Nov. 20, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
NEW ORLEANS, La. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF head coach George O'Leary jokingly said in the days before Saturday's UCF-Tulane game that he's had plenty of fun in New Orleans on his many visits to the famed French Quarter through the years, but he stressed that this particular road game by the Knights was strictly a business trip.
To make sure his players kept their focus on the game and the task of hand, O'Leary had a strict schedule for the team to follow on the day before the game and on Saturday. The schedule was basically the same as it is on every roadtrip, but there was purposely little down time scheduled because of the temptations and distractions near the team's hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans.
UCF's travelling party arrived in New Orleans after 4 p.m. on Friday, and the team had dinner together at 6:30. From there, players were in position and special teams meetings for 75 minutes. And there was a 10 p.m. curfew.
And on Saturday, the Knights had an 8:45 a.m. wakeup call followed by a mandatory devotional program and breakfast. More meetings followed before the team boarded busses for the Louisiana Superdome. The team flew out after the game and was scheduled to arrive back on campus by 10:30 p.m.
``There is a sheet we put out, an itinerary, and they pretty much know what they have to do, when they have to do it, where they have to do it and what time they have to do it at,'' O'Leary said. ``That's pretty much the way it is. This is not our first rodeo. We have been on I think four other trips this year so I think we are fine and Tulane is not a long trip. It's a normal Saturday game.''
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POWER OF THE POLLS: UCF's first-ever climb into the national polls proved to be a short one, but the power of climbing into the polls persists.
UCF Director of Athletics Keith Tribble said on Saturday that he got several calls congratulating him last week when the Knights went to No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches poll and No. 25 in the Associated Press poll. It was UCF's first-ever climb into the national rankings, and unfortunately it proved to be a short stay as the Knights lost to Southern Miss and were bounced.
But Tribble said just being ranked had an effect he didn't necessarily expect.
``I had schools calling me who wouldn't talk about playing us in the past who were mentioning games because we're a Top 25 team now,'' Tribble said with a chuckle.
UCF has already secured future games against BYU, South Carolina, UConn, Boston College and Kansas State. The Knights play at BYU and FIU next season and host Boston College at Bright House Networks Stadium.
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QUINCY THE QUICK: Sophomore speedster Quincy McDuffie got UCF off to a tremendous start on Saturday with a dazzling 95-yard kickoff return to open the game. McDuffie, one of the fastest players in the nation, then scored a second touchdown on a 28-yard screen pass to give the Knights a 14-0 lead just 3:06 into the game.
McDuffie came into the game ranked second in the nation in kick returns, averaging 31.2 yards a return. He's helped the Knights also rank second in the country with a 26.2-yard return average on kickoffs this season. He is one of only four players in the country with two kickoff returns for touchdowns this season.
McDuffie, who returned a 93-yard kick for a score earlier this season, has now returned three kickoffs for a touchdown in his career. That's good for second all-time in school history, trailing only the four by Todd Cleveland from 1994-97.
UCF, Clemson, Houston, Kansas State, FIU, Louisiana Tech and East Carolina are the only schools in the country to return a kickoff for a touchdown each of the past four seasons.
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LESSONS LEARNED: From his first practice at UCF back in the spring, quarterback Jeff Godfrey has been a quick study when it comes to picking up the Knights' offense. And one thing that has impressed O'Leary and offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe has been Godfrey's ability to take his mistakes and learn from them. Rarely, Taaffe has said, does Godfrey make the same mistake twice.
Godfrey said he spent much of the past week in the film room trying to dissect what Southern Miss did to him in last Saturday's game. Godfrey was mostly held in check by a Southern Miss defense that blitzed him often and other times dropped their defensive ends back to keep him contained in the pocket.
As a result, Godfrey ran for just six yards, got sacked three times and had two of his passes picked off. The poor performance bothered Godfrey so much so that he put in extra work this week to ensure he didn't repeat his mistakes.
``I obviously didn't go out there and do a good job of reading the blitzes or make the throws that I know I could. So for me, it's about staying humble and learning from my mistakes,'' Godfrey said. ``From the Southern Miss game, I've been staying in the film room, looking at the blitzes. I'm trying to figure out what they did to me and not let it happen again.''
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ETC: UCF's 31 points in the first quarter on Saturday were the most in school history to start a game. The Knights broke the previous record of 28 scored in the first quarter against Millersville University in 1991. ... Godfrey's favorite professional athlete is New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees in part because they are both 6-foot quarterbacks who have overcome their lack of height to thrive at the position. Godfrey said he was honored to be playing on the same field that Brees normally plays on. Said Godfrey: ``It's so cool that we're playing there. I'd so love for him to be there. It's cool to be playing on the same field where he plays.'' ... Latavius Murray, who is back at full speed after tearing his ACL and contemplating transferring, made the first start of his career on Saturday. Murray, who replaced Ronnie Weaver, entered the game averaging 4.7 yards a carry and six rushing touchdowns. He sprinted 46 yards late in the first quarter for a touchdown for a score that put UCF up 31-0. Weaver entered the game on the third offensive possession and ran 29 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. ... Phil Ashler, UCF Assistant AD for Ticket and Sales Operations, said that more 600 Knights fans purchased tickets for Saturday's game through the school. Approximately 1,000 UCF fans sat in the lower bowl along the sideline near the Knights' bench. ... UCF entered Saturday's game with quite a quirky streak against Tulane, and then proceeded to build upon it. Because the Knights scored the final nine points of the 2006 meeting against Tulane, blanked the Green Wave 49-0 last season in Orlando and scored the first 38 points on Saturday, UCF scored 96 consecutive points against Tulane. The Green Wave stopped the streak on a short touchdown run with nine minutes left in the second quarter. ... Godfrey's 60-yard touchdown toss to senior wide out Kamar Aiken in the second quarter was UCF's longest offensive play of the season.
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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.