The losing streak grows to five games as the 11th-ranked BYU Cougars maul the UCF Knights 37-24. The game was not as close as the score indicated. It’s knee-jerk reaction time.
BYU Remains Unbeaten After Mauling UCF 37-24
The Keys of the Game
On the Locked on UCF show this week, I highlighted three keys to the game for UCF. If UCF hit each one, they would have a chance of defeating BYU. The first was to score early. The Knights failed to do this. BYU opened up a 17-0 lead in the second quarter before RJ Harvey was able to get UCF on the board.
The second key was scoring touchdowns on red zone opportunities. The Knights did it on their first possession into the red zone. On the second, quarterback Jacurri Brown delivered a good hit as he ran out of bounds and gestured to the player he knocked over for a taunting unsportsmanlike call. This pushed UCF out of the red zone and they had to settle for a field goal. BYU would score a touchdown on the subsequent drive. The Knights did not get back into the red zone until the fourth quarter when head coach Gus Malzahn subbed out Brown for redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk. Rizk’s first drive would end up with a touchdown.
The third key was to stop BYU on third down. The Knights were not successful here. To add insult to injury, the Cougars were successful on two fourth-down conversions earlier in the game to help tire and demoralize the defense. Those two fourth-down conversions will get the proper attention below.
Do We Have Another QB Controversy?
After being the better quarterback against Cincinnati and being named the full-time starter after the Iowa State game, we thought we were done with this conversation. Jacurri Brown had a rough game, passing for only 96 yards and two unforced interceptions. BYU did an excellent job of eliminating Brown’s ability to tuck and run. In fairness, losing Kobe Hudson on UCF’s first offensive play of the game didn’t help. It did allow Jacoby Jones to step up and lead the team in receiving.
In the fourth quarter, Malzahn subbed in Rizk to help provide a spark and he did. Per Malzahn after the game, he put in Rizk instead of EJ Colson to help preserve Colson’s redshirt. Rizk, a redshirt freshman, doesn’t have that option anymore. To everyone’s surprise, Rizk looked sharp. He connected on his first three passes and threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jones to close his night. Rizk is a more traditional passer than Brown, so his style might be better suited going forward, but with how inconsistent the offensive line’s blocking has been this year, it’s a bit of a crap shoot as to what will work.
When Tackling Makes You Sick
The tackling in this game was nothing short of atrocious. As someone who enjoys football, it gave me a stomach ache. In the case of defensive back Ladarius Tennison, he was unable to play today due to a case of vertigo. On multiple occasions, UCF’s inability to wrap up a tackle allowed BYU to convert a first down and keep their drive alive. The most egregious was on a fourth and two where Darius Lassiter caught the ball and was stopped short of the line to gain. He broke out of the tackle and stretched his arm enough as he went out of bounds to get the first down.
A recurring theme this season has been the defense’s tendency to be out of position and have bad angles of attack. Defenders would appear flat-footed and susceptible to runners changing direction and not being able to react quickly enough to make a tackle. The linebackers have been especially susceptible. This has been noticeable with run-savvy quarterbacks and running backs when they run up the middle and make a shift in the second level of the defense. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff and running back LJ Martin did an excellent job exploiting the heavy feet of UCF’s linebackers. It does not appear that the coaching staff has any answers as the problem persists.
Special Team Ownage
Gus Malzahn and UCF were flat-out out-coached by Kalani Sitake and his staff. There is no denying that. The pinnacle of that was a fake field goal on a fourth and five at the UCF 28. The entire right side of the field was open and kicker Will Ferrin ran for a first down. The Cougars wouldn’t be able to get any closer to the endzone and settle for an actual field goal, but the creative playcalling was on full display. The Knights were completely unprepared for the fake and compounded the problems the defense was having on their end.
Now What?
At 3-5, the Knights need to be near-perfect to get a bowl game. The five-game losing streak matches what UCF did last year before they were able to recover to a 6-6 regular season record and a bowl bid. The Knights have Arizona at home, Arizona State and West Virginia on the road, and then close the season with Utah at home. They need to win three of the four remaining games and there are no gimmes. With how ineffective Brown was at quarterback and how Rizk stepped in and delivered a spark to an anemic offense, does Gus reconsider his plan going forward?
Does all of this sound like a broken record? It’s like deja vu.
Uniform Review
It’s homecoming week and UCF decided to bring back their lance logo from their I-A(FBS) infancy in 1996 through 2002. The Lance logo has “Knights” underneath despite being known then as the Golden Knights. The helmet used a gold shell, which is a very similar shade of gold to the helmets of that time. To go with the throwback helmet, UCF is using their Knightmode uniform for the first time this season. Considering how unique UCF’s uniform was from 2000-2003, it would have been amazing if the equipment team could have found a way to replicate the uniform from that time. Before 2004, UCF football used Russell Athletic uniforms. In 2004, Adidas became the new uniform designer, but a variation of the Lance logo was used until the big rebrand of 2007. UCF dropped the ball by not painting the Lance logo at midfield.
The predicted score was 31-24 BYU. My score prediction was closer than it should have been. BYU dominated UCF from the opening drive and while UCF shrunk the deficit to a touchdown late in the second quarter, they quickly lost the momentum and that was that. UCF outscored BYU 14-3 in the fourth quarter.
Stat Leaders
Passing:
UCF: Jacurri Brown: 8/17 for 96 yards, 0 TD, 2 Int
BYU: Jake Retzlaff: 16/24 for 228 yards, 2 TD, 0 Int
Rushing:
UCF: R.J. Harvey: 16 carries for 127 yards, 2 TD
BYU: LJ Martin: 15 carries for 101 yards, 1 TD
Receiving:
UCF: Jacoby Jones: 6 catches for 116 yards, 1 TD
BYU: Darius Lassiter: 4 catches for 54 yards, 0 TD
Game Notes:
- BYU leads the series 3-1.
- RJ Harvey now has 496 career rushing attempts. He passes Elgin Davis to move up to fifth all-time at UCF.
- RJ Harvey now has 3,232 career rushing yards. He passes Willie English for third all-time at UCF
- RJ Harvey now has 13 100-yard rushing games. He is now tied with Marquette Smith for fourth all-time at UCF.
- RJ Harvey is the first UCF running back since Marquette Smith in 1994-1995 to post back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons
- Jacurri Brown’s 154 rushing yards is the second-highest single-game rushing total by a quarterback in UCF history
- Kobe Hudson has caught a pass in 31 consecutive games. That is tied with Ted Wilson for seventh all-time at UCF.
- Sorry it’s not my best, but I was in awe of the amazing turnout of the BYU fans. (Disclosure: I’m not really surprised. Florida has a large LDS population)
