P.J. HALL
Can you describe the feeling of losing your last home game?
"It was a tough loss. We wanted to go undefeated at home, but I don't really have too much to say about it. Losing any time is hard."
UCF scores at least 30 every game. How do you feel like the defense played overall?
"Not good enough. Even if they did score 30 every game, we let them score too many tonight. The big thing was explosive plays. We gave up too many explosive plays."
Did you feel like it was just one play or one touchdown away and that you have been snake-bitten of late (not my question)?
"It might look like it on the scoreboard--one play or two plays here--but it's the whole game. It's a sequence of plays. We've got to cut out the penalties. We gotta quit making mistakes. We've got to be assignment sound. There's a lot of things bringing us through these close games that can keep us away from winning."
Was it tough to simulate UCF's tempo in the practice week?
"We were prepared for it. Our coaches did a good job of trying to simulate it throughout practice, so we were ready. We just gave up too many big plays. It's that simple. We lined up. We just gave up too many big plays."
How crucial were the fourth-down conversions?
"Very crucial. You have to get off the field whether it's third down or fourth down, we've got to find a way to get a stop. Those were big plays. They kept drives alive. I don't know how many times they scored off of those drives, but I'm pretty sure they had a good percentage of scoring off of those fourth-down conversions."
What type of emphasis will you have to make something happen so this doesn't carry over into next week?
"The big thing is we can't let this loss keep us down. We have to go into next week with the same energy that we've had all season, practicing hard, still hitting the film room hard and basically just not getting down. We have to flush it down the drain and start back up next week."
JALEN MCCLESKEY
What do you sense is wrong with the passing game?
"Just the offense as a whole. We've got to get better. We can't get explosive plays and always have a penalty. We have to execute and do our assignments. We have to start the game better. We can't always wait until the second half to start scoring. That puts our defense in a tough situation, so we just have to get better at the beginning of the game."
How frustrating are the penalties that keep coming?
"Yeah, it's frustrating, but we are not pointing fingers. It's not one person or one position. It's everybody as an offense. We've all got to be better to move the ball down the field and score points."
What about the inconsistency?
"If 10 people do their job right and one person doesn't, then that can mess up the whole play. We just have to have 11 people do their job right, execute and know our assignments."
How tough is it to be 6-5 after a 5-1 start?
"We'll just keep pushing this week. We are going to watch the film, make our corrections, get ready for SMU and be 1-0 against SMU. That's what we are going to do."
What type of emphasis will you have to make something happen so this doesn't carry over into next week?
"Just keep everybody accountable in practice. If you see somebody commit a penalty in practice, see it and address it because we can't have penalties that we usually do where we get big gains, have the defense on their heels and now it's first-and-20, first-and-15. We can't do that. We have to keep everybody accountable and just keep pushing."
COREY DAUPHINE
What did you feel was holding the offense back?
"Just us not executing. We'd have a big play and then we'd have a holding call or a penalty. Plays like that, it really hurt us because we needed those yards."
What type of emphasis will you have to make something happen so this doesn't carry over into next week?
"Just have this motivate us and understand that we need a win that last game and just keep going."
Can you describe the feeling of losing your last home game?
"It was a tough loss. We wanted to go undefeated at home, but I don't really have too much to say about it. Losing any time is hard."
UCF scores at least 30 every game. How do you feel like the defense played overall?
"Not good enough. Even if they did score 30 every game, we let them score too many tonight. The big thing was explosive plays. We gave up too many explosive plays."
Did you feel like it was just one play or one touchdown away and that you have been snake-bitten of late (not my question)?
"It might look like it on the scoreboard--one play or two plays here--but it's the whole game. It's a sequence of plays. We've got to cut out the penalties. We gotta quit making mistakes. We've got to be assignment sound. There's a lot of things bringing us through these close games that can keep us away from winning."
Was it tough to simulate UCF's tempo in the practice week?
"We were prepared for it. Our coaches did a good job of trying to simulate it throughout practice, so we were ready. We just gave up too many big plays. It's that simple. We lined up. We just gave up too many big plays."
How crucial were the fourth-down conversions?
"Very crucial. You have to get off the field whether it's third down or fourth down, we've got to find a way to get a stop. Those were big plays. They kept drives alive. I don't know how many times they scored off of those drives, but I'm pretty sure they had a good percentage of scoring off of those fourth-down conversions."
What type of emphasis will you have to make something happen so this doesn't carry over into next week?
"The big thing is we can't let this loss keep us down. We have to go into next week with the same energy that we've had all season, practicing hard, still hitting the film room hard and basically just not getting down. We have to flush it down the drain and start back up next week."
JALEN MCCLESKEY
What do you sense is wrong with the passing game?
"Just the offense as a whole. We've got to get better. We can't get explosive plays and always have a penalty. We have to execute and do our assignments. We have to start the game better. We can't always wait until the second half to start scoring. That puts our defense in a tough situation, so we just have to get better at the beginning of the game."
How frustrating are the penalties that keep coming?
"Yeah, it's frustrating, but we are not pointing fingers. It's not one person or one position. It's everybody as an offense. We've all got to be better to move the ball down the field and score points."
What about the inconsistency?
"If 10 people do their job right and one person doesn't, then that can mess up the whole play. We just have to have 11 people do their job right, execute and know our assignments."
How tough is it to be 6-5 after a 5-1 start?
"We'll just keep pushing this week. We are going to watch the film, make our corrections, get ready for SMU and be 1-0 against SMU. That's what we are going to do."
What type of emphasis will you have to make something happen so this doesn't carry over into next week?
"Just keep everybody accountable in practice. If you see somebody commit a penalty in practice, see it and address it because we can't have penalties that we usually do where we get big gains, have the defense on their heels and now it's first-and-20, first-and-15. We can't do that. We have to keep everybody accountable and just keep pushing."
COREY DAUPHINE
What did you feel was holding the offense back?
"Just us not executing. We'd have a big play and then we'd have a holding call or a penalty. Plays like that, it really hurt us because we needed those yards."
What type of emphasis will you have to make something happen so this doesn't carry over into next week?
"Just have this motivate us and understand that we need a win that last game and just keep going."
