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UCF 24, Memphis 7 - Gus Malzahn Press Conference

Opening statement:

"First of all, real proud of our team. Hard-fought win against a good Memphis team. A team that actually beat Mississippi State. We played extremely well on defense. It's the best defensive game we've played, really by a longshot. Our crowd was phenomenal. Our players fed off our crowd. It's an unbelievable home-field advantage with the Space Game and everything that goes with that. Really good win. You look at the defense, six sacks and we had three interceptions. I think they had a muffed punt. I don't know how many fourth-down conversions we stopped. Our defense played championship defense tonight.

"Offense, we got off to a good start. They made some adjustments in the second quarter running two through a gap. We made a couple adjustments in the second half. I think the big thing for me offensively is we've got to get better on third down. That's really been our Achilles heel. We talked about the second half of the season. It's a new season. We're 1-0 now. The challenge to our team is very few teams actually get better the second half of the season. That's our challenge. I think we did tonight. It was good to be 1-0 in the second half of the season. Something we can build on."

How much of an advantage was it having Isaiah Bowser back looking more like his old self?

"He's an impact player. He's not 100 percent. You can see he leans on people. He runs through tackles. He has that ability. That last run he made to seal the deal. That wasn't a whole lot there, but he bounced it out. We wanted to have his carries at 20. He carried it 26. We'll be smart with him this week. Hopefully he'll be closer to 100 percent next week."

Three interceptions in the fourth quarter alone. What was your thought on the defensive performance?

"They did a phenomenal job. I will say this though. Our defensive front got after the quarterback. It all works together. You harass the quarterback and our secondary did a super job. They didn't give up any big plays over the top. They kept everything in front. It was an impressive defensive game. Coach (Travis) Williams and his staff had a super game plan. That's a high-powered offense. That quarterback played at a school that was close to my old job. He's a phenomenal player. Our defense did a great job."

What did you think about special teams tonight?

"I told our special teams, we just need to play clean. We need to catch punts. We need to protect our punter. We did that. We covered the big muff. That gave us a 14-0 lead. We got down there and harassed the guy. We covered kicks pretty well. We were pretty solid in our kicking game. The field goal was really close. That was a tough series right there before half. I think special teams, we did a solid job."

You contained the Memphis run game. They had rushed for more than 150 yards the last three games.

"I really think we're a good run defense when we put our cleats in the ground and our guys can play fast. Coach Williams and his group mixed in the zone with man. Run fits were really good. Got them in those passing situations so we could pin our ears back. We played a lot of defensive linemen too. They were in that feeding frenzy mode which was great to see."

How frustrating were the drops from the wide receivers tonight?

"It was a lot of frustrating things offensively. We're still growing. Right now we're playing two quarterbacks. We think that gives us the best chance of being successful until Dillon comes back. We're a work in progress, but we did some really good things. We had some explosive plays. We had the reverse. We had a couple speed sweeps. We've got to get to where we can throw down the field a little bit. Hopefully we'll get Flash back in the near future and present another threat besides O'Keefe in the deep passing game."

What goes into the decision to switch Joey Gatewood in for Mikey Keene? It seems sometimes it's one play here and there.

"It was more specifically on certain plays. You'll see us continue that. Joey presents a completely different deal. You saw down there. It wasn't there on the read zone. He stuck his foot in the ground and got eight down there to end the game, right before we gave it to Bowser. He just presents a different challenge for the defense. That's what's best for our team. Do I like playing two quarterbacks? I don't. But that's what's best for our team right now. We'll continue to build on that. Each week we'll be a little bit different. Joey had the plays we felt really good about him. We'll continue to develop that."

You got Ryan O'Keefe involved in both the running and passing game. How important is he to the offense?

"Him and Johnny Richardson, those are the two guys that can really turn something from nothing and make an explosive plays. Ryan has been that guy. He's been very consistent. We need to try and find probably more ways to get the ball to him even though we did tonight. He's a phenomenal player. We've got to get the ball to him."

A lot of players had a lot of good open field tackles. What changed from earlier in the year to now that's helped them step up?

"I think in fairness, you've got a new defensive staff and new players. They've had some injuries and stuff like that. I think it's like getting in a groove. The coaches know them and the players now know them, setting down to what our strengths are. I thought our staff did a wonderful job and our players responded. They were flying around. We tackled. We tackled in space. They've got a couple guys that have the B button. They can really make people miss. I thought the tackling was really good. That's been Travis Williams' M.O. His guys tackle. I think you'll see us continue to tackle well."

You had a conversation with Mikey Keene after he took the sack on third down. What was that conversation about?

"That's a confidential conversation. He's our quarterback. It's his fourth game. I have high expectations. I think he's capable of being a very good quarterback. He's learning and growing. It was kind of a coach-quarterback conversation."

I take it you were frustrated with the Memphis defense being slow after you subbed, at the end of the first half?

"I don't know. It seems this year there's been three or four games they let people come on, they let people walk off and then the play clock is going down. That one right before the halftime, we put a guy in there with 17 seconds and the guy stood over the ball, then we (get a penalty). I don't know. This is new to me. I've never seen that before. But it's happened four (times). It didn't happen last week, but it happened three games before. I don't know. It's a new one."

What did you like about Mikey on that first touchdown drive?

"He led us down the field. He managed the offense. Got everything right. Did a good job. He made a really good throw to Brandon. That one to our young freshman, the tall one (Charlie Browder), that was a pretty good throw too. It was real close to being a touchdown."

Big Kat had his first career multi-sack game. What did you like about his performance?

"He's been really close to a couple. It was good to see him finish that. I think that has broken it open for the next five games."


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