Ucf 11/17 8:00 abc

[UC4me]

Just read an interesting point about which team will better handle the pressure of Prime Time and Game Day will win. The article didn't predict which team can do that. I believe Fickell gives the Bearcats an advantage. Luke's ecperiences in big games allows him to relate to the players as he gets them appropriately pumped up.

This is actually where I think that we will lose the game. I think Ridder is one heck of a quarterback, but he has shown himself to be susceptible to intense internal pressure at times and start to come unglued. I think a year or two from now we would win this game handily, but I am not confident that this young quarterback will be able to handle such bright lights.

[Carin's Dad]

Kicking game sucks.

[Greg7173]

Yes but to be fair nothing else looks all that good. We are making their defense look like all stars. What happened to our pass rush.

[kennh]

I realize it will not make any difference in the final result of this game but why can't the AAC get replay calls correct all of the time? That is the second horrible overturned call on replay we have had this year. Who are the replay officials? Are they real officials or jokers they drag in off of the street for one game?

[Cliftonite]

Get a new FG kicker, my God. What a momentum/confidence killer he was.

Warren and Ritter looked hurt/slow running the ball.

Ritter HAS to improve in several areas, but mostly as a passer and decision-maker, as well as reading defenses. Talented kid, great year over-all, really needs to be coached-up and see if he can compete against top 25 schools or not (right now, he can't).

It was a great turnaround year, the loss didn't bother me that much, there's some young talent on that team, but need to improve quite a bit to compete with top 25 schools.

They are young and very inconsistent, and looked banged-up, let's hope for a good bowl performance and some momentum for next season I guess.

[Bearcat Chris]

What a "BIG MO" killer, missing the extra point, and then missing two very makable FG's in the first half. Memo to Coach Fickell, Colerain HS has a senior PK by the name of Chris Mangold. Strong, accurate leg. Not that many FG's, as Colerain rarely tries them, but never misses extra points. Recruit him for next year.

Also Coach, the team has had a great year, and your recruits overall have been very good, but for heaven's sake, at the end of the first half, why didn't you use any of your three time outs until there was only 22 seconds left? You left points on the field by poor clock management.

Still, none of us imagined 10-2 in August (assuming we beat ECU). Probably headed to the Birmingham Bowl, although I'd love to go back to the Liberty Bowl.

B.C.

[Geaux Juan]

It's always disappointing to lose, but perspective makes me appreciate what's been accomplished this season. As stated by most, this season's record is not what we would have expected.

Although UC got a lot of rushing yards, I was surprised it was not more and more consistently gained; UCF had an answer for that. But watching their defense as much as I have this year, it surprised me. Their decision and ability to "stop" our running should have opened something else, but I think their team speed took care of that.

Let's hope this doesn't linger and the Cats finish the season strong.

[Greg7173]

What a "BIG MO" killer, missing the extra point, and then missing two very makable FG's in the first half. Memo to Coach Fickell, Colerain HS has a senior PK by the name of Chris Mangold. Strong, accurate leg. Not that many FG's, as Colerain rarely tries them, but never misses extra points. Recruit him for next year.

Also Coach, the team has had a great year, and your recruits overall have been very good, but for heaven's sake, at the end of the first half, why didn't you use any of your three time outs until there was only 22 seconds left? You left points on the field by poor clock management.

Still, none of us imagined 10-2 in August (assuming we beat ECU). Probably headed to the Birmingham Bowl, although I'd love to go back to the Liberty Bowl.

B.C.

totally agree!!

[Bearcat Chris]

Story & interview about Chris Mangold, PK at Colerain HS. Was 3rd team All State as a Junior. Great soccer player too.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/colerai...field/23343613

B.C.

[SawyerHall68]

This game reminded me of the past years (pre Dantonio), when UC would play the P5 schools early in the season snd get beat bad (scorewise and physically). Then after losing key players to injury UC would go into league play hobbled. UCF indeed outclassed UC strategically, game management, and physically. UC quarterback had no time to evaluated the defense or look for alternate receivers. UC's offensive and defensive lines looked overmatched. UCF's defensive backfield dominated UC's receivers. UCF's receivers dominated UC's defensive backfield.

I'm happy with the progress UC made this year but they are still aways from competing with the big boys.

[Lobot]

Offense never got going last night. Not sure why we abandoned the screen game. Worked pretty well right before the halftime. Deguara was open down the seam several times last night before they started keeping him in to block.

I'm less concerned with losing that game than how many injuries we had. I counted Gilbert, Warren and Lewis all left the game and didn't return. Gilbert came back in once and hurt something else. Did we lose anyone else last night?

[coach]

Lewis tweeted he's ok nothing major. I think Warren has a sore shoulder which i think he's had for a while.

Lost to a better team. It's like i said earlier in the week, you cannot beat a team like that at home and give them extra possession which we did in spades. Offense just could not block them and we got to one dimensional at times. Ridder has to be able to identify and make better decisions when teams load the box against them, and unfortunately he did little to make them question doing it. His basic instinct is always to run himself which is not bad, but they start to realized that after a while. You can't take on a linebacker in the open field when you're down 2 or 3 scores and expect anything good to come from it. Just poor decision making. Kicking job is wide open. I think Smith has the leg, but he's not the coolest of operators out there. Can't be a top 25 team without a good placekicking team in our g5 world. Let's get 10 and head to a bowl. Great season none the less.

[bearcatjd]

I was at the game & horrible experience for team & fans. Should have been 1 targeting 2 blocks in back on ko & no call/picked flag constant PA noise when we were on offense main reason for offsides penalties dubbed in UCF players cheering the crowds over replays on video board several holding calltnot called & the fumble in the second half Ridder clearly picked up & they gave it to UCF & the 2 penalties after the fumble was bs their players were jumping on the pile & pulling players off as well the AAC should suspend these refs. But it appears we never get these calls.
We were beat by the better team. Lastly we need to change fg kickers!

[Lobot]

JD you're not the only one that wants to change kickers based on the fanbase reactions last night. Cole Smith had a bad game. He's had a couple of them. I think you can probably expect those from a true freshman kicker. He'll get better over his career. Ryan Jones is the only other K on the roster right now and if you remember from last year he's not a great placekicker either so I don't know what folks expect Fickell to do here. If you bench Cole Smith, you don't get any better and you probably make Smith a basket case for the rest of his career. Anything he attempted after he got blocked was probably all mental since he got planted on his *** during the UCF run back. I'm sure we'll sign a a kicker in the incoming class but that person will be a true freshman next year just like Smith is now so....

I feel sorry for kickers. It's either fantastic or terrible from the fans and not much in between. It's one thing if you're a pro getting paid hundreds of thousands and you fail and get fired. College kickers have to just live with the social media scorn, go back to class and try again next week regardless of whether things get better or not.

[blackattack]

Tough loss but I can honestly say this is one that I’m not the least bit upset about. UCF is legit. They’re probably going to beat a good SEC team again in their bowl game or at least give them fits. Speed everywhere