UTEP offense poses problems

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UCF knows it has its hands full with Miners


Central Florida head coach George O'Leary is impressed by what he has seen from the Miner offense.

"I think when you look at them on film, I think they have a lot of really good athletes," O'Leary said. "They are a spread offense that is pretty much like everyone else. (They) open it up. They isolate you one-on-one on the field and their running back (Marcus Thomas) is good. There are four or five kids that will be NFL guys off that football team. (Mike Price) has some talent there.

"Defensively, we have to make sure that we make plays. We cannot be on the field as long as we have been. I think that we are stingy in giving up points at times, but there are just not enough three and outs. We have to make plays and create more situations, let your athletes run."


# Next for Smith: UCF running back Kevin Smith faces a big decision in six weeks or so as he decides whether he wants to leave for the NFL following his junior season.

Smith said he will consult his coach George O'Leary before making a decision.

"I have never tried to lead anybody wrong as far as I will do my due diligence and call the right people to see where he is" projected in the draft," O'Leary said. "If he has an opportunity to go in the first round, then I would advise him to basically look at it real seriously, but to me looking at the first round, very few running backs are taken.

"The history of the running backs in the first round is not good in the NFL. There have been a lot of busts there.

There really have been or they do not make it through the season. The guys who end up playing are usually the fourth and fifth-round guys.

"I think that I will investigate and get a hold of a couple of GM's because those are the guys who really know, the scouts and stuff. The biggest thing is making sure that his mom and him understand that there is more to it than just the draft. There is a lot more involved with this thing.

"I will sit down with them after the season and go through all the stuff I have and talk to them about what needs to be talked about and all the information that I can give them. Hopefully, he makes a good decision."

Conference USA last produced a first-round running back in 2006 when Memphis' DeAngelo Williams went 27th overall to Carolina.


# Homecoming: UTEP has one native Floridian on its roster, Tallahassee's Fred Rouse. Tallahassee is about a three-hour drive from Orlando, and Rouse said he has 50 friends and family members coming to the game.

"It feels great to be going back home, but I'm not too worried about that," Rouse said. "I just want to get a win."

He said that while the losing streak is tough, it will build character.

"This is my first time in something like this, and we just need to stay strong, finish hard," he said. "A lot of teams go through adversity like this, and it's how you respond to it. We have to go out strong."

 

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# Sam update: Lorne Sam is questionable at best for the final game of his career at UCF. He has been at practice, but he has not worked out. His status will be a gametime decision.

 

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Division title awaits for UCF


About a month and a half ago, UCF Coach George O'Leary was about to end practice when he decided his team needed a little more conditioning.

Directing the entire Knights roster to line up across the sideline, he decided he'd have his team run by classes.

It was no sooner than he'd yelled out "seniors" that he first really got his first true visual confirmation of what he already noted on paper before the season.
His senior class makes up a small group this season.

Just 19 members deep, the Knights' senior class is just three players larger than this year's sophomore class, the smallest group on the team with 16 members.

But as UCF (8-3, 6-1) prepares to play its final home game of the regular season today against UTEP, O'Leary said he may not have had a better group of seniors in his four seasons here.

Nor has there been a more important group to the Knights this season as they try to clinch their second Conference USA East Division crown in three years today.

"I think that comes back to character," O'Leary said. " . . . There was not a lot of finger pointing and there could have been. I thought that they basically understood that you win together and lose together. Nobody was at fault, everybody was included in the program. They understand that the people in that room are directly responsible for wins and losses."

During the Knights' current five-game winning streak, it's been the senior class that has succeeded in helping "take over the locker room," which has been something that O'Leary has been trying to cultivate since arriving at UCF in 2004. Though only four members of the class start on offense and two on defense, they have been able to find that leadership.

"I think more practices and games are lost in the locker room before you even go on the field," O'Leary said "I know that is true in the pros, big time. I think in college you need some guys who have a steady influence on some of these young players that sometimes drift a little bit as far as where the importance should be or where their priorities should be."

Asked this week if this was his most refined senior group at UCF, O'Leary said, "It's not even close."

Senior defensive tackle and team captain Keith Shologan said that is a huge compliment from O'Leary.

"It makes you feel really good to hear that," he said. "It means he respects you and puts a lot of onus on the seniors to lead the team."

Shologan said seeing a new stadium and being in a position to leave with the most wins in school history, he said he feels like a lot of the promises he was made as a recruit are coming full circle.

"There were promises, but it all came down to us and how we performed on the field," he said. " . . . It's fun to look back on it all."

Tight end Mike Merritt has had probably the best position of all to witness the turnaround. One of only two fifth-year seniors, along with receiver Sergio Joachim, Merritt has seen the program's evolution from the final year under Mike Kruczek in 2003 to the arrival of O'Leary.

"I just want to go out and finish my senior year with a bang," he said.