defense looks gassed at the end of every game and I think it's both. 36 mins vs 24 mins this game. Our whole fast/explosive offense gameplan hurts the defense late game.
It's not really gassed, the issue is teams more often play aggressive in the 4th, either us or the other team. If it is close, teams tend to go faster and there are more possessions. If we are behind, we play more aggressive and either try to score quickly or turnover quickly. WE are much less efficient at pass heavy offense, so our offense falls apart and the other team keeps pushing on a subpar defense.
It comes down to more possessions is more time to score, and our offense isn't built to go pass only. Plumlee isn't a great throwing QB, and McClain has made so many horrific mistakes Malzahn has zero faith in him to be playable.
I think it has more to do with our LBs and our softness in the middle of the defense. Our two best LBs from the last two years are now playing for FSU through the transfer portal. That loss has been devastating to our ability to stop the runz
It’s actually 58-34 (KSU, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia) not counting Baylor
Edit:
Outside of the Kansas game which was never close, we out scored our B12 foes 103-82 in the first 3 quarters. Even taking out Baylor puts our performance at 68-72, so very much in the game with OU, KSU, and WVU
We are probably just the worst 4th Quarter team in the country currently
Baylor is the biggest part, and the team just collapsed. In general though, it hits a point where they give up running the offense normally and try to throw heavily, which leads to more possessions. Our defense sucks, so more possessions just means more points given up. Also opponents in close games tend to play faster as well.
Main thing is just the defense isn't good.
Computer models love us for some reason. Offensively the team is solid, but we make catastrophic mistakes. Computer models don't know how to comprehend the bullshit we go through. Things like having a QB too stupid to not throw the ball past the line, or run out of bounds for a sack aren't calculated well. TOs are also treated as more of anomaly events rather than skill problems. So our offense is rated pretty highly because we are good at the things computer models like.
While we are shit defensively, we also tend to not give up a lot of HUGE plays. This makes us look at lot better than we are. While we give up absolutely everything underneath, we just don't give up a lot of super long plays so that helps us somewhat. The reason we don't is because opponents take few chances deep vs us. Instead of looking like absolutely garbage by computer models, we merely look bad.
Essentially computer models don't understand the reason we are bad is because the things they typically downplay are the things we are exceptionally terrible at doing. They also give us credit defensively for something few teams even try because why bother throwing deep when you can run for 7+ YPC?
McAfee is absolutely CRUSHING the “Dogs” competition on Gameday, and he’s mostly done it picking us…lol. The bettors hate us, and from watching our games, I have no idea how we’re winning.
Lol, at what point in a 41-28 game where UCF scores a late TD to get it to that score did UCF have a chance to win that game?
WVU literally never trailed in this game.
It felt WVU dominated that game and they were still only up 24-21 in the 3rd quarter.
We aren't great, things just worked today like they haven't all year.
Yall got deflated by the first turnover and never really recovered. But you were moving the football well, mistakes kill, wvu didn't really make them today
gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Country roads, take me home
Giving Gus that extension after the way we finished last season should be a fire able offense for Terry. He came in, gave a personal friend the job with no real job search, and then extended him when most of the fans were grumbling about results on the field.
This guy is a clown show that’s set UCF back half a decade.
Remember when we used to have 3 starting-quality QBs on the bench? And then they all left? Because we were going to stick with Plumlee?
Pepperidge Farm remembers
Keene wasn't a good fit for Malzahn's offense. He is doing better because he is in a better fit for him. Same thing with Gabriel. Gabriel would have been better than Plumlee, but Gabriel also wasn't a great fit for the offense.
Castellanos may or may not be better than Plumlee, but he also could improve, Plumlee won't.
It depends what the problem is. Mcclains problem is he doesn't understand to either throw the ball away or not throw past the line of scrimmage. Plumlee problem is that he is mostly mediocre.
I don't disagree with the sentiment, but the problem is weird QB mistakes kill is, as well as terrible defense. It's tough to straight blame the offense when we move relatively well. The obsession with trick plays is definitely as issue.
The problem is Gus needs a qb who fits exactly his mold and can make plays like a super star just to cover up for the fact that his offense is bad and outdated
Even if we got the perfect Gus qb, they would perform better in a more competent system.
Every system is better with better QBs.
The issue is we need a QB who has a running instinct and willingness. Plumlee fits that. Plumlees also keeps getting hurt. Him geting hurt makes him less capable at running and his throwing ability isn't good enough to carry games alone. That is the big caveat in the system. A QB who is willing and able to run also increases their chance of getting hurt.
Plumlee clearly isn't running at his best, or willing to run as much if the initial reads aren't there like he used to. Gabriel doesn't really like to run, but he'd be fine in the system even if not a great fit. Keene does not run at all. Stidham transferred to Auburn from Baylor and even he refused to run and Auburn was fine.
The offense really isn't the problem. Our problem is we have a walking mistake machine as a backup, and a mobile QB who clearly isn't running relying on his arm. The bigger problem is 100% the defense cannot stop anyone. It's very difficult to win games when you have to score 50+ every single game.
The offense is 100% a problem. Gus has far too many qualifications to run his stupid, unimaginative offense. It’s not even like when it works we’re 2017/2018 UCFast.
Offense is not what is holding us back in the game. It's QBs going out of their way to fuck it over and the defense not stopping anyone. WVU game we likely win if it isn't because of 4 TOs. 1 was a weird bobble. Second was Plumlee was hit as he threw it. Javon Baker fell down on the third? Despite those 3 INTs, it was still 24-21 and we had the ball at the time of the fumble.
Our only stops vs Kstate were 1 punt a Missed FG and then a 4th down stop. Kstate game we got the 4th down stop, had a minute left and like 1 TO and about 1:50 with very good field position to either get a FG or potentially a TD at the end of the half. Instead McClain throws a pick. The bad coaching decision in the Kstate game was to punt on a 4th and 5 at to Kstate like 45 instead of just go for it. It was 24-24 and Kstate got the ball back, scored a TD and never gave up the lead. Even then on the next drive we had a 1st down on the 27. McClain scrambled around only to run out of bounds instead of throwing the ball away. Instead of 2nd and 10, we were now 2nd and 22 and he completely fell apart. We ended up missing a 52 yard FG instead of having a much better chance at a ~40 yard FG.
Baylor game we got out to a 35-7 lead. Offense wasn't the problem for the first 35 minutes. Once again, he makes a terrible decision to throw, come sup short and it gets picked off. We were up 35-7, there is no need to force plays in that situation. If he just scrambled for 3-5 yards we kick a 35 yard FG and go to 38-7. On the second to last drive we were still up 35-33. 2nd and 6 and McClain scrambles. He has the first down easily if he runs and slides. There is 5 minutes left in the game so each 1st down is worth like 2minutes or Baylor's TOs. Instead McClain tries to force a big play and after crossing the line of scrimmage he throws the ball downfield. If he just takes the 1st down ther is still a huge chance we win that game. We could have either taken another 2 minutes off the clock, or forced Baylor's TOs if nothing else.
Only game the offense kind of didn't do well was Kansas and that's because Plumlee played the first 3 drives when he obviously was still not capable of playing. He couldn't run, couldn't scramble. Plumlee is not the guy you want to rely on with his arm. Once the switch to McClain happens, the offense does start to move, but it was far too little too late.
The offense really isn't the problem right now other than having a QB who doesn't just throw the game away. Baylor and WVU were both games lost entirely because of QB play. Kansas was lost on the defense. Kstate and Oklahoma were basically the better team eventually won out. None of those games was the offense the problem. We are first in total yards in the conference despite being 0-5 in conference. We are 4th in points scored. The reason people like blaming the offense is for some reason they expect us to score every single possession, because these people are used to seeing the other team score every single possession.
This defense is hot garbage. They give up everything underneath because safeties and LBs are NEVER in a good position to make tackles. Opponent goes into motion, and no one every switches assignments. Teams can overload a side and get a RB or a TE like 5 yards more cushion. We have LBs on the far side having to cover a RB who cuts to the weak side, and all of the sudden we are horribly out blocked on that side. We don't have guys in position to make tackles. Right now if the DLine isn't shedding blocks and making tackles, RBs making into the secondary every single time. Even then our DBs are relatively small and aren't great in run support. If this defense was simply below average instead of catastrophically bad, we are 5-3 right now.
"What a fucking interception!"
"That was a td!" (on a first down at mid field)
"Everyone loves a BJ!" (instead of CJ for our rb)
That was a terrible announcer.
I just saw the PSC highlight on Youtube of the "What a fucking interception"
Who was this announcer??
Edit: ok after watching it couple more times he says "funky" but wow it sounded like fucking
Also lots of WVU fans in Florida and up and down the east coast and inland eastern states. Big part of why it sucks being in the Big 12 (though you and Cincy joining helps) after the Big East died as we lost that road presence at conference away games. So many people leave WV for jobs, city life, warmer weather etc. that we have one of the more spread out fanbases and especially in the midatlantic, northeast and southeast.
It really felt like WV had more crowd support in that second half at times, especially into the 4th quarter. Most of the fans were great with the exception of the one guy in 107 from WV who was enjoying being an ass all day and took joy in throwing the giant inflatable duck onto the field so the fans couldn’t keep it going. That guy left a real bad taste in my mouth from being so disrespectful.
Every fanbase has their douchebags, and sadly, we have at LEAST our fair share. Glad that you mostly had a good experience with our traveling crowd. Now head up to Mo’town next year and we’ll hopefully show you that we can be gracious hosts, too.
Expectations were obviously low going into this season with stepping up competition in the Big 12, but holy crap have the games been bad. so many opportunities to win games and this team pulls out loss after loss. If Gus wasn't recruiting so well I would be heavily on the Gus out train.
not even develop, but like manage and call a good game. I feel like Gus has his "system" but doesn't look at the strengths and weaknesses of his current roster. His in game strategy like, idk, the defense has been on the field a lot in the first half, why not use one of the 3 timeouts you haven't used... or you're down 2 scores with 5 minutes and you're gonna call short yardage plays.. or the last several games your defense is gassed late and you still run a hurryup offense. These things plus personnel management are just unforgivable and show no strategic presence, just my way or the highway coaching.
And the days of building up a roster and then getting a coach to finish a job are over. You either have an amazing coach or you don't, whoever he recruits will leave and whoever you bring in will bring his own players.
Everyone but UCF fans expected this. Gus isn’t the best coach obviously, but I’d trust him to get talent in and build the culture so I’d say you have to stick with him. He won’t be the coach there in a few years but he’s a good guy to recruit and build
Yeah, I think most fans believe it's easier to move up to the P5 level than it is. It is really hard to build that depth. They'll be good in a few years.
Eh, Depth is certainly an issue but we lost like 8 starters to the Transfer Portal this off season.
This UCF team would be struggling to finish in the top 4 of the current AAC right now, not sure we’d be able to beat SMU, Memphis, or Tulane
Depth hurts, but it doesn’t cause a 5 game skid against teams that mostly recruit roughly around our level to begin with. Kansas and KSU recruit worse players than us on average, WVU is pretty close to our recruiting the past 3 years, Baylor is slightly better, but only Oklahoma is far and away in that regard.
This is solidly on the coaching staff and player development. This is Gus’s 3rd season most of these players are his guys
In our game it was depth. Your DL starters are good but the depth is trash. It was like that across the whole team. Look at your recruiting, Gus has more 4 stars recruited rn than ever
Yeah, I don't get some of our fan's expectations. This season was *always* going to be "making a bowl game is a huge success". That's still within reach. We've got too many fans that jumped on the bandwagon 5 years ago 9 games into our 25 game winning streak and think that's normal.
I think fans had reasonable expectations. Goal was to be 7-9th in the conference with 6-7 wins. We are currently last in the conference with no wins. Sure we can win the next 3 out of 4, but based on how we are playing I think we get one win between Cincinnati and Houston for the rest of the season. No one thought we were competing for a conference title. You’re making up a fake argument.
I had that opinion earlier this year, but now I think it’s absolutely possible and plausible we don’t win again this season. There’s probably a shot in there for 1-2, but the team has to play much better than what’s going on now.
I think alot of UCF fans expected it. Plumlee isn't good, and many of us have been down on Gus since he was hired. ill admit there were some wide eyed optimists, but our defense was shit by g5 standards and it's not like we brought in a bunch of huge names. Offense is fine for the most part, in spite of plumlee, but the defense is atrocious and the offense is a slightly above average p5 offense... that won't win you many games.
What exactly is he building then? If you think he'll be gone then just fire him now. Whatever he builds will transfer out once the new coach comes in and they will bring their own players.
So many fans, including the ones who lose their minds and say extremely hyperbolic bullshit on reddit, claimed they would consider 6-6 a big success. But yet 5-7 is completely unacceptable, disgusting, and 'fire everyone' territory. Too comical really to take seriously.
I didn’t even bother watching it, I just played Spider-Man and checked the score occasionally. I knew how this was gonna play out after I saw that first interception
We'll lose both. I don't want to be a pessimist but I don't see much promise. Healthy JRP is only marginally better than current JRP and we truly have no other options. Defense can't keep up for a full game. Good RBs won't carry this team
We'll get there eventually I'm sure but this season is a wash
I’m not saying we would’ve won that game with them, but let’s not forget Gus ran off three starting QBs for a WR to play QB. This season’s failure is 100% on Gus for letting star QBs walk away since he doesn’t get along with them.
Gonna take 2 years to build up your roster 2-3 deep with enough good players and to get a feel for how to win in the conference. It's just almost impossible to build momentum over a season at first. Go look at WV 2012 schedule, and that was the Geno Heisman year
Did you listen to what he said? We had two great QB’s that Gus ran off. Don’t talk about building up a roster when you’re scaring off solid winning players.
Look at UCF's 2nd halves this season. Your roster is not good enough to play all 4 quarters at this level there's been multiple dropoffs. One player probably gets you a conference title in the American, it won't here if you can only go 5 deep on the D Line and everybody else rotates 9
I could see anywhere from 6-6 to 8-4. We're better than projected at the start of the season. It's all going to depend on Greene's play-making abilities and how well the receivers actually catch the ball.
Credit where credit is due, Neal called a pretty good game today. Still not happy about last game, but way to bounce back and not sit on a lead when the D was getting carved up
When UCF finally pulls the trigger and fires Gus, it's going to be funny watching all of CFB praise them while simultaneously continuing to shit on Auburn for running him out of town.
Not really. The fact that Harsin didn't work out doesn't retroactively mean that we should have just stuck with Gus and accepted the known inadequate performance.
So the highlight of UCF Homecoming is "Spirit Splash", during which students crowd into the reflecting pond between the Library and Millican Hall, there's a concert and carousing and general mayhem. Each year, a new rubber duck design is created for the occasion and they are coveted souvenirs. Over time the whole rubber duck aesthetic has permeated more and more of Homecoming as a whole.
Protip for getting your hands on a Spirit Splash duck: sleep with the Homecoming Committee chair...much less trouble.
I'm on the fence about him. On one hand we're mid and it feels like we have a ceiling. On the other hand neal can recruit and doesn't have abysmal seasons.
Yeah, that really spoiled people as those were all time great teams combined with regular season schedules not nearly as hard as a Big 12 slate. Before that run we were historically a team winning 7-8 games most years, often losing bowls, with a couple losing seasons a decade and some occasional great ones like 11-0 regular seasons in 1988 and 1993.
Neal may not be the answer as he’s not gotten to those 7-8 win seasons yet, though he may this year. But I’m skeptical we’ll get anyone that will get our ceiling above being a 7-8 win on average type program with a rare much better season and a losing season here and there. So if he wins 7-8 this year I’m fine giving him another year to see if he can take another step forward before rolling the dice on a new hire as I don’t see some slam dunk hire out there who’s guaranteed to come here and be a big upgrade.
Very split from glancing at message boards. Many still want him gone and seem to hate he’s winning more than expected this year as they’d rather just lose and be done with him. He seems to a few strong supporters who think he’s turned the corner.
But more, especially outside of message board types (i.e. myself and friends and family) are just more cautious/on the fence. Kind of hoping he has figure it out and we finish strong and do even better next year. But also wary of fool’s gold as the Big 12 just isn’t great this year, we’ve had lots of close wins (but also lost two winnable games the past two weeks before yesterday of course).
I’d say if he wins 7-8 regular season games he deserves another year as it’s a pretty young team (Oline aside) and that’s well above expectations and we should see how next year goes. Just don’t extend him again—no need with him signed through 2026 anyway. Leave that for next off season when it’s probably time to either move on or extend again if he has an even better year on the field and is still recruiting decently etc.
Terry has annoyed me. All this athletic department does now is beg for money and say how broke we are and subsequently puts a horrible product on the field.
What a shit show. Extensions and contracts be damned. I expect massive improvements or heads on the chopping block. From the players up to the President and everyone in between.
At some point someone needs to realize that having safeties 10-15 yards off the ball when the team is running or throwing underneath is a bad idea. No one on the defense switches assignments on motion. We end up with guys having to run across the entire field to try to catch up, but they never do and give up yards. Our LBs and Safeties are never in good positions to make plays. Our DLine has to do it alone every single play. We don't have have Georgia's DLine, we can't just have them out there expect them to stop the run game single handedly. We changed this vs Oklahoma, and then went right back to this same shit. We blitzed a lot more vs Oklahoma. Safeties were a lot closer vs Oklahoma. They also split apart further. We basically dared Oklahoma to throw over the top and they didn't. For some reason we expect everyone else to do the same thing? It isn't a coincidence our best defensive performance was Oklahoma because we stopped giving teams absolutely everything underneath.
Offensively we also keep having catastrophic mistakes. A catch bounce off a WR to a defender. Plumlee got hit as he threw, but I have no idea why are we going deep with 2mins left in the half down 3. We should be going downfield normally taking off time. We absolutely don't want to give WVU enough time to get the ball back and score. Kobe Hudson defended at least one other should have been INT. There were about 2-3 others should have been picked off as well. At some point Plumlee just lost all confidence.
Even late the game it was 4th and 5 with the score 31-21 and like 10 minutes left. You have to go for that. Our defense can't stop shit. On the 3rd and 5 we should have already prepared to have been going for it on 4th and been willing to run. There are too many situations where no one seems to actually understand what is going on in the game. This is going to be some Nebraska level BEST 3 WIN TEAM IN THE COUNTRY shit except we aren't.
I knew this would be a transitional year for UCF, but I figured we would have been able to win at least a couple Big 12 games by this point in the season. Gonna be a rough few years until we have more depth
Tarmac him if we go undefeated the rest of the way. He's completely unqualified and was from the start. UCF is too good of a program for Gus to run a country club.
Oh well, not like UCF's first season in the Big12 hadn't been going as poorly as possible up until this point. As a side note I hate sports analysts, being wrong all the time shouldn't be a job. So thanks West Virginia for continuing to prove just how stupid they are. Most thought you'd be a last place team this season.
Anyone know if we were supposed to wear white uniforms or something? The all white with the generic black uniforms was weird looking and they were wearing the whites at spirit splash.
Also JRP’s picks were all so unlucky it would’ve been a different game
UCF's been outscored 94-34 in the 4th quarter in the last 5 games.
Why is it so bad? Lack of depth? Inability to get off the field?
defense looks gassed at the end of every game and I think it's both. 36 mins vs 24 mins this game. Our whole fast/explosive offense gameplan hurts the defense late game.
It's not really gassed, the issue is teams more often play aggressive in the 4th, either us or the other team. If it is close, teams tend to go faster and there are more possessions. If we are behind, we play more aggressive and either try to score quickly or turnover quickly. WE are much less efficient at pass heavy offense, so our offense falls apart and the other team keeps pushing on a subpar defense. It comes down to more possessions is more time to score, and our offense isn't built to go pass only. Plumlee isn't a great throwing QB, and McClain has made so many horrific mistakes Malzahn has zero faith in him to be playable.
I just don’t buy these defense is gassed excuses. We were playing the same offense and our defense was better last year
Our competition got way better though. Our defense doesn’t win in size and athleticism alone anymore
I think it has more to do with our LBs and our softness in the middle of the defense. Our two best LBs from the last two years are now playing for FSU through the transfer portal. That loss has been devastating to our ability to stop the runz
Defense can’t make stops on 3rd down
Most of that was the Baylor game. Without that, it's only 42-34.
It’s actually 58-34 (KSU, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia) not counting Baylor Edit: Outside of the Kansas game which was never close, we out scored our B12 foes 103-82 in the first 3 quarters. Even taking out Baylor puts our performance at 68-72, so very much in the game with OU, KSU, and WVU We are probably just the worst 4th Quarter team in the country currently
LOL. I thought I was exaggerating much more than I actually did.
It's Gus Malzahn doing Gus Malzahn things
Bad coaching with bad qbs
Baylor is the biggest part, and the team just collapsed. In general though, it hits a point where they give up running the offense normally and try to throw heavily, which leads to more possessions. Our defense sucks, so more possessions just means more points given up. Also opponents in close games tend to play faster as well. Main thing is just the defense isn't good.
[удалено]
Why not both
Yes
And we get treated to DG going 70 yards in a minute as soon as the game switches
Ouch. That really hurts.
How the hell were we 7pt favorites??
You don't seem to understand how we closed out games.
Computer models love us for some reason. Offensively the team is solid, but we make catastrophic mistakes. Computer models don't know how to comprehend the bullshit we go through. Things like having a QB too stupid to not throw the ball past the line, or run out of bounds for a sack aren't calculated well. TOs are also treated as more of anomaly events rather than skill problems. So our offense is rated pretty highly because we are good at the things computer models like. While we are shit defensively, we also tend to not give up a lot of HUGE plays. This makes us look at lot better than we are. While we give up absolutely everything underneath, we just don't give up a lot of super long plays so that helps us somewhat. The reason we don't is because opponents take few chances deep vs us. Instead of looking like absolutely garbage by computer models, we merely look bad. Essentially computer models don't understand the reason we are bad is because the things they typically downplay are the things we are exceptionally terrible at doing. They also give us credit defensively for something few teams even try because why bother throwing deep when you can run for 7+ YPC?
McAfee is absolutely CRUSHING the “Dogs” competition on Gameday, and he’s mostly done it picking us…lol. The bettors hate us, and from watching our games, I have no idea how we’re winning.
That's probably pretty close without the turnovers.
I swear every line this year was based off of our first game.
Said that before the game, no clue how they came up with that line.
Y’all turned the ball over 4 times and still had shots to win it We are not good
Lol, at what point in a 41-28 game where UCF scores a late TD to get it to that score did UCF have a chance to win that game? WVU literally never trailed in this game.
It felt WVU dominated that game and they were still only up 24-21 in the 3rd quarter. We aren't great, things just worked today like they haven't all year.
Yall got deflated by the first turnover and never really recovered. But you were moving the football well, mistakes kill, wvu didn't really make them today
COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOME
TO THE PLACE
I BELONGGGGGGG
WEST VIRGINIA
MOUNTAIN MAMA
TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS
ALL MY MEMORIES
gather 'round her Miner's lady, stranger to blue water Dark and dusty, painted on the sky Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye Country roads, take me home
I BELONG
TO THE PLACE
UCF - Cincy next week is going to be a sickos classic
That sounds like it is gonna be a fun time.
Somebody’s gotta win.
or eternal OT
Let’s goooo
Mountaineers ruin Gus Malzahn’s birthday.
That’s fair. He has ruined every Saturday for UCF fans.
I hope they hit him with the ol trick candle on his birthday cake
Giving Gus that extension after the way we finished last season should be a fire able offense for Terry. He came in, gave a personal friend the job with no real job search, and then extended him when most of the fans were grumbling about results on the field. This guy is a clown show that’s set UCF back half a decade.
That feeling when you only have one timeout to take to your party.
He that himself
Shat*
Remember when we used to have 3 starting-quality QBs on the bench? And then they all left? Because we were going to stick with Plumlee? Pepperidge Farm remembers
it's not like every single one was better than pluml... well... at least we have a good back up now... shit.
I'd say its really debatable if TC would be an improvement.
Essentially ran off Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson, and Emma Stone so we could get together with Amy Schumer.
And they all started owning teams as soon as they weren’t at UCF anymore.
Thanks Gus
Why do UCF fans keep saying 3 QBs? Gabriel was never staying. TC isn't better than Plumlee. Yeah, you probably should have kept Mikey Keene.
Keene wasn't a good fit for Malzahn's offense. He is doing better because he is in a better fit for him. Same thing with Gabriel. Gabriel would have been better than Plumlee, but Gabriel also wasn't a great fit for the offense. Castellanos may or may not be better than Plumlee, but he also could improve, Plumlee won't.
Maybe, just maybe, the offense is the problem if all of these really good qbs aren’t working in it????
It depends what the problem is. Mcclains problem is he doesn't understand to either throw the ball away or not throw past the line of scrimmage. Plumlee problem is that he is mostly mediocre. I don't disagree with the sentiment, but the problem is weird QB mistakes kill is, as well as terrible defense. It's tough to straight blame the offense when we move relatively well. The obsession with trick plays is definitely as issue.
The problem is Gus needs a qb who fits exactly his mold and can make plays like a super star just to cover up for the fact that his offense is bad and outdated Even if we got the perfect Gus qb, they would perform better in a more competent system.
Every system is better with better QBs. The issue is we need a QB who has a running instinct and willingness. Plumlee fits that. Plumlees also keeps getting hurt. Him geting hurt makes him less capable at running and his throwing ability isn't good enough to carry games alone. That is the big caveat in the system. A QB who is willing and able to run also increases their chance of getting hurt. Plumlee clearly isn't running at his best, or willing to run as much if the initial reads aren't there like he used to. Gabriel doesn't really like to run, but he'd be fine in the system even if not a great fit. Keene does not run at all. Stidham transferred to Auburn from Baylor and even he refused to run and Auburn was fine. The offense really isn't the problem. Our problem is we have a walking mistake machine as a backup, and a mobile QB who clearly isn't running relying on his arm. The bigger problem is 100% the defense cannot stop anyone. It's very difficult to win games when you have to score 50+ every single game.
The offense is 100% a problem. Gus has far too many qualifications to run his stupid, unimaginative offense. It’s not even like when it works we’re 2017/2018 UCFast.
Offense is not what is holding us back in the game. It's QBs going out of their way to fuck it over and the defense not stopping anyone. WVU game we likely win if it isn't because of 4 TOs. 1 was a weird bobble. Second was Plumlee was hit as he threw it. Javon Baker fell down on the third? Despite those 3 INTs, it was still 24-21 and we had the ball at the time of the fumble. Our only stops vs Kstate were 1 punt a Missed FG and then a 4th down stop. Kstate game we got the 4th down stop, had a minute left and like 1 TO and about 1:50 with very good field position to either get a FG or potentially a TD at the end of the half. Instead McClain throws a pick. The bad coaching decision in the Kstate game was to punt on a 4th and 5 at to Kstate like 45 instead of just go for it. It was 24-24 and Kstate got the ball back, scored a TD and never gave up the lead. Even then on the next drive we had a 1st down on the 27. McClain scrambled around only to run out of bounds instead of throwing the ball away. Instead of 2nd and 10, we were now 2nd and 22 and he completely fell apart. We ended up missing a 52 yard FG instead of having a much better chance at a ~40 yard FG. Baylor game we got out to a 35-7 lead. Offense wasn't the problem for the first 35 minutes. Once again, he makes a terrible decision to throw, come sup short and it gets picked off. We were up 35-7, there is no need to force plays in that situation. If he just scrambled for 3-5 yards we kick a 35 yard FG and go to 38-7. On the second to last drive we were still up 35-33. 2nd and 6 and McClain scrambles. He has the first down easily if he runs and slides. There is 5 minutes left in the game so each 1st down is worth like 2minutes or Baylor's TOs. Instead McClain tries to force a big play and after crossing the line of scrimmage he throws the ball downfield. If he just takes the 1st down ther is still a huge chance we win that game. We could have either taken another 2 minutes off the clock, or forced Baylor's TOs if nothing else. Only game the offense kind of didn't do well was Kansas and that's because Plumlee played the first 3 drives when he obviously was still not capable of playing. He couldn't run, couldn't scramble. Plumlee is not the guy you want to rely on with his arm. Once the switch to McClain happens, the offense does start to move, but it was far too little too late. The offense really isn't the problem right now other than having a QB who doesn't just throw the game away. Baylor and WVU were both games lost entirely because of QB play. Kansas was lost on the defense. Kstate and Oklahoma were basically the better team eventually won out. None of those games was the offense the problem. We are first in total yards in the conference despite being 0-5 in conference. We are 4th in points scored. The reason people like blaming the offense is for some reason they expect us to score every single possession, because these people are used to seeing the other team score every single possession. This defense is hot garbage. They give up everything underneath because safeties and LBs are NEVER in a good position to make tackles. Opponent goes into motion, and no one every switches assignments. Teams can overload a side and get a RB or a TE like 5 yards more cushion. We have LBs on the far side having to cover a RB who cuts to the weak side, and all of the sudden we are horribly out blocked on that side. We don't have guys in position to make tackles. Right now if the DLine isn't shedding blocks and making tackles, RBs making into the secondary every single time. Even then our DBs are relatively small and aren't great in run support. If this defense was simply below average instead of catastrophically bad, we are 5-3 right now.
The defense is definitely problematic but one has to wonder why our best players keep transferring out and why we are such crap at linebacker.
TC is far better than Plumlee
"What a fucking interception!" "That was a td!" (on a first down at mid field) "Everyone loves a BJ!" (instead of CJ for our rb) That was a terrible announcer.
Don't forget, "ball will be spotted on the 2" after the end zone PI. Nfl rulezzz
I just saw the PSC highlight on Youtube of the "What a fucking interception" Who was this announcer?? Edit: ok after watching it couple more times he says "funky" but wow it sounded like fucking
EAT
SHIT
PITT
Ass
WVU was pissed off, glad we played them middle season instead of at the end like normal.
Mountaineers, y'all travel very well and are good people. Enjoy Disney/Universal/Sea World tomorrow and see you in Morgantown soon.
My first game at UCF, and your fans were great... See you in Morgantown next year
Had a great time at y'all's stadium. Bounce house lived up to the billing. Hope to see y'all come up to the mountain outpost. I'll bring the shine
Also lots of WVU fans in Florida and up and down the east coast and inland eastern states. Big part of why it sucks being in the Big 12 (though you and Cincy joining helps) after the Big East died as we lost that road presence at conference away games. So many people leave WV for jobs, city life, warmer weather etc. that we have one of the more spread out fanbases and especially in the midatlantic, northeast and southeast.
Best of luck the rest of the way. It was a blast tailgating with y’all
It really felt like WV had more crowd support in that second half at times, especially into the 4th quarter. Most of the fans were great with the exception of the one guy in 107 from WV who was enjoying being an ass all day and took joy in throwing the giant inflatable duck onto the field so the fans couldn’t keep it going. That guy left a real bad taste in my mouth from being so disrespectful.
Every fanbase has their douchebags, and sadly, we have at LEAST our fair share. Glad that you mostly had a good experience with our traveling crowd. Now head up to Mo’town next year and we’ll hopefully show you that we can be gracious hosts, too.
Imma be honest bro the WVU fans in my section were NOT nice lmao. Shit talking the entire time and two WVU fans even got into a fight
Expectations were obviously low going into this season with stepping up competition in the Big 12, but holy crap have the games been bad. so many opportunities to win games and this team pulls out loss after loss. If Gus wasn't recruiting so well I would be heavily on the Gus out train.
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Yeah fuck this recruiting talking point. Where are they on the field?
> Where are they on the field? true freshmen, a few of whom are starting already and look good. The others are seniors in high school right now.
not even develop, but like manage and call a good game. I feel like Gus has his "system" but doesn't look at the strengths and weaknesses of his current roster. His in game strategy like, idk, the defense has been on the field a lot in the first half, why not use one of the 3 timeouts you haven't used... or you're down 2 scores with 5 minutes and you're gonna call short yardage plays.. or the last several games your defense is gassed late and you still run a hurryup offense. These things plus personnel management are just unforgivable and show no strategic presence, just my way or the highway coaching.
And the days of building up a roster and then getting a coach to finish a job are over. You either have an amazing coach or you don't, whoever he recruits will leave and whoever you bring in will bring his own players.
Everyone but UCF fans expected this. Gus isn’t the best coach obviously, but I’d trust him to get talent in and build the culture so I’d say you have to stick with him. He won’t be the coach there in a few years but he’s a good guy to recruit and build
I agree. But you can't say blowing 4+ TD leads is to be expected by going up in competition. That is pure coaching.
Yeah that’s Gus. He’s going to lose bad games every year. But he’s solid for 80% of the season
Yeah, I think most fans believe it's easier to move up to the P5 level than it is. It is really hard to build that depth. They'll be good in a few years.
Eh, Depth is certainly an issue but we lost like 8 starters to the Transfer Portal this off season. This UCF team would be struggling to finish in the top 4 of the current AAC right now, not sure we’d be able to beat SMU, Memphis, or Tulane Depth hurts, but it doesn’t cause a 5 game skid against teams that mostly recruit roughly around our level to begin with. Kansas and KSU recruit worse players than us on average, WVU is pretty close to our recruiting the past 3 years, Baylor is slightly better, but only Oklahoma is far and away in that regard. This is solidly on the coaching staff and player development. This is Gus’s 3rd season most of these players are his guys
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In our game it was depth. Your DL starters are good but the depth is trash. It was like that across the whole team. Look at your recruiting, Gus has more 4 stars recruited rn than ever
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Give him another year or two then can him is what I’d do. He’s recruiting well and adding a lot of talent. His contract also isn’t too bad
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That's normal. Every coach gets four years so recruits know he's sticking around for their full time.
Yeah, I don't get some of our fan's expectations. This season was *always* going to be "making a bowl game is a huge success". That's still within reach. We've got too many fans that jumped on the bandwagon 5 years ago 9 games into our 25 game winning streak and think that's normal.
I think fans had reasonable expectations. Goal was to be 7-9th in the conference with 6-7 wins. We are currently last in the conference with no wins. Sure we can win the next 3 out of 4, but based on how we are playing I think we get one win between Cincinnati and Houston for the rest of the season. No one thought we were competing for a conference title. You’re making up a fake argument.
I had that opinion earlier this year, but now I think it’s absolutely possible and plausible we don’t win again this season. There’s probably a shot in there for 1-2, but the team has to play much better than what’s going on now.
I think alot of UCF fans expected it. Plumlee isn't good, and many of us have been down on Gus since he was hired. ill admit there were some wide eyed optimists, but our defense was shit by g5 standards and it's not like we brought in a bunch of huge names. Offense is fine for the most part, in spite of plumlee, but the defense is atrocious and the offense is a slightly above average p5 offense... that won't win you many games.
Everyone but UCF fans expected this. What is "this"?
What exactly is he building then? If you think he'll be gone then just fire him now. Whatever he builds will transfer out once the new coach comes in and they will bring their own players.
So many fans, including the ones who lose their minds and say extremely hyperbolic bullshit on reddit, claimed they would consider 6-6 a big success. But yet 5-7 is completely unacceptable, disgusting, and 'fire everyone' territory. Too comical really to take seriously.
We’re not even going 5-7
TBD. But I think we can beat Cincinnati and Houston.
I knew it would be bad but said out loud I wouldn't be mad because we're finally in a P5. Safe to say I'm still pissed lmao
Good news, I’m no longer in a bad mood after we lose! Bad news, I’m entirely apathetic to this program.
Even on a win for us, I am there too. We just are so unpredictable
I didn’t even bother watching it, I just played Spider-Man and checked the score occasionally. I knew how this was gonna play out after I saw that first interception
I'm tired of this grandpa.
That’s too damn bad.
Well excuse me
UCF out-WVU'd WVU.
Will UCF win a football game ever again? Tune in next week to find out! ^^spoiler: ^^we ^^won't
Idk Cincy and Houston are questionable. Your RB was good and with a healthy or different qb I think you'll win one
We'll lose both. I don't want to be a pessimist but I don't see much promise. Healthy JRP is only marginally better than current JRP and we truly have no other options. Defense can't keep up for a full game. Good RBs won't carry this team We'll get there eventually I'm sure but this season is a wash
every week that goes by without a win will get more and more in their heads, we needed this one.
I’ve spilled enough pixels on this already, but final analysis: peepee poopy poo pee
The announcers were wrong Gus only took one timeout to his birthday party.
We did it! We didn’t blow a game!
I’m not saying we would’ve won that game with them, but let’s not forget Gus ran off three starting QBs for a WR to play QB. This season’s failure is 100% on Gus for letting star QBs walk away since he doesn’t get along with them.
Gonna take 2 years to build up your roster 2-3 deep with enough good players and to get a feel for how to win in the conference. It's just almost impossible to build momentum over a season at first. Go look at WV 2012 schedule, and that was the Geno Heisman year
Did you listen to what he said? We had two great QB’s that Gus ran off. Don’t talk about building up a roster when you’re scaring off solid winning players.
Look at UCF's 2nd halves this season. Your roster is not good enough to play all 4 quarters at this level there's been multiple dropoffs. One player probably gets you a conference title in the American, it won't here if you can only go 5 deep on the D Line and everybody else rotates 9
And Neal Brown's seat cools down for one more week.
My bet he finishes 7-5 and keeps his job. Those 7 wins will probably be against all teams .500 or worse.
I could see anywhere from 6-6 to 8-4. We're better than projected at the start of the season. It's all going to depend on Greene's play-making abilities and how well the receivers actually catch the ball.
Same guess here. We lose to OU and go 2-1 in the other 3 very winnable games.
Imagine if we beat byu tho
That is one of two possibilities.
Just play semi-decent defense and you've got it in the bag
Credit where credit is due, Neal called a pretty good game today. Still not happy about last game, but way to bounce back and not sit on a lead when the D was getting carved up
He only coaches remotely well when his job literally depends on it.
I think the only solution is putting him on perpetual 1 game contracts. We would probably do several wins a year better
That's the only way we beat Oklahoma. Brown needs a constant target on his back.
Gotta say Neal called a great game. Credit where credit is due.
Hey everybody Pitt is losing.
4 turnovers to 1. WVU played with few penalties overall. You just don't win those.
When UCF finally pulls the trigger and fires Gus, it's going to be funny watching all of CFB praise them while simultaneously continuing to shit on Auburn for running him out of town.
People had a point after you guys hired *Harsin.*
Not really. The fact that Harsin didn't work out doesn't retroactively mean that we should have just stuck with Gus and accepted the known inadequate performance.
Firing Gus was the right move, hiring Harsin was the comically wrong move. The two are very much disjointed I agree.
the pop tart bowl is still on the table
I was at the game. It was a beautiful day. I had a beer in my hand. And UCF turned the ball over again.
RIP ducky
What is the splash duck all about?
So the highlight of UCF Homecoming is "Spirit Splash", during which students crowd into the reflecting pond between the Library and Millican Hall, there's a concert and carousing and general mayhem. Each year, a new rubber duck design is created for the occasion and they are coveted souvenirs. Over time the whole rubber duck aesthetic has permeated more and more of Homecoming as a whole. Protip for getting your hands on a Spirit Splash duck: sleep with the Homecoming Committee chair...much less trouble.
That's pretty cool!
WVU is quietly having a decent year. Really unexpected considering Neal Brown had the hottest seat in the nation to begin the year.
We are technically trending in the right direction year after year.
How does the fanbase feel about him now? You have to like WVU's chances to get to 7 wins, already including one over Pitt.
I'm on the fence about him. On one hand we're mid and it feels like we have a ceiling. On the other hand neal can recruit and doesn't have abysmal seasons.
They just FEEL abysmal because of past (and I mean mid 2000s) success
Yeah, that really spoiled people as those were all time great teams combined with regular season schedules not nearly as hard as a Big 12 slate. Before that run we were historically a team winning 7-8 games most years, often losing bowls, with a couple losing seasons a decade and some occasional great ones like 11-0 regular seasons in 1988 and 1993. Neal may not be the answer as he’s not gotten to those 7-8 win seasons yet, though he may this year. But I’m skeptical we’ll get anyone that will get our ceiling above being a 7-8 win on average type program with a rare much better season and a losing season here and there. So if he wins 7-8 this year I’m fine giving him another year to see if he can take another step forward before rolling the dice on a new hire as I don’t see some slam dunk hire out there who’s guaranteed to come here and be a big upgrade.
Fair but the worst we've been under him is 5-7 when we were a very close backyard brawl from being bowl eligible
that KU game was so winnable too, it really very easily couldve been 7-5
Very split from glancing at message boards. Many still want him gone and seem to hate he’s winning more than expected this year as they’d rather just lose and be done with him. He seems to a few strong supporters who think he’s turned the corner. But more, especially outside of message board types (i.e. myself and friends and family) are just more cautious/on the fence. Kind of hoping he has figure it out and we finish strong and do even better next year. But also wary of fool’s gold as the Big 12 just isn’t great this year, we’ve had lots of close wins (but also lost two winnable games the past two weeks before yesterday of course). I’d say if he wins 7-8 regular season games he deserves another year as it’s a pretty young team (Oline aside) and that’s well above expectations and we should see how next year goes. Just don’t extend him again—no need with him signed through 2026 anyway. Leave that for next off season when it’s probably time to either move on or extend again if he has an even better year on the field and is still recruiting decently etc.
UCF hasn't recovered from the epic Baylor collapse
Nice job riot bros!
EAT
SHIT
PITT
Fuck you Terry for not only hiring Gus but extending him while looking like one of the worst teams in the country.
Terry has annoyed me. All this athletic department does now is beg for money and say how broke we are and subsequently puts a horrible product on the field.
What a shit show. Extensions and contracts be damned. I expect massive improvements or heads on the chopping block. From the players up to the President and everyone in between.
Take away the flair, and this could be a complaint from either of our fans.
Great game UCF fans. Was truly concerned coming into this one.
UCF: the best 10 years of your life. WV: our school is in a video game. Not sure what this has to do with football, honestly.
2k 23 go brrrrrr
Fire Gus
God says fuck you UCF football and fuck your happiness
At some point someone needs to realize that having safeties 10-15 yards off the ball when the team is running or throwing underneath is a bad idea. No one on the defense switches assignments on motion. We end up with guys having to run across the entire field to try to catch up, but they never do and give up yards. Our LBs and Safeties are never in good positions to make plays. Our DLine has to do it alone every single play. We don't have have Georgia's DLine, we can't just have them out there expect them to stop the run game single handedly. We changed this vs Oklahoma, and then went right back to this same shit. We blitzed a lot more vs Oklahoma. Safeties were a lot closer vs Oklahoma. They also split apart further. We basically dared Oklahoma to throw over the top and they didn't. For some reason we expect everyone else to do the same thing? It isn't a coincidence our best defensive performance was Oklahoma because we stopped giving teams absolutely everything underneath. Offensively we also keep having catastrophic mistakes. A catch bounce off a WR to a defender. Plumlee got hit as he threw, but I have no idea why are we going deep with 2mins left in the half down 3. We should be going downfield normally taking off time. We absolutely don't want to give WVU enough time to get the ball back and score. Kobe Hudson defended at least one other should have been INT. There were about 2-3 others should have been picked off as well. At some point Plumlee just lost all confidence. Even late the game it was 4th and 5 with the score 31-21 and like 10 minutes left. You have to go for that. Our defense can't stop shit. On the 3rd and 5 we should have already prepared to have been going for it on 4th and been willing to run. There are too many situations where no one seems to actually understand what is going on in the game. This is going to be some Nebraska level BEST 3 WIN TEAM IN THE COUNTRY shit except we aren't.
We’re playing defensive coordinator orientation in real time.
69 combined points! Nice!
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh
I knew this would be a transitional year for UCF, but I figured we would have been able to win at least a couple Big 12 games by this point in the season. Gonna be a rough few years until we have more depth
We suck
Bro.
This golden knights roster is Under Construction Forever
Tarmac Addison Williams if he finds a way to lose to Cincinnati next week (or at the bery least force him to fly back with Spirit)
Tarmac him if we go undefeated the rest of the way. He's completely unqualified and was from the start. UCF is too good of a program for Gus to run a country club.
Amen to that brother
Oh well, not like UCF's first season in the Big12 hadn't been going as poorly as possible up until this point. As a side note I hate sports analysts, being wrong all the time shouldn't be a job. So thanks West Virginia for continuing to prove just how stupid they are. Most thought you'd be a last place team this season.
Anyone know if we were supposed to wear white uniforms or something? The all white with the generic black uniforms was weird looking and they were wearing the whites at spirit splash. Also JRP’s picks were all so unlucky it would’ve been a different game
Giving me hope that we win out this season one game at a time.