Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Knights focusing on discipline as they prepare for Navy
There’s one word that has been tossed around all week at UCF about stopping the Navy triple-option flexbone attack. Discipline. To that, UCF defensive coordinator Erik Chinander says, “Really? No kidding.”
“Obviously this is a great offense we’re playing. They’ve been really good at running this offense for a long time,” Chinander said. “The thing I don’t get is that people say, ‘Ahh, this is a discipline game. This is an assignment game.’
“It’s an assignment every game. I don’t just tell them to do whatever the hell they want every other opponent we play. So I don’t understand how it’s different from regular football. It’s a different offense, absolutely … but it’s football, so let’s go play football. We’re really good at playing football right now. Let’s go do that.”
Safety Kyle Gibson, however, still talked about being disciplined in his decisionmaking Saturday when the Knights visit the United States Naval Academy.
The job of the safeties on defense is usually to sit back and make decisions based on the pass-or-run playcalling. When facing a team like Navy — which averages 64 run plays per game and leads the nation with 397.5 yards on the ground per game — it’s essential for the safeties to come up and help stuff the run while also being the safety valves should a ball-carrier break past the second tier of the defense.
But that’s not all. Navy will hit defenses with a surprising pass now and again — the Midshipmen average eight passes a game — so the safeties have to be aggressive in helping stop the run, but wary of being burnt by an occasional pass over the top.
“It just means a little bit more discipline. You just gotta have your eyes in the right spot, reading the wings and the guards,” Gibson said. “Just discipline … not looking at things you’re not supposed to be looking at.”
The Knights have been on the same page defensively for the most part during their 5-0 start, with the exception of a few possessions against Cincinnati and a few mistakes against East Carolina, most notably missed tackles on a 57-yard run by Pirate Darius Pinnix.
Those kind of lapses can happen while defending the flexbone, but the key is limiting the number of big plays, limiting first downs and getting the flexbone off the field, most important, so UCF’s high-flying offense can do its thing.
“… We just all gotta stay in the film room and keep working together,” Gibson said. “I think if we all play hard, play fast and disciplined, we’ll get another ‘W.’”
It’s been an enjoyable season for the Knights so far, riding their unbeaten record to a No. 20 Associated Press ranking. It’s been especially enjoyable for players like Gibson, who endured going 0-12 during UCF’s 2015 season.
Gibson, who had committed to Vanderbilt before changing gears and signing with UCF, had a tough freshman year as a redshirt in 2015 and had to wonder back then if he had made a horrible mistake in becoming a Knight. Not now. “That was my first time ever losing like that in football in my life. It was a sour taste and I never wanted to feel that again,” Gibson said. “A lot of times, I think of that before games. … And when people cheer us on, I think about how they booed us [back then].
“So it’s just something that drives the whole team. … Everything happens for a reason, so I’m glad I stuck it out here. Everybody who stayed and stuck it out, we’re all reaping the rewards now, so it paid off.”