Confidence fuels Knights’ early success
When UCF coach Scott Frost met with his team Monday morning, he had two simple questions for them.
“I asked the players what their record was this morning and they knew the answer: ‘It’s 0-0,’ ” Frost said. “I asked them where we’re ranked and they said, ‘We’re not.’
“[It] sounds corny, but they’re buying into that.”
The Knights are coming off a statement win over Memphis Saturday night, one that propelled the program to its first appearance in the Associated Press and coaches’ top 25 polls since 2013, but Frost isn’t interested in talking about those accolades.
“Three wins doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s what we do from here,” Frost said. “We’re going to hit the reset button. I told them they’ve all lost at Madden and hit the reset button on their PlayStation or Xbox before, so we’re going to hit the reset button and pretend this is an eight-game season and see what we can accomplish.”
Frost doesn’t think it will be a problem for his team.
This is a different UCF team from the one that he took over a year ago — a more confident team.
“I think the last two wins kind of highlight that,” he said of that confidence.
“They weren’t shocked that they did what they did up at Maryland. And they weren’t shocked at what happened Saturday. They were excited. They were happy. But this team expected games.
“Boy, that’s a fast turnaround from where we were to that point where they expect to beat some really good teams.”
UCF running back Adrian Killins has seen the difference to win
UCF REPORT those and the impact it’s had so far on this team.
“We were in a lot of close juggernaut games last year and we never finished some of those games,” Killins said. “It all started in the second half, and we would come out a little shaky game go.
“But this year, this team has great confidence in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. So each game, we take it game by game and if everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing, we’re unstoppable.”
Last season UCF found itself either leading or tied at the half in three crucial games against Temple, Houston and Tulsa. The Knights went on to lose all three of those games.
That hasn’t been the case this season, with the team finding a way to finish strong during all three of its wins.
“Our play in the second half is due to confidence, it’s due to our depth … and I also think it has to do with our focus,” Frost said. “Last year we would lose and
UF REPORT let the our focus and we would get up on people and we wouldn’t play the same in the second half. Whether its depth, confidence or focus, I’ve been very impressed with the third quarters we’ve put together.”
UCF has outscored its opponents 62-20 in the second half of games this season.
Yes, the players are confident, but not too confident.
“We have a lot of confidence; we beat a really good Memphis team, but in our eyes we really haven’t done anything yet,” redshirt junior tight end Michael Colubiale said. “We’re focused on Cincinnati and the bigger goal is the conference championship.”