UCF Football runs to a 57-3 week 1 victory

[Music] hello night Nation Trace trco in the Bounce House joined by Andrew chero kns 57 New Hampshire 3 they start the 2024 season 1 and0 Andrew a lot of positives in this one 450 plus rushing yards for the knights but perhaps the biggest storyline is the play of KJ Jefferson at quarterback yes uh KJ Jefferson started off only completing one pass in the first quarter and I believe that was seven yards to RJ Harvey and he threw an interception in the beginning of the third quarter in the first drive so definitely not the best performance by him a little rough around the edges um kind of adjusted later on but still need to see better out of him in postgame coach melan happy with the transfers happy with the play of the defense and special team certainly happy with the running game let's hear from coach melan and KJ Jefferson on what he needs to do to improve what do you want to see more from KJ Jefferson during this week of practice just get more comfortable with our offense be more efficient um you know that's probably the big thing and playing a new offense with new players uh you know there's going to be growing pains that to be expected that was the first time we played an opponent and all that so a lot of good things to build upon and uh you know I'm excited to watch him next week you talked about slow start but how comfortable were you in this offense I'm extremely comfortable I mean like the main thing like I said I mean it's the first game uh so a lot of emotions going on a lot of um a lot of uh just a lot of factors just played into it I mean so the main thing is just me being able to just get settled in quick as possible just understand what coach Gus is going to call and things that me and him can communicate better with things that get me going early and give me in the Rhythm early to make sure that I'm settled in and we can play the game how we need to play how do you feel being in a room with so many great running backs oh I feel good you know see when you have a room full of alpha meals you know I mean it's it's it's it just you know just feed off each other you know what I mean um yes that's really what it is you know you feed off each other someone makes a big play I want to go make a big play you know what I mean so hopefully like I said we get this thing rolling man we're going to be scary this season how's it feel to see a guy like DeShawn make a big play Desa is a great player and that's that's expected by him like play like that and I'm happy to have him on my team what was better about this defense tonight than you saw during Camp should we play against somebody else more aggressive Head Hunters you know get to the ball turnovers um we need a little more turnover we got to punch the ball out get Force fumbles this time next week uh as we going emphasize on this week so yeah on this night with the Knights winning 57 to3 Not much went right for New Hampshire though they only Trail Andrew 6 nothing at the end of the first quarter as part of our team coverage on the Suns of UCF this season we have Andrew in the postgame locker room when you had an opportunity to speak with New Hampshire's head coach yeah Trey I got the opportunity to speak with New Hampshire head coach Ricky Santos and he said going into this game they knew UCF would have a dominant Rush game so they wanted to put KJ Jefferson in Opportunities where he would only pass the ball there was no chance for run and when they successfully did that when they knew he was passing that's when they capitalized and got the third down stops let's hear from coach Santos yeah you know what I mean that's a really it's a really talented football team that we went against um I think both both sides up front you know that that was the determined Factor you know physically imposing defensive line that gave us a lot of issues and we struggled to run the ball um and then conversely I think they did a really good job wearing us out in particularly going into the second half and uh kind of you know ran it will down there but I'll give our guys a lot of credit we fought they certainly didn't back down they gave a ton of effort um I thought that was as good of a start as we could have wanted in this game and then ultimately I think the size speed um and talent discrepancy kind of kind of wor able to hold KJ Jefferson so one completion and a very slow start in the first quarter what did what happened with the defensive backs to allow that to happen yeah you know what that was that was kind of the game plan we we felt like with their rushing attack and how fast they want to go um that if we can get them in the obvious passing situations you know we feel like that we had the opportunity to to clamp down a little bit and they certainly did that that was Co Santos but now back to the kns great takeaways but a lot to build on as the Run game was as advertised and the defense was absolutely dominant but somehow that gets lost right even in a 573 win what are we going to be talking about all week the play of quarterback KJ Jefferson now they have a couple extra days with a Thursday start before they welcome in Sam Houston here at the bounce house going to need to see a better performance for KJ to make fans feel more comfortable about the Arkansas trans absolutely he needs to get off to a hot start he needs to get easy passes quick passes and execute the game plan so a lot to work on but the knights are one and0 Andrew for Andrew Jericho I'm Trace trco sons of UCF go nights charge on