The War on I-4... Coming soon to a stadium near you...

[BDYZR]

Isn't it funny that when the underdog plays well it's because the favorite didn't bring their A-game?

Like it or not, UCF came to play and Texas couldn't do anything about it. Texas won because they are a better team.

End of story.

USF will win for the same reason, but, we'll have to play a good game to do it. There's no one on our schedule, well, maybe Syracuse, that will be somewhat easy.

GO BULLS!

[kdawgy_orlando]

Living in Orlando and having a UCF Alumni next door (long story for another thread) I can tell you that this is the strongest showing to date. 

I have been in Orlando for six years now.  This is the first year that the fans seem dedicated, they have their hopes hinged that this is the year.  They have the new stadium, they have a new media campaign, they have their new logo design, really  - - - they are trying to make a run of things.  They have Memphis, La Lafayette and ECU prior to a visit to us, they look to build momentum.

Of the three years we have played, they seem the strongest this year.  So far, we look the best of three years also.  It will be interesting to see how the office talk here goes tomorrow, I will be wearing the USF tie.  I am sure the Auburn, Florida and LSU coworkers will all be commenting on the polls. 

[FreaKnight]

I don't know-- UCF looked pretty good today to me

moral victory aside-- they played well enough to hang with a team that was supposed to blow them out of the stadium

And Texas looked rediculously bad today.  If they played like a #6 team and not a #56 team it wouldn't have been close.  Texas was playing very reserved.

How quickly team's fans forget....obviously it's different because USF actually beat Auburn, but wasn't it frustrating to read that the reason USF was able to do it was because of Auburn's bad play, and not because USF played well?  Texas may not be deserving a #6 ranking, but they are a team that is stockpiled with talented football players and UCF deserved to be on the field with that team yesterday.  UCF had to make a lot of plays in all 3 segments of the game.

I use the same logic against what you said in your post...part of the reason that Texas didn't play well was because of the way UCF played.  The "reserved" look that you reference about Texas was because of UCF's defensive strategy....play a zone defense and keep Texas' playmakers in front of them, and make the tackles. 

It resulted in Texas getting 90 offensive plays...a REDICULOUSLY large number.  But the plan almost worked....UCF isn't good enough to turn the ball over against a team like Texas and win the game.  UCF needed to win the turnover battle and that didn't happen.

[USF_Grouper]

I don't know-- UCF looked pretty good today to me

moral victory aside-- they played well enough to hang with a team that was supposed to blow them out of the stadium

And Texas looked rediculously bad today.  If they played like a #6 team and not a #56 team it wouldn't have been close.  Texas was playing very reserved.

How quickly team's fans forget....obviously it's different because USF actually beat Auburn, but wasn't it frustrating to read that the reason USF was able to do it was because of Auburn's bad play, and not because USF played well?  Texas may not be deserving a #6 ranking, but they are a team that is stockpiled with talented football players and UCF deserved to be on the field with that team yesterday.  UCF had to make a lot of plays in all 3 segments of the game.

I use the same logic against what you said in your post...part of the reason that Texas didn't play well was because of the way UCF played.  The "reserved" look that you reference about Texas was because of UCF's defensive strategy....play a zone defense and keep Texas' playmakers in front of them, and make the tackles. 

It resulted in Texas getting 90 offensive plays...a REDICULOUSLY large number.  But the plan almost worked....UCF isn't good enough to turn the ball over against a team like Texas and win the game.  UCF needed to win the turnover battle and that didn't happen.

I don't remember any published source saying that USF won because Auburn didn't play well.  I am not saying it didn't happen, but I certainly didn't see that.  USF was only a 6 point dogs in that game.  USF has wins against ranked teams each of the last three years.  This was probably the most popular pre-season upset pick of the year.

Playing a team close is a lot different from beating them.  The Citadel just begun playing D-1AA (or championship whatever..) and they played Wisconsin, the #7 team in the nation, very tough.  Do I think the Citadel is better than any ranked team?  Of course not, Wisconsin just had a down day.  Texas seemed to move the ball well and play tough D.  They gave up a few long runs and couldn't seem to find any red zone offense.

If you want WINS against ranked teams to be considered anything other than a fluke, you have to do it consistently. 

[FreaKnight]

I don't know-- UCF looked pretty good today to me

moral victory aside-- they played well enough to hang with a team that was supposed to blow them out of the stadium

And Texas looked rediculously bad today.  If they played like a #6 team and not a #56 team it wouldn't have been close.  Texas was playing very reserved.

How quickly team's fans forget....obviously it's different because USF actually beat Auburn, but wasn't it frustrating to read that the reason USF was able to do it was because of Auburn's bad play, and not because USF played well?  Texas may not be deserving a #6 ranking, but they are a team that is stockpiled with talented football players and UCF deserved to be on the field with that team yesterday.  UCF had to make a lot of plays in all 3 segments of the game.

I use the same logic against what you said in your post...part of the reason that Texas didn't play well was because of the way UCF played.  The "reserved" look that you reference about Texas was because of UCF's defensive strategy....play a zone defense and keep Texas' playmakers in front of them, and make the tackles. 

It resulted in Texas getting 90 offensive plays...a REDICULOUSLY large number.  But the plan almost worked....UCF isn't good enough to turn the ball over against a team like Texas and win the game.  UCF needed to win the turnover battle and that didn't happen.

I don't remember any published source saying that USF won because Auburn didn't play well.  I am not saying it didn't happen, but I certainly didn't see that.  USF was only a 6 point dogs in that game.  USF has wins against ranked teams each of the last three years.  This was probably the most popular pre-season upset pick of the year.

Playing a team close is a lot different from beating them.  The Citadel just begun playing D-1AA (or championship whatever..) and they played Wisconsin, the #7 team in the nation, very tough.  Do I think the Citadel is better than any ranked team?  Of course not, Wisconsin just had a down day.  Texas seemed to move the ball well and play tough D.  They gave up a few long runs and couldn't seem to find any red zone offense.

If you want WINS against ranked teams to be considered anything other than a fluke, you have to do it consistently. 

I didn't source published stories...I directed my comment to the USF fan who claimed Texas played reserved and played like the 56th ranked team rather than the 6th.  I know there were fans out there from a variety of schools that claimed it was Auburn's poor QB play that led to USF's win, or that Auburn is having an off-year, etc....

Texas did move the ball between the 20's but again, that was part of the game plan by UCF's defense.  Give some credit to UCF's defense for jamming up their offense in the red zone...they kicked 6 field goals and made 5...that to me says that UCF's defense knew how to bow up and stop Texas and they couldn't execute it or make adjustments to figure it out.  The tempo of that game was dictated in large part by UCF. Colt McCoy is a smart QB who didn't force passes into the zone coverage because our safety's were deep.  I was surprised Texas didn't run the ball more to be honest.

Obviously wins against ranked teams have to become consistent to avoid the fluke reputation.  USF has earned it by beating ranked teams over the past 3 years.

My point is that UCF deserves credit for being in a position to take this game rather than it being just because Texas played poorly.

[ZeroBullChip]

You fed off texas mistakes in the 2nd half.  They had you against the wall and you responded.  Right before the Kevin Smith summersault miss, you were about to go 3 and out.  You caught a break off a texas interference call and scored off that field position.  Had you gone 3 and out like you were supposed to, texas would have scored again and had a 17 + point lead.  UCF would have folded like normal.  Instead you played hard and took the opportunities you were given.

If you faced an aggressive/fast defense from the start and had to play physical the whole game, it would have not been so close. Your Oline was making all sorts of holes for you to exploit and texas did next to nothing to stop your running game.  I don't think this was because texas was playing to win as much as they were playing to not lose. 

[Jamie]

I'm not sure I understand why the Sheriff and his laserlike focus on hating all things Gator is letting himself get distracted by a school like UCF. In the last few years, they've proven they can't compete with USF in just about every sport.

[nobull.Bulls]

USF won despite 4 missed field goals, aka our mistakes.

  That appears to be the difference between us and ucf in their game against Texas. UCF does have a talented looking running back, so Im looking forward to the challenge

[FreaKnight]

You fed off texas mistakes in the 2nd half.  They had you against the wall and you responded.  Right before the Kevin Smith summersault miss, you were about to go 3 and out.  You caught a break off a texas interference call and scored off that field position.  Had you gone 3 and out like you were supposed to, texas would have scored again and had a 17 + point lead.  UCF would have folded like normal.  Instead you played hard and took the opportunities you were given.

If you faced an aggressive/fast defense from the start and had to play physical the whole game, it would have not been so close. Your Oline was making all sorts of holes for you to exploit and texas did next to nothing to stop your running game.  I don't think this was because texas was playing to win as much as they were playing to not lose. 

You sound just like an SEC fan talking about Auburn and USF.   USF fed off of Auburn turnovers including several bone-headed plays by Brandon Cox.  USF took advantage of unforced fumbles by Auburn's RB.  Had Auburn not turned the ball over 5 times to USF's 0, Auburn would have won the game, etc.....

The reality is that Texas won because they were the better team on Saturday, just like USF won because they were the better team against Auburn.  But both games were close and the losing teams in both instances were in the game right up to the end.  The difference between the two losing teams is that Auburn was favored by 6 and UCF was a 19 point underdog.  

One thing for certain is that USF didn't have to concern themselves with a playmaker at QB against Auburn like UCF did against Texas.  McCoy is a lot like Grothe.

[The Sheriff]

I'm not sure what game you guys watched... and I was wearing my "UCF Sucks" hat the whole time... but they looked good last night. Texas looked better than the Auburn team we beat... hell... Colt is a great QB (and I take back anything I said about Matt Grothe being leaps and bounds ahead of him - Matt is equal at best to him). Matt is a gamer though... A real closer... the real deal.

Kevin Smith would start here right now... he is a **** good back. I'm all about Mike Ford... but Smith can ball.

I know we will beat UCF... but they will win their C-USA this season. I've seen Tulsa play... UCF finally has the pieces to be the real deal. And yes... I have penis envy with respect to their OCS. Anyone who has tailgated at a school with an OCS knows what it does for the atmosphere. Hell... with our passionate fans... an OCS one day will place us on another level.

We will beat UCF... but fwiw... the gap is only bigger with respect to the conferences we're in. We will be competing with them for recruits for years to come. Regardless... the atmosphere will be electric for the game...

And for all of you in denial... take UCF off the schedule and add another Elon game... or a UNC... or an Indiana. I hate the Knaggits... but there is something about playing them that gets everyone amped up (ask any player what UCF week means). Leavitt could care less... but do you blame him for not wanting to take a chance for having an Applachian State-UM type game.

And for what's it worth... Miami is down right now... but for how long? The talent they have signed from Miami Northwestern is legit. And when you see three top recruits throwing the Canes sign out while their #1 high school team on tv is beating the best in Texas... that is contagious. Miami faces all comers... I want to be regarded like Miami someday... five National Championships in the last 25 years.

Play UCF. Dominate UCF. Leave no doubt.

Play Miami. Dominate Miami. Leave no doubt.

We need to ride the momentum that Matt Grothe has created. You place Matt on FSU, UM, or UCF, they are a different team. How can anyone forget 2004? We were a QB away from being successful. Ride Matt... we need to position ourselves for another top QB. We are in a great position right now for the next three years... but in actuality... we need to pick up another top QB. That is the difference in football. Want to be ranked... find a kid that can deliver the ball. End of rant.