South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
3 things we learned from UCF’s sloppy loss
UCF suffered its first loss after allowing 13 unanswered points in the second half to Louisville on its way to a 20-14 loss to the Cardinals at FBC Mortgage Stadium Friday night.
The Knights were disappointed by the result with plenty areas of concern. Here’s what we learned:
1 . Penalties continue to haunt the Knights
UCF could not overcome self-inflicted miscues, with the Knights penalized 11 times for 111 yards. It was the second game in a row in which Gus Malzahn’s team was flagged for 10 or more penalties.
“That’s on me,” he said. “We have an undisciplined team right now. I’ve got to do a better job. That’s not acceptable and we’ve got to correct that.”
The last time UCF had back-to-back games with double-digit penalties was in
2020, when the Knights were flagged for
19, 18 and 10 penalties against East Carolina, Tulsa and Memphis.
Adding insult to injury, UCF had 2 touchdowns nullified because of holding penalties.
Running back Johnny Richardson took a screen pass from quarterback John Rhys Plumlee midway through the second quarter and raced 57 yards past the Louisville defense only to see it called back. The same would happen when Plumlee found receiver Javon Baker on a post route in the third quarter for an overturned 75-yard score.
It was the third time that penalties cost the Knights.
In the season opener against South Carolina State last week, Xavier Townsend returned a punt 45-yards for a score only to see it called back by a holding penalty.
2 . ‘Be real’ about Plumlee
Plumlee’s second start was less than stellar, with the Ole Miss transfer finishing 16 of 34 (47%) for 131 yards and an interception. He started out 10 of 18 for 78 yards in the first half, but things went downhill after intermission as the senior was limited to 6 of 16 (38%) for 53 yards.
“We’ve got to be real with ourselves. He hasn’t played quarterback in two years, so he’ll continue to improve,” said Malzahn.
The interception came late in the fourth quarter with the Knights facing 4th-andgoal on Louisville’s 5-yard line. Plumlee tried to find receiver Jaylon Griffin in the back of the end zone and cornerback Jarvis Brownlee ripped the ball away. It was Plumlee’s first interception since Nov.
16, 2019 against LSU.
3 . Short-handed at receiver
Receiver Stephen Martin earned his first start of the season in place of Kobe Hudson.
“Kobe Hudson was not available,” said Malzahn. “He’s taking care of some personal things.”
Hudson joined the Knights in the offseason as a transfer from Auburn. He started the opener against South Carolina State but didn’t make a catch.
Receiver Ryan O’Keefe missed the second half against the Cardinals with an injury and his status is uncertain.
“We lost Ryan O’Keefe before halftime,” said Malzahn. “Everybody knows how valuable he is and then when they played to zero coverage, we just didn’t have a lot of answers.”
O’Keefe finished with 4 catches for 8 yards and had a 27-yard end-around in the first quarter.
The senior entered the game with 3 catches for 48 yards and 2 carries for 33 yards. He’s also has been an integral part of the kick-return team.