(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
Sept. 4, 2017 at Wayne Densch Center for Student-Athlete Leadership
Availability: HC Scott Frost
HC Scott Frost
- Linebacker Dedrion Bacote left the University of Central Florida’s season-opener against the FIU Panthers with a leg injury.
- Bacote had one solo tackle in his 2017 debut.
Yeah, we were really concerned about him on the field. He does have an injury. He’s gonna be out for a period of time. We don’t know how long yet, but the injury wasn’t as severe as we thought it was—still serious but didn’t have any ligament damage. So, he’s a great kid. He’s had a really good year and a half in our program, so we’re gonna be excited to watch his recovery and progress but unfortunate play and, unfortunately, that’s football.
- Last season, the Knights didn’t play their first American Athletic Conference game until Week 5.
- This season, UCF hosts the University of Memphis in Week 2 to start conference play.
I don’t think it changes our approach. You know, we try to treat every game the same. Every game’s important. For the sake of the conference standings and where you are in the league, it’s more important. But our guys are gonna be ready to play every game, and it’s a little unusual to play a conference game this early, but we have to be just as ready in Week 2 as we would be Week 6.
- The Knights played their only Thursday game of the season, their first of two non-Saturday games, against FIU in Week 1.
- UCF won 61-17.
Yeah, I think our guys are really fresh right now coming out of fall camp. I thought we were healthy and fresh. We got a couple more days after the first game, which only helped us more. Having a couple days extra off would help us a lot if our opponent hadn’t had the same thing. I think it was smart for us to move that game to Thursday and be on the same ground, from a preparation standpoint, as Memphis, and that evens the playing field.
- With the looming threat of Hurricane Irma, the Knights and Tigers are considering moving the Week 2 matchup to Friday.
I think there’s been some initial conversations that have happened. A lot of people are unsure about where the storm’s going and everything, but I think we need to have a contingency plan, and I’ll let the athletic directors and more important people figure those things out.
- According to an AAC media poll, the University of South Florida is projected to win the East and the conference, and Memphis is projected to win the West.
Every game’s a measuring-stick game. Last week was a measuring-stick game to see where we were. Now we get a chance to see where we are compared to one of the better teams in our conference. Then we’ll get a chance to see where we are against an ACC team and a Big Ten team. Every week’s important, and this one’s no different. Our kids are really excited to play. We had a really good practice today. So I think they’re dialed in and ready to prepare to win.
- Last week, Knights starting quarterback McKenzie Milton had a career night, throwing for 360 yards and four touchdowns on 16-for-21 passing.
- Statistically, his lone mistake was a first-quarter interception.
- Milton was named conference offensive player of the week on Monday.
I’m not too worried about awards or accolades. I’m just happy that he performed the way we expected. He’s had some really good practices last fall, last spring, this fall. I think it played out on the field that way. Expect more performances like that from him. The biggest thing—he has a lot more help around him. We’re better at receiver, we’re better at tight end, we’re better at running back, and O-line played a lot better. When he has time to sit in the pocket and step into throws, he can make ’em. I think he was more efficient. He did the things we asked him, but the rest of the offense played better around him, too.
McKenzie still made a few mistakes. The interception was a bad decision. He had a couple bad decisions in the run game, but, you know, he was efficient at a pretty high percentage on [Thursday], and that’s all we can ask from our quarterback.
- Despite the offensive line playing better than it did in the team’s first game last season, Frost still said there needs to be more push in the run game.
- The Knights ran for 148 yards and four touchdowns.
- Sophomore Jawon Hamilton led both teams as the only rusher with double-digit carries, running for 56 yards and a touchdown against FIU.
Offensive line was an area, just like quarterback, [where] we needed better play. I thought it was a lot better Game 1 than it was last year. We gotta run the ball better than we did, though. There was some factors that led to that, but we gotta commit to the run and be able to run the ball, and when you run the ball well in games, you win football games. So, that comes down to our offensive line, perimeter blocking, quarterbacks and running backs. It’s a team effort.
No, the run game on offense needs to keep improving. I thought the defense played pretty well overall. Gave up a couple big plays, though. We need to limit other teams’ big plays. That’s really important this week. If you watch Memphis play, they’ll kinda grind you out and get a few yards here, a few yards there, eight yards here, and then they hit a big play, either through a pass play or run play or a run-pass option, and our defense—I think if we can avoid giving up big plays, we’ll have a lot of luck stopping most people they play.
You know, we were close on a lot of things. Just gotta get a little more movement up front, and our backs gotta trust it and hit it. And they had a lot of guys up by the line of scrimmage that kinda led to some of our success in the pass game. But we need to be able to run it no matter what another team shows us, and, at times, we did, but I don’t think we were consistent enough.
- In his UCF debut, cornerback Mike Hughes had one of the best night for a Knights defensive back against the Panthers.
- He finished the game with two solo tackles and three pass break-ups, the only ones from a UCF defensive back against FIU.
Mike played really well. Remarkable considering how little preparation he had going into that game with us. I think the coaches did a good job of getting him ready. And he showed up ready to go to work. But he’s gonna be a really solid player for us. We’re glad to have him.
- Frost sees the cornerback position as a spot where multiple guys will play.
- Brandon Moore recorded two assisted tackles, Keenan Johnson had one assisted tackle, and Rashard Causey had one assisted and two solo tackles in the win over FIU.
No, we’re gonna play a bunch of guys at corner, just like every other position. Chris [Johnson] did some good things. Brandon Moore did good things. Obviously Mike. Causey. Keenan did some good things late in the game, too. Hopefully we got a bunch of guys that can be efficient out there and make plays, and we’ll keep rolling ’em as much as we need to, keep ’em fresh.
- The Knights’ pass rush was relatively limited, as Shawn Burgess-Becker recorded UCF’s only sack of the game.
- For Frost, that came down to how the Panthers’ offense was playing.
I think it was a lot of things that, you know—offensively, they threw quick or they max-pro’d. They kept eight guys in and took shots, or they got the ball out fast. That makes it harder to get to any quarterback. But I saw the effort there, and I know the pass rush will come because I’ve been watching it for a calendar year now with the guys we have, so looking forward to seeing that play out on a football field one of these days.
- Following the Knights’ first touchdown, a 22-yard strike to tight end Jordan Akins, the Knights went for their first two-point conversion of the season and were successful.
- Punter and holder Mac Loudermilk, who played quarterback in high school, completed the conversion with a two-yard pass to tight end Jordan Franks.
Yeah, it makes our two-point chances that we take after touchdowns a lot easier when you got some athletes out there. Mac’s a good player and a good athlete. And he’ll give us a lot more options than we’d have with a lot of other people.
I think the eighth point is key. Really puts you up two scores unless somebody’s willing to roll the dice and go for two themselves, which most people aren’t. It also makes the defense have to prepare for one more thing going into a week. So we’ll keep doing that. Hopefully we can be consistent with it. Coach Austin does a really good job of designing those every week, and we’ll do it one or more times every game.
- Memphis beat the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 37-29 on Aug. 31 to open its season.
Well, I think this is a good team. Obviously, they’ve been one of the better teams in the league for a number of years now. I think they’re very aggressive on defense. They run to the ball well. They’re sound. Offensively, I think they have three running backs that can beat you. If you give ’em a crease, they can take it the whole way. The quarterback can really throw and is smart in what they do. A lot of run-pass options, a lot of sound runs. Receivers are really good players. They can make a big play on you any time, and then they’re dangerous in the kicking game, too. So, they’re a well-rounded team. You know, the type of team that I don’t think we would’ve been good enough to beat last year, but, this year, I’m looking forward to the opportunity, and I know we gotta play well, but we’re gonna have a chance.
- When Frost was with the University of Oregon from 2012 to 2015, Frost coached against then-Arizona State University offensive coordinator and current Memphis head coach Mike Norvell.
Yeah, I know Mike well. We’ve been coaching against each other for a lot of years at Arizona State and Oregon, so I just saw him at the media day before the season started, and I’m happy for him and the success he’s had moving on from Arizona State and having success as a head coach. He’s a good coach, but there’s a lot of good coaches in this conference, so every week’s gonna be a new challenge.
- The Knights hold an overall record of 9-1 over the Tigers.
I don’t know. I don’t think any player on either team would know that stat or care. It really comes down to this week. Both programs have been through a lot in the amount of time that has passed since they first played each other. Moving conferences, being at different levels. I know that we like playing in our stadium. I’m glad they’re coming in here, but this is a really good team, and we gotta be on our toes and be at our best and beat ’em.
- For Frost, he’s not interested in talk about protecting his team’s home field, as all games are important no matter where they’re being played.
- Last season, the Knights went 3-3 at home.
We gotta play well at home and on the road. So, we don’t talk about “protect this house” much. We love playing at home. We love playing in front of our fans. But every game’s important. And I think it gives us an advantage to be here at home, but, you know, sloganeering and talking about protecting our house and those types of things—we’re not into that much. We’re more into being the best we can be every day and then being better the next day.
- Memphis has a deadly threat in receiver Anthony Miller.
- Last season, he led the Tigers’ receiving corps with team-highs in receptions (95), yards (1,434) and touchdowns (14).
- The next-highest in receptions (42), yards (677) and touchdowns (four) came from senior Phil Mayhue.
- Miller was limited in his first game of 2017, recording just two receptions for 23 yards.
I don’t if I’m ever excited to watch a really good player on the other side. They got several good receivers. You know, he’s probably the leader of the pack, but they got several guys that can beat you. Three running backs that can beat you. A quarterback that knows what he’s doing. He can really throw it. It’s gonna be a challenge, and I think our guys are excited for that challenge. I think they’ve made some progress, and they know it. I think they are ready to take the next step as a team, and this is an important one for us if we wanna reach the goals that a lot of our team has in mind.
- In second-year starting quarterback Riley Ferguson, the Tigers also have a threat that can air it out.
- Last season, Ferguson threw for 3,698 yards and 32 touchdowns with 10 interceptions while completing 63.2 percent of his passes.
- Like Miller, Ferguson was limited in the Tigers’ season-opener, throwing for just 97 yards and an interception on 10-for-25 passing in his team’s win.
Riley’s a good player. Obviously, has a big arm. He’s really slick in how he plays. You know, he’ll hand the ball off, hand the ball off and then pull it and throw a bang post right over the top of a safety that’s fitting on the run. Think he throws it really well downfield. Throws a deep ball well. Can beat you with his legs if you fall asleep on him. You know, a veteran kid that’s played a lot of football. So, he’s gonna provide us with a lot of challenges. We’re gonna have to basically be really assignment-sound as if you’re playing an option team. ‘Cause when you have the threat run, quarterback run or pull and throw, everybody has to be doing their job.
- True freshman quarterback Noah Vedral made his UCF debut in the win over FIU.
- He threw for 79 yards on 10-for-12 passing and rushed for another 12 yards on four carries.
I thought Noah had a good first day. He’s obviously very new to what we’re doing but went in, and, other than his firs throw, which wasn’t on target, I thought he played really well. Made a few mistakes, but that’s what you expect out of a freshman. It’s great to get him some reps. That was the big thing I took out of that is watching him get out there and get some good playing time against their starting unit and having some success. That’s gonna give him some confidence going forward.
- With depth at running back, Frost has been pleased with that position.
- Four running backs, including true freshmen Cordarrian Richardson and Greg McCrae, scored their first collegiate touchdowns against FIU.
Yeah, we like our backfield. Obviously, Ham and Taj are doing a good job. Think Cordarrian’s gonna keep coming along. We can get A.K. in the backfield any time we need, and, really, Otis Anderson is a kid that’s coming on as a receiver and a running back. And Greg McCrae had some good plays [on Thursday], too, so, lot of kids that we trust in the backfield, and we’ll have to figure out the reps going forward.
- Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander’s defense was led by linebacker Nate Evans and safety Tre Neal against FIU.
- Evans finished with a team-high six tackles (four solo, two assisted).
- Neal had five tackles (two solo, three assisted) and an interception returned for 29 yards.
No, I think, you know, we have more depth than we had a year ago. So lot of players on defense did some good things. Thought Nate Evans had a good game at linebacker coming in. Shawn Burgess-Becker forced a fumble. Collier forced another fumble. Some younger guys. Thought we had some young receivers that played well, and our second O-line played a lot better than our second O-line would have last year. So, hopefully, that speaks to the depth we have, and getting those guys reps is gonna be important for us.
For more on the Knights, as they look to open AAC play against the Tigers on Saturday, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
