Gus Malzahn Press Conference - Temple Week
UCF coach Gus Malzahn previews this week's game at Temple and also gives an injury update on WR Jaylon Robinson and QB Dillon Gabriel. Could one of them return soon?
Opening statement:
"First of all, we were real pleased to get the victory against a good Memphis team on Friday. We gave the guys off on Saturday. Our staff came in and we did a little extra work on Temple and a little extra work recruiting. Came back last night and had a good practice. Playing at Temple on the road. I think we're 0-3 on the road. We've got to solve that. They've played very well at home. That'll be a big factor. Offensively, you look at them, they take care of the ball. I think they're the best in our league in protecting the football. Defensively, they'll play some odd fronts, even front. I think they're one of the best in the country in pass defense. We've got our work cut out for us. The big thing for me is we've got to cure this road stuff. That's what we've talked about with our players. They understand that. We had a good day of practice yesterday. Today we're off. Tomorrow we'll get ready for practice."
Obviously Mikey Keene is a young quarter, a true freshman. He's started the last four games. What do you like the most from what he's done and where does he need to make the most improvement?
"His demeanor is what I like the most. The moment is not too big. He really handles himself well. He's learning as he goes. He's getting great experience. I think for me, the big thing is we've got to be better around him. We made some mistakes on Friday night that really looked like it was his fault but it wasn't. We had some drops. We had some other things. Protection. They rushed three one time and got to us on a third down and long. We've got to do a better job around him. He's growing every time he goes out there."
The Cincinnati game might be in a different category because they're a top five team. Looking at the other road losses, what's been challenging about doing that?
"Other than that, we had two road losses that went down to the end. We had a chance with the ball to win both of those. We've got to overcome that. We've got to be better at the end of the game, if it's a close game or a tight scenario."
Is the Memphis game a positive step in the right direction?
"I think so. I think I said this last week. We tried to divide the halves of the season. This last half being six games. We're off to being 1-0. We have a little bit of momentum. We had a real quality win, the way that we won. There's very few teams in college football that will get better in the second half. That's our challenge. We are getting a little bit healthier now, which is good. It just feels like we're capable of finishing this thing strong."
This weekend Temple gave up more than 400 yards rushing to South Florida. You must like the opportunity that presents to your team.
"That kind of surprised me. You look at their previous games and they didn't do that. We're expecting to get their best. They are a team that plays better at home. We're going to have to do a good job."
You mentioned you're getting a little bit healthier. Jaylon Robinson, is he any closer to coming back? And Dillon Gabriel, I know it won't be right away, but is there is a timeline on when maybe he can come back?
"Flash will practice tomorrow. He did last Tuesday too, but wasn't quite ready. We're hoping this week he has a chance. He'll probably practice Tuesday and Wednesday and we'll make a decision how he's doing. Obviously Dillon is not going to play this week. Each day he's doing a little bit more. We're very hopeful we'll get him back before the end of the season."
What did you think of the play of your cornerbacks this past weekend?
"They did a good job. They're getting more comfortable within our system. I think T-Will is doing a great job of mixing up man and zone. Just doing a good job. They're growing. The thing about that group is they're young. They got experience last year. That really helped. They're no longer freshmen. They're starting to get confidence. Right now they're playing well."
Will the two quarterback system continue?
"Right now with where we're at, Joey (Gatewood) presents a completely different aspect than Mikey does. We'll utilize Joey from game to game with whatever our plan is. I thought both of them did a very solid job last week. Joey put the game away with that last drive. I thought that was good. That's our plan right now moving forward. You'll see both of them."
The defensive line unit has been banged up. Somebody who always seems to be near the ball has been Josh Celiscar. Can you talk about what he brings to this team?
"Josh has really done a good job. In the spring, he was one of our younger guys. You saw him grow. It's so important. I'm real proud of Josh because he's come a long way from the spring to where he is now. He's got a confidence. He's playing with an edge. He's playing more physical. He's capable of being a really good player. He is one of those guys that gets overlooked. He's done a very good job for us this year."
You've mentioned explosive plays will be a focus. You got creative with Ryan O'Keefe. What are you doing to make those explosive plays happen?
"That's really the key to us. When we have explosive plays, we score touchdowns. Each week we're just trying to figure out ways to get more and more explosive. We've got to push the ball down field a little more than we've done. That's really key to our success. We've done a good job of scoring touchdowns in the red zone. I know we kicked a field goal last week. We kicked a field goal right before half on that one. For the most part, we've scored touchdowns when we've been down there."
Memphis muffed a punt. Alex Ward, the long snapper jumped on it. Special teams is playing better.
"Special teams, we're starting to settle in on our personnel. We've played all around one of our best games on special teams. That was very encouraging. We protecting the kicker. We caught punts better. Johnny (Richardson) had a pretty good kickoff return. That was a huge play in the game, Alex was down there (to recover the punt). We had a lot of guys around there. He chose to pick up the ball, fumbled it and we scored right after that. That was a big factor in the game."
You said you spent some time recruiting on Saturday. There was some big recruiting news over the weekend. I know you can't refer to specific names. But how is recruiting going as you continue to build things for the future?
"Recruiting is going really good. It's really through the ups and downs of the season. Recruits know what's going to happen here in the future. They know it's gonna be a lot of fun. Great response. We're going to keep the momentum going. I feel very confident as far as this class goes."
How does Isaiah Bowser change the way you run your offense?
"He's a downhill threat. He's a physical presence too for the defense. He's hard to tackle. He protects the football. He opens things up for other people too. When he's out there, our dynamic on offense completely changes."
I noticed Quadry Jones was warming up with the wide receivers against Memphis. He has made a position change?
"Yeah. We're playing him at wide receiver. Trying to get some depth there. We had those injuries. Dionte Marks and a couple of the guys. He's playing receiver. He's been doing that for about three weeks. He's really caught on. As a quarterback, he understands things. He's made the transition pretty easily."
You had issues with penalties against Memphis. Over 100 yards. How do you plan on correcting that?
"That was pretty uncharacteristic overall. It was more of a discipline issue with some of them. The celebration 15. We had a blatant block in the back after an interception. We had the ball on the 30-yard line and then we get it on our 30-yard line. Then we had a couple defensive holdings as far as secondary. We had one corner that pushed the guy out twice. Those are all correctable. We've made it crystal clear, the expectations. If it's a close game, penalties like that can make the difference in the game. We've been very transparent and upfront with our guys on our expectations. I expected that to be solved. Next time we'll do a better job in that situation. They were very exciting plays those happened on and it's easy to get caught up, but we've got to control our composure better."
Temple has one of the better pass defenses in the country. Is it important to lean on a guy like Isaiah Bowser to help Mikey out?
"There's no doubt. When Isaiah is there, it helps Mikey. A calming effect. He knows exactly what to do. You don't have to tell him how to line up. The running backs, you've got to make sure everything is right. That definitely helps. With a guy like him, it opens up your passing game too."
In the last game, the defense finally got to the quarterback and got some takeaways. What did you like about your defense?
"The defense is playing with confident. They were able to pin their ears back. We got up on them. They were stopping the run. When we stop the run, we're a really good defense. We did that. We put them in throwing situations. Pinned their ears back. It was a lot of fun to watch. They've done a really good job with rotating guys. We're playing a lot of guys up front to keep them fresh. That was good to see."
Was that maybe Big Kat's best game at UCF? I know he had the two sacks, but he had 11 pressures.
"Yeah. Big Kat played really well. It was really good to see. I think it's a game he can build upon. He's been close. He missed a couple sacks he'd like to have back. But there's nothing like, from a defensive line standpoint, actually getting there and finishing. It just gives you confidence for the rest of the season."