Sept. 25, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Friday night at BYU had a familiar feel to last Saturday night in FIU, and needless to say that was a painfully bad thing for UCF.
UCF played well enough to win on both sides of the ball, but the Knights were once again done in by special teams mistakes and self-inflicted wounds. UCF led at the half and by seven points in the third quarter, but got outscored 21-7 in the second half of a 24-17 loss to BYU at Lavell Edwards Stadium.
UCFAthletics.com's Knights Insider John Denton breaks down the five things that we learned from UCF's frustrating loss to the Cougars in Provo, Utah.
1. UCF must figure out its punt return and special teams woes. For a second consecutive week, UCF fumbled a bouncing punt inside the 10-yard line. Those errors set up the winning points for FIU two weeks ago and for BYU on Friday night.
In Miami, junior Josh Robinson let a punt hit the ground and then failed to scoop up the bouncing ball, giving the opposition at the 7-yard line. On Friday, redshirt freshman J.J. Worton saw a 67-yard punt sail over his head and then he misplayed the bounce at the 8-yard line. Three plays later, BYU was in the end zone to break a 17-all score and take a 24-17 lead.
Unfortunately for UCF, there were more special teams woes. Just seconds after UCF had grabbed a 17-10 lead, UCF allowed Cody Hoffman to return the kickoff 93 yards. It was BYU's first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1998, a streak of 158 games.
Throw in Nick Cattoi's hooked field goal and it was another sketchy night for a UCF special teams unit that was among the best in the country last season.
2. The Knights are still struggling to run the ball. UCF entered the season expecting to be a dominant team at running the football. That logic made sense with an offensive line that returned four starters with a combined 87 starts and a stable of stellar backs in Ronnie Weaver, Latavius Murray and Brynn Harvey.
But the Knights have struggled mightily to establish much consistency in the running game. UCF had just 81 yards rushing against BYU on 34 carries, averaging just 2.4 yards a carry.
Weaver had a dazzling 9-yard run in the third quarter to set up a touchdown run by Jeff Godfrey, but finished with just 38 yards. Murray netted only 31 yards on 12 carries, while Harvey got just two carries for six yards.
The Knights could be looking to make some changes along the offensive line and will almost assuredly be trying to reestablish the run in two weeks when starting conference play against Marshall. George O'Leary knows that teams have to be able to run the ball and stop the run to win championships, so look for these Knights to focus on getting better physically during the bye week.
3. Even in defeat, UCF's defense is still plenty stout. UCF's defense gave up two touchdowns in the second half on Friday night - one more than it had given up in the previous 18 quarters dating all the way back to the C-USA title game last December.
But it should be noted that both TDs allowed came off short-field scenarios. When UCF had to punt the ball out of its own end zone, BYU needed to march only 38 yards for a tying touchdown. And BYU had to go only 23 yards for the winning points after Worton's muffed punt return in the fourth quarter.
UCF limited BYU to just 260 yards and 16 first downs - well enough to win without the special teams gaffes. The Knights yielded just 133 yards through the air largely because of the play of Kemal Ishmael (10 tackles) and Robinson (three tackles, two pass breakups and an interception). UCF still has not allowed a passing touchdown in four games this season.
4. UCF's passing game showed lots of promise with both Jeff Godfrey and Blake Bortles under center. Attacking the defense down the field was a point of emphasis all week for the Knights, and Godfrey certainly got the message. He had throws of 58 and 54 yards to senior wideout A.J. Guyton and he twice hit H-back Dontravius Floyd in the seams for double-digit gainers.
And when Godfrey briefly went down with a left wrist injury, Bortles came in and didn't miss a beat in the offense. The 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman hit on his first four throws, including a 15-yard strike to Worton on a third-and-13 play. Bortles was so good that after the game, O'Leary was second-guessing himself as to whether he should have stayed with Bortles or not in the fourth quarter.
UCF suffered what could be a major injury in the fourth quarter when Quincy McDuffie sustained a high ankle sprain on an 11-yard catch and run. McDuffie will have the benefit of having 15 days before the Knights play again.
5. There's still plenty to play for this season, namely another Conference USA championship. As much as the nonconference losses to FIU and BYU still sting, they have done little to detract from UCF's first priority for the season: To repeat as C-USA champions. Doing so gives the Knights more championship hardware and it also guarantees the Knights of playing in the Liberty Bowl once again.
UCF still has the team and the talent to roll through C-USA's East Division, but tough road games loom at SMU, Southern Miss and East Carolina. Get past those landmines and the Knights would likely face either Houston or Tulsa in the C-USA championship game.
Sure the dreams of being 12-0 and BCS busters are over, but another league title would soften some of the disappointment from losing two games that the Knights felt they very much should have won.
John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.