First Thoughts, Louisville at UCF
(Featured Article Photo: Louisville QB Malik Cunningham and Syracuse's Jatius Greer. Photo credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports.)
After the UCF Knights opening win versus the South Carolina State Bulldogs, the second game against Louisville is expected to be far better. There’s added fire for the Cardinals as well.
They lost 31-7 at Syracuse on Saturday night. That dose of reality for the Louisville coaches and players will inevitably put more of an emphasis towards the game inside of FBC Mortgage Stadium this next Friday evening. That leads to the following thoughts from both sides.
UCF is good, and Louisville is?
As often happens with football and first games, there are the overreactions that take place.
“The (insert team name) is overrated,” says the fan screaming at his laptop as he types. Same from many media members, actually. It’s all too common.
UCF is a quality team, but it also beat up a FCS opponent during Week 1. It will become much more difficult with a Power 5 team coming down next. Louisville, meanwhile, simply struggled offensively against what appears to be a solid Syracuse team.
Even though quarterback Malik Cunningham failed to deliver, as he was picked off twice, there simply needs to be more evidence before passing judgment on the Cardinals. He can quickly help Louisville turn the narrative around with a win at UCF.
Complacency is the Enemy
Moving Louisville to the side for a moment, the Knights need to win the mental battle during every single day prior to kickoff. What does that mean?
Stay away from reading headlines about how poorly Louisville played. Do not read into that score. Do not take anything for granted.
Without question, the UCF coaching staff as a whole, will be monitoring the body language and the attitude of the roster. They must prepare for Louisville with 100% effort. Louisville is a wounded team now that it laid an egg at Syracuse and will look to make UCF its hapless victim if allowed to do so.
This is the eb and flow of college football. It’s emotional. It’s also detailed. That second point goes back to the preparation that the UCF coaches will demand and making sure that each player in the Friday game plan is focused on the task at hand.
Many could discount this as something UCF players will automatically do, but the history of college football shows many teams come out flat the week after an upcoming opponent plays poorly. The end result, from there, is often a loss.
If UCF is focused this week during practice, it’s all good. Everyone will know by how the Knights execute if they were truly dialed in with what the UCF coaches were teaching all week long.
Run the Football
Inside The Knights will get into more detail about game matchups with Louisville on Monday through Thursday. Looking back at how Louisville’s defense played, there is one statistic that does indeed stand out from the Louisville loss.
Last season, Syracuse was a running team. Everyone knew it. The Cardinals still could not stop the Orange. The top two running backs from Syracuse – running back Shawn Tucker and quarterback Garrett Shrader – combined for 193 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
UCF is going to attempt to establish the run. That’s Head Coach Gus Malzahn’s offensive philosophy. It’s just interesting that Syracuse has a running quarterback to go along with a really talented running back and Louisville struggled to contain them.
One can be assured that quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, as well as running backs Isaiah Bowser and Johnny Richardson, among other UCF running backs, will be ready to test Louisville’s rushing defense. Something to think about as the Knights’ next game with the Cardinals approaches.
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