RE: To UCF Fans!
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OrlandoSentinel.com
UCF Knights trampled by Bulls in Tampa
Kyle Hightower
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 14, 2007
TAMPA
UCF walked onto the Raymond James Stadium field Saturday with visions of opportunity dancing beneath its helmets.
It came into this place looking for validation for a rivalry and a chance to prove it belonged in the conversation about teams equipped to break Florida's traditional Big 3 paradigm.
But as the Knights staggered down the exit tunnel, a 64-12 loss to USF pinned to their back and the "I-4 war" reduced to little more than a skirmish, a UCF team whose season began with so much promise has had all that hope displaced.
In front of 65, 948, the first sellout in the series' history, the fifth-ranked Bulls humbled the Knights in every way, taking advantage of UCF's self-inflicted miscues and causing others.
For teams once so close in stature, the Knights' worst loss in Division I proved that at least for this moment, the two are heading in two very different directions entering the second half of 2007.
"I can't really explain what was going on," said Knights quarterback Kyle Israel. "I don't really have any answers right now, but we really never got it going. . . . They looked like the No. 5 team in the country [Saturday]."
Playing in his first game against USF after watching from the bench as a backup in the previous games, Israel and the Knights' offense never got much working against one of the nation's best defenses. And its defense was defenseless against a Bulls offense that found its pulse after five games of mediocre play.
For the second straight game, early mistakes doomed the Knights.
UCF (3-3) punted on the opening series of the game and immediately forced USF (6-0) into a three-and-out. But a muff on the return attempt by the Knights' Joe Burnett was recovered by the Bulls and turned into a field goal three plays later.
That was just the beginning.
An Israel interception led to another Bulls touchdown drive and a 10-0 advantage. But just as UCF seemed to be showing some signs of life when tailback Kevin Smith took the lead on an eight-play, 56-yard touchdown drive that ended in a 2-yard Israel plunge, the flooring continued to cave.
After forcing its second three-and-out in three series, a USF punt pinned the Knights deep. Smith fell in the end zone for a safety. Following another USF punt, the offense coughed up the ball again when USF's George Selvie hit Israel as he was attempting to make a handoff.
Bulls quarterback Matt Grothe, who accounted for four scores (two rushing, two passing) and had 100 yards rushing and 212 through the air, ran it in from 6 yards out to put up USF 19-7.
After exchanging field goals, the Bulls' first-half domination continued. They marched 69 yards in 1:01 to score again and take a 29-10 lead into the break.
UCF Coach George O'Leary had few answers for his teams' two-game slide.
"It's a team spiraling," O'Leary said. "Defensively in normal situations, we're playing fairly well. It's what we get. We're out there too much in a game right now as far as three-and-outs with our offense. My concern right now is offensively, making sure we become more productive."
It only got worse for the Knights in the second half. Grothe and the Bulls scored on the opening drive of the third quarter and outscored UCF 35-2 the rest of the way.
Afterward, Grothe basked in his team's third straight win over the Knights.
"I hope they like what happened," Grothe said. "We weren't even trying to run up the score on them. We're just that much better than them."
The Bulls' formula for success Saturday was simple. They took Smith out of the game, and didn't let anybody else step up for UCF.
Not only did they hold Smith under 100 yards rushing for the first time this season, but with four sacks they kept Israel and backup Mike Greco from doing anything either. The quarterbacks were a combined 11-of-27 passing for 84 yards.
With only a week to prepare for a very tough Tulsa team, O'Leary said he would take a long look at the quarterback position in hopes of salvaging the rest of the Knights' season.
From the players' standpoint, moving forward was the only thing worth doing Saturday.
"The one thing we were talking about all week was the opportunity," junior safety Sha'reff Rashad said. "It's frustrating because we know how good we can be. . . .
"If you knew that you weren't able to do it, that's a different story. But we know we're capable of doing it. And that's why it hurts more, because we weren't able to show it."
Kyle Hightower can be reached at khightower@orlandosentinel.com.
Copyright 2007, Orlando Sentinel
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