Knights grateful for bye week, chance to recover, recharge
The last time UCF football was able to take advantage of its regularly scheduled bye week, George O’Leary was the head coach.
Hurricanes during each of the past two seasons forced abrupt changes and open dates were erased by makeup games. Hurricane Florence created an open week for the Knights earlier this season, cancelling their visit to North Carolina in September.
But now, finally, the No. 10 Knights are able to enjoy a mental and physical break that has actually been on the calendar for months.
Coach Josh Heupel said the break comes at a good time, allowing players on both sides of the ball to heal “the inevitable bumps and bruises that happen during the course of the season.”
The player at the top of that list is quarterback McKenzie Milton, who didn’t play due to injury at East Carolina and has been heavily limited in practice for multiple weeks. But he’s not the only prominent UCF player in need of some time off.
Safety Richie Grant was seen following Wednesday’s practice with his left arm in a sling and heavily wrapped. Defensive players such as linebacker Pat Jasinski and cornerback Nevelle Clarke, among others, have missed significant game action recently with assorted maladies.
“I think I have to go back to my freshman year where I had a true bye week where I could just relax and let the body recover,” senior defensive tackle Joey Connors said. “It feels great.”
Said senior safety Kyle Gibson: “Up until when we played ECU [Saturday], I didn’t even realize we had a bye week following. I just knew we played Temple next. So afterwards, I was just like, ‘Thank you, thank you!’ ”
It’s no surprise that Gibson is grateful for the bye. UCF’s veterans know how taxing it was to go through last season, pushing from Sept. 23 at Maryland through the AAC Championship Game on Dec. 2 without a chance to take a breath, all while trying to remain undefeated.
The Knights still reject the notion their lapses in defense down the stretch of last season were due to fatigue. Gibson said giving up 27 points on defense to Austin Peay, an FCS team, was due in part to the fact that “we probably took it a little lightly.”
Connors attributed the 97 points UCF allowed during its late-season wins over USF and Memphis to mental errors. And ultimately, Connors said, “when the games came down to it, we came up big. When it mattered, I thought the defense stepped up last year.”
There is no denying, however, that playing 11 games in 11 weeks is something these players are glad they don’t have to do again.
“The end of that season, it was kind of tough,” Gibson said of the Knights’ 2017 campaign. “Just on your body, having to push and fight through. So I think this bye week is kind of set up perfect.”
The timing of this particular bye week could greatly assist the Knights against their next two opponents. Since they face Temple on Thursday, UCF will have a couple of extra days to recover and game plan for Navy, whose runheavy triple-option offense comes to Orlando on Nov. 10.
UCF is working to extend the nation’s longest win streak that spans 20 games.
“I expect another physical game from Temple and especially with Navy pounding the ball, running, I think those 10 days will help us,” Gibson said.
Although the Knights did practice twice this week, they were given Monday and Friday off before beginning the real prep work for their next game against the Owls.