UCF is rallying together a bit with the loss of quarterback Justin Holman. The defense specifically knows it needs to step up and support to finish.
When Justin Holman went out on the third play of Saturday’s game at Stanford, it was pretty obvious UCF would be playing out of a hole — a deeper hole than the team was already playing out of making the cross-country trip to a Pac-12 favorite. Any team losing their quarterback is going to be playing out of a hole.
Still, the Knights played admirably in defeat. At least for a half.
At halftime of the game against Stanford, the score was 10-0 in Stanford’s favor and UCF seemed to be playing things tight. The Cardinal were frustrated on offense and did not score until there was 4:23 left in the second quarter — a 53-yard pass from Kevin Hogan to Michael Rector.
The defense finally cracked with the offense sputtering in the second half in the 31-7 loss.
Still, there was a trend that emerged. The defense knows it has to do more to support the offense with the transition going on the other side of the ball.
More importantly, the Knights have to finish. It is all part of the same goal for the defense entering this weekend’s game against Furman, linebacker Domenic Spencer told Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel:
[We] just have to play a whole game, a full football game, just like Coach O’Leary said. . . . He thought we played great the first half, we just have to carry that over into the second half,” Spencer said. “That’s what we have to do. . . . Keep working on our fundamentals, tackling, running to the ball, being aggressive, communicating, just doing the little things right.
There is something to that. UCF has tailed off dramatically in the second half of the team’s two games so far this season.
In the first half, UCF gave up only 180 yards to Stanford. The Cardinal had the big play off the fumble from William Stanback and then scored on a short 32-yard drive. The Cardinal finished with 491 yards for the game. There was quite the turnaround.
Stanford was a really good team and UCF barely eclipsed 180 yards of offense in the game as the team struggled to adjust to Holman’s absence.
So what happened against FIU? Much the same thing.
The Golden Panthers recorded 175 yards in the first half of the game — 76 came on the opening drive. In the second half, FIU picked up 191 yards. So there was not much of a difference. The difference was really UCF’s offense — 141 yards in the first half and 154 in the second half with a turnover on downs and the missed field goal late. FIU won field position and kept drives alive.
So there seems to be no clear answer for what is ailing UCF. It is just clear the Knights have not put together a complete game yet.
Furman provides an opportunity to gain some confidence and right the ship before AAC season starts and the trip to South Carolina. That could be as important as anything.
The Knights just have to perform a bit better on both ends of the ball to give themselves a chance.
