yard touchdown pass with no time remaining. Then, 10 days ago against Tennessee, UAB lost on a 25-yard touchdown pass in double overtime.
But the Knights aren't focusing on UAB as much as they are themselves. UCF wants to eliminate mistakes and play its finest football of the season to set the stage for they hope will be a run all the way to the Conference USA title game. After all, winning these next eight games would go a long way in helping the Knights forget the two tough early losses.
``We still have everything in front of us and everything in the world to play for. We can go 8-0 and go to the conference championship game and win that, too,'' said senior linebacker Derrick Hallman, who helped to organize a player's only meeting last week. ``We have a 10-win season and nobody is going to cry over spilled milk. That's what I wanted to get over to (his teammates). Make everybody else pay for that feeling after losing to Kansas State.''
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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.