After a blowout win over Tulane University, the No. 21 Cougars prepare to face the University of Central Florida Knights next.
The Knights have yet to win a game this season with a record of 0-7, but head coach Tom Herman hopes his players are paying attention to their opponent and not their record.
“I hope they know that this is a team that is two years removed from winning the Fiesta Bowl last I checked,” Herman said. “They have done an excellent job of recruiting the last couple of years.”
During his weekly press conference, Herman praised UCF for their coaching staff and their competitiveness as he referred back to UCF’s match up with No. 22 Temple University, where they held the lead in the fourth quarter and lost within the last 10 minutes.
“Hopefully, that film and that result will get their attention,” Herman said. “And the fact that, throughout the years, we understand what kind of talent level UCF is going to have.”
Herman said from a broad perspective, the biggest area he sees as a head coach that the team needs to get better at is improving in the red zone defensively.
“We’re now three straight weeks where we’ve allowed 100 percent touchdowns in the red zone,” Herman said. “We have to do a better job when teams get in the red zone to force them into field goal attempts. We’re not doing that right now, and at some point that’s going to come back to bite us and may be the difference between winning and losing the football game.”
The No. 21 Cougars head to Florida to face the Knights this Saturday as they continue to climb up the rankings and stay undefeated but coach says there won’t be any pats on the back until the end of the season.
“They want to make sure that they are not remembered as the team that won their first six games, and then x y z happened and went to the so-and-so bowl,” Herman said. “They want to be remembered as champions. They understand that in order to that they have to block all the noise and all the praise out.”
