No Joy, Just Relief...

Summary: Led by a strong defensive effort, UCF managed to win an ugly game 17-12 over Houston.  UCF capitalized on a late forced fumble caused by Brandon Alexander to force a turnover by Quarterback Greg Ward Jr in the UCF endzone for a touchback. This key play avoided a possible game winning touchdown for the Cougars.

Blowhard James O'Korn

The Good: UCF's defense was put in an awful position all night because of our bumbling offense. UCF had only 228 yards of offense, completing only 6-18 passes for 100 passing yards and averaging a mere 127 rushing yards on 37 attempts. As a result UCF defense was constantly put in a position where Houston had a short field in front of them.  While Houston had many drives deep into UCF territory, our defense held strong and prevented the Cougars from reaching the endzone.  Clayton Geathers had one of his best games in his UCF career as his interception led to an early 7-6 lead that UCF would not relinquish again.  The senior made numerous key tackles in the first quarter preventing UCF from getting in a big early deficit.

The Bad:  Justin Holman had a a night to forget.  With a mere 100 yards passing, Holman made all UCF fans realize that we still face uncertainty at the QB position.   The bulk came from a 52 yard touchdown pass to Breshad Perriman which was a direct consequence of Houston's inept secondary tackling.  The Knights were a mere 5-14 on third down and held the ball for five minutes less than Houston on offense.  Considering our conservative style of play, that is a major problem. UCF also had an uncharacteristically undisciplined game as we had 10 penalties for for 90 yards.

Moving forward:  If UCF is to succeed this season in conference play, we will do so on the back of our defense.  Our secondary is outstanding as Brandon Alexander, Jacoby Glenn and Clayton Geathers are all playing at high levels.  While UCF is littered with playmakers at wide receiver, our woes at quarterback and offensive line prevent us from getting them the ball. We now face a Top 25 BYU averaging over 37 points per game led by darkhorse Heisman Candidate in Taysom Hill.  If we even have a punchers chance, we must play A LOT better. We were fortunate to beat Houston.  Were it not for a mistake by an overly ambitious backup freshmen quarterback in Greg Ward, UCF loses that game in agonizing fashion.  As good as our defense played yesterday, we were on the ropes the fourth quarter and literally got saved by the bell.   In college football you never apologize for winning, particularly in conference and on the road.  With that said, we leave this game with little joy, a lot of question marks and lots of relief.