Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

The UCF Knights (2-2; 0-0 C-USA) suffered another game of mishaps last Friday night in their 24-17 loss at BYU (2-2; IND) with two turnovers sealing their fate in Provo, Utah. With the loss, UCF is ready to fix their mistakes and are doing so this week in a bye week. The Knights need to focus on improving their punt return average and also need to work on special teams, who have had 2 costly miffed punts that have resulted in touchdowns over their last two contests. Starting quarterback Jeff Godfrey has also struggled somewhat, holding on to the ball a little too long resulting in sacks. Fumbles have also been an issue for the offense. The Knights are moving into Conference USA play for the remainder of the season, starting with their Homecoming game next Saturday against the Thundering Herd of Marshall (1-3; 1-0 C-USA) at 7pm at Bright House Networks Stadium. The Knights have a lot of potential remaining in their season. Last year at this same point, UCF was 2-2 and eventually went on to be an undefeated ranked-team that defeated Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. The UCF College of Nursing has an entire day-long event planned for Homecoming, including a breakfast beginning at 8:30am in the University Towers, attendance at the Homecoming parade, and the College’s Tailgate Party, which begins at 3pm in the Softball Lot.

Photo Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.

The UCF Knights (2-1; 0-0 C-USA) were handed a shocking defeat Saturday night against the FIU Panthers (3-0; 0-0 Sun Belt) at a sold-out FIU Stadium in Miami. Both programs were coming off of huge wins. UCF obliterated Boston College (1-2; 0-0 ACC) 30-3 last week at home while FIU knocked-off Louisville (2-1; 0-0 Big East) at Papa John’s Stadium in Kentucky. With that win, the Knights knew they would have a tough battle ahead of them. But in the end, they doomed themselves with two very costly turnovers and the inability to stop FIU’s potent blitzing defensive scheme. Quarterback Jeff Godfrey was rattled the entire game. While he hadn’t been sacked all season, the Panthers somehow managed to sack him 7 times during the game. The 5,000+ Knights fans who made the trek down to South Florida for the game were left perplexed at how UCF made so many costly mistakes and hope the effect will not be felt this week amid rabid conference expansion talks.

UCF has worked long and hard to bring their program into serious consideration for a BCS AQ bid. To perhaps make matters worse, the Knights won’t get much of a break. The team travels into Provo, Utah on Friday to take on the Cougars of BYU (2-1), who are coming off a crushing loss to Utah 54-10. The Knights are hoping to make some major improvements to prevent the same errors that occurred Saturday against FIU from recurring. The UCF vs. BYU football game will be nationally televised on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 8:00pm.  Photo: UCF QB Jeff Godfrey fumbles late in the second quarter, giving FIU an instantaneous touchdown return. Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.

Defeat is never an easy pill to swallow. But when that defeat is absolutely stifling, the pill leaves behind an even more bitter taste! That’s exactly what the UCF Knights (2-0; 0-0 C-USA) football team delivered to the Eagles of Boston College (0-2; 0-0 ACC) in-front of 46,000 fans that filled a sold-out Bright House Networks Stadium Saturday night on the beautiful UCF campus. The Knights and Eagles played a very close game for most of the first 3 quarters. But that all took a dramatic change when the Knights’ defense forced two turnovers and paralyzed any type of offensive effort from BC. The UCF defense put up some major roadblocks for BC, allowing them to put up only 141 total yards of offense and just 3 points!

The final score of 30-3 reflects the gasoline the Knights’ offense poured on between the end of the 3rd quarter and entire 4th quarter using a running attack that wore down BC’s defensive line quickly. The gorgeous evening of football and fanfare was punctuated by an amazing show of solid support for a Boston College hero–Welles Crowther. Crowther was a BC Alum and former lacrosse player who was killed in the World Trade Center Attacks on 9/11. He was famous for wearing a trademark red bandana, one he eventually used as a mask when he re-entered the South Tower and saved countless people before being killed in the building’s collapse. Thousands of UCF students, fans, and Alumni wore red bandanas to show their love for the BC Alum, who gave his own life so that others could live.

The win was sweet for the Knights in many ways. It marked the first win ever against a BCS-AQ conference team for UCF since moving to their home on the UCF campus. The Knights also picked-up more votes towards a top-25 ranking. A solid win against Florida International (2-0; 0-0 Sun Belt), a team that handily defeated the Louisville Cardinals (1-1; 0-0 Big East) last Friday, should help push the Knights further towards a top-25 spot in the polls. That game will be nationally televised on ESPN3. Kickoff is set for 6pm at FIU Stadium in Miami, Florida.

The UCF Knights (1-0; 0-0 C-USA) football team started the 2011 football season on the right foot Saturday against the Buccaneers of Charleston Southern (0-1; 0-0 FBS). The Knights handed the Buccaneers a crushing 62-0 defeat in-front of a crowd of 40,000 at Bright House Networks Stadium. The UCF squad dominated the matchup from the start and went into the half up 35-0. Starting quarterback Jeff Godfrey took a seat early when there was over 3 minutes left in the first half. Backup quarterback Blake Bortles would lead the Knights for the remainder of the game but not before Godfrey tied former UCF great Daunte Culpepper for the most rushing touchdowns in a game. UCF now has to shift focus to a much harder level of competition as they take on the Eagles of Boston College on Saturday. The Eagles (0-1; 0-0 ACC) are off to a rocky start and the Knights need to capitalize on that to bring home the “W” to what is sure to be a sold-out Bright House Networks Stadium on the UCF campus. As of late last week, fewer than 2,000 tickets remained for the Boston College matchup. Kickoff is set for 8pm and the game will be nationally televised on CBS College Sports Network. The UCF College of Nursing Tailgate Party for the Boston College game “kicks off” at 3pm under the scoreboard in the Golden Knights Club Softball Lot.

(Photo Courtesy Orlando Sentinel).