UCF Head Coach Scott Frost
Opening Statement:
"Anytime you can win in this league, it's a good win. I told the team after I'm amazed and proud of what they've accomplished. It's hard to be 9-0. It's also an interesting feeling when you come off and not everybody is elated, because they know we didn't play quite our best as a football team. It's awesome when you get a win when you don't quite play your best. But I think our guys understand we are going to have to be at our best in upcoming weeks, so we're looking forward to getting back to work.
On a great week:
"Yeah this has been one of the best weeks I've had and I'm grateful to these players for playing as hard as they did and put in these two games out because the birth of my son with two wins makes it one of the best weeks I've ever had."
On UCF:
"I think the administration, campus and everybody is doing everything they can to try to fast forward this program and university and catapult us to what we all know this place can become. I think staying ahead of the curve on facilities certainly isn't easy, but the commitment to do that has been incredible. I'm just thrilled with all the changes and things that are happening around here and really think Dr. Hitt, Danny White, the donors and everybody else that is getting these things done."
On UConn's quarterback David Pindell:
"Impressed with him he's a good athlete. I think they're getting better as a football team from what I saw at the beginning of the year. They played USF pretty tough last week and played us really tough today. So I know they're doing a good job up there. He's a good athlete. I think they hit us on a couple of little gadget things that we probably weren't quite ready for and I thought they had a good day. So again anytime you can win in this league. It's a good win. And I'm excited about where our football team is right."
On Adrian Killians:
"He got banged up a little I think we could have put him back in. But at that point Otis and made a plays for us and we just finished the game with him."
On the fourth quarter:
"We didn't make any mistakes that stopped drives. It's hard to get in a rhythm when you're making mistakes offensively and you have a negative play or you have a penalty or a turnover. If we can stay in rhythm and stay out of the chains on first and second down, then we're in a good spot. I think we did that in the fourth quarter."
On his speech
You know this team doesn't really need rah-rah speeches. This team has plenty of energy. All we need to do is go out and do our job and execute. And I think they understand that I don't want to be a coach of a team that that needs me to do jumping jacks and yell at them to play hard. And our guys don't need that. We just needed to quit making mistakes."
On McKenzie Milton:
"McKenzie's been our catalyst. We have a lot of guys around him that make football plays. McKenzie is the one making the decisions and distributing. I thought he played a clean game today. Their defense did a good job and took away some of the things we thought we were going to have, and that made us sputter a little bit. Some of our mistakes made us sputter. But when we need plays, McKenzie makes them and he's been lights out from a decision making standpoint all year. So another good performance by him."
On Tre'Quan Smith
"Tre'Quan is going to start for us all year. He practices hard, he plays hard. He's a good teammate. He's a good leader. I'm glad he's a Knight."
On a great week:
"Yeah this has been one of the best weeks I have had. I'm grateful to these players for playing as hard as they did and pulling these two games out, because the birth of my son with two wins makes it one of the best weeks I've ever had."
On Noah Vedral's touchdown to Cam Stewart:
"Well the decision was pretty easy: They left a guy uncovered. We were in the huddle and we kind of had that play set up from things we had run earlier, and it was time to put Noah in. I actually asked him "Have you thrown a touchdown pass yet?" And he said no, so we called that play. It was a lot more open than I expected it to be, so he could play a long time and not have an easier touchdown pass than that. But Noah's been doing great. He's gotten better every week and we trust him to go in and make plays if we need him to."
On being able to make plays:
"I forget the stats but it's a low percentage chance you can score when you get one penalty. We certainly got to go to the film and look at those and see what's going on and make sure that we're not making those mistakes. But it's remarkable to be able to endure that and get the ball down the field. We've got a lot of playmakers and made plays at the right time to keep that drive alive."
UCF R-Junior WR Tre'Quan Smith
On offense performance:
"Honestly, we know it wasn't up to standards, because we know we are better than this. We had many opportunities to score, and we had to punt it back to the other team. Anytime we don't end up scoring, it is not up to our standards. Our coaches want to see us score every time we are on the field."
On scoring on the first drive:
"It's a shot of confidence, because we expect to score on the first drive. There are times when we don't and really get down on ourselves, because we know what we are capable of. It is hard, because you know what your team is capable of and when things are not going the way you want it, a lot of guys get frustrated. But, we tried to hurry up and bounce back, because we can't stay down on ourselves, we got to look at the next drive and get ready for that."
On staying positive:
"Coach Frost always tells us the defense is going to make them turn it over and we have to score. When things happen like that and we don't come out how the coaches expect, they try to not be too hard on us. They know what we are capable of, and we know what we're capable of at the same time. We just have to look past all the bad things we have done and look towards the good. We still ended up on top, that's what we have to be thankful for."
On Anderson's touchdown:
"Otis had a fumble where he was really down on himself, everybody on the team was trying to pick him up. We were telling him, 'It's history. You have got to come for the next play.' When I saw he was in the backfield, I knew the road was coming my way and I saw the safety go away so I turned back on the corner. And I'm like, let me go get another block, because I know Otis is fast. I knew, as soon as I blocked the corner, he was going to be right behind me, so I just pushed up and got the next defender and everything else happened. He scored. You know I was just happy for him."
On Coach Frost's baby:
"Honestly, everybody was happy. Everybody welcomed little Jack Frost to the family. Oh, I'm sorry it's not his name, we don't know his name honestly. Everybody was happy, It's great to have another member of the family."
On his touchdown:
"Honestly, I wouldn't have made that catch if it were not for the tight end [Michael Colubiale], because he ended up taking the safety. As soon as the safety did, I went right up underneath. Then I said when I was running, I saw the corner. I didn't really think I could beat them straight ahead, so, I give him a little stick move and went outside. But honestly, that play wouldn't have worked if it weren't for the offensive line because of Colubiale taking the safety and giving me a chance to be wide open."
UCF Freshman WR Otis Anderson
On his touchdown:
"Great o-line blocking. They got me to the second level. I made a person miss, but after that, my touchdown really goes to Tre'Quan [Smith], without him I think I would have had a very hard time getting into the end zone."
On coaches having confidence in him:
"It just tells me they have a lot of confidence in me. That's very important for a player's confidence. Just for them to put you back in and say, 'Go make another play.' It's me showing them that I can do that. It really helps me in keep my head up and doing what I do best. "
On his touchdown:
"Is it just something that the team makes sure I do? They told me to keep my head up and go back out and make another play. They said it happens to the best of us. For me to get back in the game and show that I can make another big play is really important to keep my confidence up. "
On his emotions during game:
"In the beginning of the game, it's a salute game and my dad was in the service. I really had a lot of emotions flowing from me just to have a great game for him. My mom's birthday was yesterday. I wanted to have a great game. The fumble kind of threw me off kilter, but the team won't let me keep my head down for too long. I had to get back up and make the next play, so after I scored, I perked back up and brought back what I usually have. My game went from up to down to back up so I felt like I had a great game."
UCF Sophomore QB McKenzie Milton
On the offense's performance:
"I think you just have to hold yourself to your own standard throughout every day, whether it's in practice or in the game. I felt today that we came out a little flat. Penalties got us behind the sticks a lot today. It doesn't make it easy on ourselves, so we have to check out the film and see what UConn did. They played very hard. Hats off to them. But, I mean I think it speaks volumes of our team when we don't play our best, yet, we can still win by 25 points."
On Tre'Quan's big play:
"Yea, UConn was kind of playing off throughout the game and their corners were soft, so we hit them with a lot of hitches. That play was a hitch-and-go. Tre'Quan just ran past them and he got a P.I. [pass interference]. It just speaks volumes about Tre'Quan. He can make catches with bodies all over him. It's good to make big plays, but we have got to be more consistent on our side of the ball."
On being battle tested:
"I think any good team has to be battle tested and face some adversity throughout the season. We know that we are 9-0 now. We are going to get everyone's best shot. Nobody's going to fold to us. Nobody is going to come in and just lay down to us. We know we got to come ready to play and juiced up for whoever is lined up across from us."
On Noah Vedral:
"I talked to him and was like 'Man you got a perfect QBR.' Noah is a heck of a player. He's swift footed, can make plays on the ground and has a cannon for a freshman, too. He's picked up the offense very fast for a freshman. I was pretty excited to see him get his first touchdown. Cam [Stewart] got his first touchdown too, that was pretty cool."
On UConn's defense:
"I wouldn't say that they surprise me necessarily or surprised us. They are a long athletic team with good size. They are big boys from the northeast. They played hard. We saw on film that they played hard. They are not going to be quitters. They played hard the whole game, and we expected that from them. I mean they gave us a handful, but like I said, we were fortunate enough to make enough plays to win the game."
On the gameplan changing:
"I don't think so necessarily. UConn did a good job of limiting the tight end opportunities. Any time you have a guy like Jordan Aikens out. It's tough. He is a heck of an athlete, but we've got some other good tight ends as well like Michael Colubiale and Jordan Franks. They came in and did a fine job blocking in the run game and pass game. too. I don't think the game plan altered too much, but anytime you have Jordan out it's tough. Our guys did a good job responding."
UCF Senior LB Shaquem Griffin
On his speed:
"Once, he had made the first cut I think I heard somebody [say], 'but you ain't fast enough.' So you know I had to hop on my horse and go catch him. There's a little trash talk so, at least, I thought I heard some. So when he made the cut, he [said], "I feel like you're not fast enough." So someone told me that you better go keep chasing him, so that's what I did."
On stopping UConn's momentum:
"I can't do anything without the other 10 guys on the field. We called a play, I spoke to Pat [Jasinski] and I said, 'I'll let you go first on this blitz, and I'm going act like I'm just floating around.' Once he took off, I see Pat flying in there and I just took off. I came in free and you know what, I can't make plays without my guys helping me. We always talk to each other all the time and he said, 'Help me help you.' And when you've got guys, who are willing to sacrifice themselves for somebody else to make plays, that's a perfect defense. I tell them all the time, I would sacrifice anything I can to make a play. Once you make a defense like that, anything can happen. Anybody can change momentum, but you just have to be willing to work for each other."
On the team's success:
"We are willing to play for each other. We aren't worrying about stats. We aren't worrying about who's the man on the team. We are worrying about playing together, working for each other, making sure we protect each other at all times, and playing as a family. Once you get a team like that, there isn't anyone who can stop us."
On the culture:
"I'm just so amazed about how [Frost] goes about everything: how he allows us to interact with each other, how he takes us to certain events, and being able to just be with each other. When I was here in the beginning, we had to take it upon ourselves to say 'Hey, let's do a team event' or 'let's go here.' Now it's like the coaches and the players are all going bowling. We're going to get pizza and brownies. You can't beat that. You can't."
On Rory Coleman:
"Rory brings the juice with him every day. It doesn't have to be a special day for him to bring the juice for us. We feel his presence every time he's around. I talk to him every day. He keeps me going and makes sure that I'm staying on top of the team. You know even when I'm not doing it, you know Rory's going to step in."
UCF R-Junior DB Kyle Gibson
On the UConn Quarterback:
"I think that the defensive line did a great job of helping us out and containing him. We knew with a new quarterback coming in and being a little mobile that he was probably going to get flustered some. He end up kind of running and that they were probably going to run the ball some. I think we did a good job handling that."
UCF Freshman WR Gabriel Davis
On the Offense:
"We put 21 in the first quarter. After 21 points everybody started playing down a level. We should have stayed up, kept going and kept moving the ball, but you start to get a little complacent."
On Cam Stewart's touchdown:
"We are really excited for him. We know the work he puts in, being here for four years and that being his first touchdown. We were all happy for him. So nothing but love toward him, he's a great person. "
