There was room for the UCF Knights to make excuses on Saturday against the Pitt Panthers. A massive rainstorm forced their game to be delayed by about 90 minutes, and the rain continued throughout the game, with both teams struggling on offense.
In the end, it was a 12-7 win for Pitt. UCF’s offense didn’t manage to score until the fourth quarter, when desperation was setting in.
UCF finished the game with just 206 yards of total offense. That included 186 passing yards and an abominable 20 rushing yards. The Knights didn’t turn the ball over, but conversions became a major issue. They were just 4 of 13 on third down attempts and 0 for 3 on fourth down attempts. In the end, UCF managed just 9 first downs on the entire game.
UCF Knights HC Scott Frost Knew Where to Place the Blame for the Offense
UCF Knights head coach Scott Frost was, unsurprisingly, asked to address the offense following the game. He’d quickly put the blame on himself for not having his team ready to go.
“We just made a few plays, honestly, down the stretch,” Scott Frost said. “I think there’s a lot that we have to look at and reconsider. We’ve got to play better on offense. That starts with me and the offensive staff. I just didn’t think we clicked. We looked clumsy getting lined up, motioning.”
The challenge now is figuring out why Frost and the coaching staff struggled to get the offense in motion on Saturday. There are a few possible reasons for that, but without addressing the issue, they’re bound to come back up in Big 12 play.
“So, we’ve got to take a hard look at whether we had too much in the game plan, if the weather had a lot to do with it. It just didn’t look clean. And against a defense like that, if you’re not clean, you’re not going to hit.” Frost said.
“We’ve got to establish more of a run game than that. In general, I’m so happy with how the defense played. If they give us that kind of effort on the road — I think we gave up 10 points — we’ve got to find a way to win them.”
As for the running game, or lack of a running game, there were a few reasons for those struggles. Chief among them, Frost wanted to give some credit to Pitt.
“Well, that’s their defense, right? First of all, they crowd the box, they’ve got the safeties tight, the linebackers trigger. You’ve got to really earn it in the run game against them,” Frost said. “To loosen them up, you’ve got to be able to throw it and hit shots. We didn’t have the ball long enough to throw it and hit shots, and we didn’t hit them when we had our chance in the first half. That just kind of snowballed.”
UCF QB Alonza Barnett Left With an Injury
When it rains, it pours. UCF learned that the hard way against Pitt when starting quarterback Alonza Barnett was injured on the final drive of the game.
“Yeah, we’re not sure what it was yet. Hopefully it’s just a cramp, but I don’t know yet,” Frost said after the game.
UCF had major quarterback issues a season ago, when a mixture of injuries and inconsistent play forced them to play four different quarterbacks. The hope was that veteran transfer Alonza Barnett would keep them from having similar issues this season. All that could change now with his injury.
Keyone Jenkins briefly replaced Barnett. A transfer from FIU, Jenkins would presumably replace Barnett if he needs to miss any significant time.
UCF HC Scott Frost Shoulders Blame for Offensive Struggles vs. Pitt