2024 UCF Football Postgame vs Sam Houston: Head Coach Gus Malzahn

little question okay uh real proud of our team uh convincing win that's a quality opponent uh they got good players uh as a Hall of Fame coach he won two national championships uh it was a good measuring stick with where our guys are uh they put the game away early I think offense scored on six to seven drivve something like that in the first half you know take away the penalties we overcame some of the penalties early but uh you know five penalties on offense you know that that's that's really we got to correct that going one penalty on defense the defense had two interceptions I don't think they got across Midfield I think until late once we put some of our threes in with that but overall dominant performance we talked about improving from game one to game two we did that um so we're progressing in the right way we still got things we got to clean up there's no doubt about that but when you're able to run the football effectively like we ran the football that really helps we hit a couple explosive passes I think we had the one uh that we caught but it called a base mask on and all that but do it down the field some and the defense did a good job of uh controlling you know a pretty solid offense question talking about improving from game one the game too did you like what you see from what you saw from KJ Jefferson sh shaking off that Russ from the last weekend particularly improving in the past yeah there's no doubt you know uh he he uh he's settling down he's understanding the offense uh he ran the ball extremely hard and physical when power Reed early on um we threw the ball vertically down and feeli very good and of course we figured that so yeah we're real pleased with his performance and like I said when you can run the football like we've been run the football the last two yeah Zone run I mean he's as good a Zone Runner prob there is in college football with his patience division everything that goes with it so he had a big time night miles had a big time night then Penny you know he's getting used to the offense and got in there late and you can see he can really impose his little downhill too coach mentioned one of the earlier drives think was the opening drive the old line had the back toback penalties and you got some of it back and then on Third and N KJ Jefferson delivers the pass uh to complete that first down obviously you want to avoid the penalties but how valuable was is it to see him connect on those money Downs with the longer distance it was good you know and you want to get off the Good Start obviously we took the ball when you take the ball you need to go down and score we had some P Le right there we had overcome but uh our guys hung in there they handle theirself well and there's still a lot of stuff we got improve on okay but we did improve from game one to game two like I said we beat a quality opponent pretty soundly and so I'm really pleased coach couple of turns but not only that points off those turns disc yeah we got veteran guys I mean two two transfer petan guys played a lot of football and they picked the ball off and they ran it after they they they picked it off too so really proud of Coach newshire supp to be next what have you guys learn from these opponents what can you take into a higher quity yeah there's no doubt I mean TC they they're really quality opponent I think everybody knows that so go go on the road the first test that's a big big challenge for our guys we got a ra our level there's no doubt about it but it's good that we know what we do know from these two first two games and our guys going to we're going to have to raise our level that's part of conference play and you know going to a place on the road that played for a national championship two years ago and um you know one of those you know either rivals or 24/7 they got you know as much talent as anybody in our league you know as far as all that goes their coach is really good too so that'll be a great challenge for us coach you talked earlier this week about finding options in the kickoff game you ended up having EV Morris out there what was that decision yeah about kicking F May kickoff Gap from now on you know he used to do that at Miss Michigan State and so we tried him out this week and he kicked it out of the back of the end zone so he may be our new kickoff specialist not that Boomer didn't do a good job he did a great job but being able to take some things off his leg you know I know last year you got a little worn down the second part of the year because of that so we'll see what happens that may be the biggest K in college football coach you went to H Palmer's Children Hospital week and you guys were wearing the new decals on the helmet how important is you know good character on this game yeah I two we artist program I'm real proud of our players what a great C cause and uh using their influence to positive way that's what we talk about and you know that's a part of our community and really important to us and couldn't be more proud of our players uh what defensive players stood out to you in terms of stopping the quarterback's running ability yeah I think it was a collective effort really we you know we knew quarterback he ran last week did a lot of quarterback draws and things like that so we knew we had to control him uh you know he was a junior college quarterback I think he won a championship so it really started stopping him running the football and I think for the most part we did a good job of that coach it was a complete team effort tonight rushing receiving special teams I notic that you're using Xavier towns more like a Swiss Army night he did a little bit of everything tonight is that something that you see going the season there's no you know we got to find ways to get get him touches he's electric I think everybody sees that so uh you know he's a he's a dynamic play he's really good guy to coach you talked about improving from game one to game two what was the difference in KJ the KJ you saw last week versus the K you saw I think more than anything is just comfortable um you know he had a really good week of practice like I said and just understanding kind of the nuances of a new offense you know he's learning his third new college football he's learning his new teammates everything that goes with it he's a veteran guy and thought he had a very quality game coach last season you stated that in the Big 12 you need to bring your lunch every single game what steps are you taking to ensure that you do so well I mean we'll find out where we're at next week um you know we the steps we've taken is sprin the crud out of our team you know in Ball Camp be more physical um you know tackle better and everything that goes with it our overall approach we'll see where we're at now I mean you know we're going to play one of you know probably one of the better teams in our league at their place next week so we'll find out a whole lot yeah I think he had a lot of tackles I think he was in on that that Bumble right there so he's a he's a guy that's played and I think he had a very quality game guess you guys had challenges on the road last year obviously what what were you guys hope to do and learn from these games that you guys can that road I think what I'm hoping that we have a more experienced team that we had last year um you know we went on the road in conference you know we didn't have our starting quarterback either I'm really hoping that those things will help us our experience a few more Playmakers on defense I think will help too and so but we're still growing as a team I mean you anytime you have 50 players new players me you're still growing and and that's where we are we're progressing we got to keep and that's our big Challenge and that's what I told our guys but I'm real proud of them tonight I mean we're two and0 and we took care of business tonight I think for the most part I don't think there was any major injuries or anything like that so we're trending in the right direction like I said we'll figure out exactly where at this week coach with Xavier returning the ball the way he has been with Colton hitting the 50 yard field goal Mitch hunting the ball with inside the 20 with consistency obviously against lesser opponents but would you say this could be the most confident you've been in special teams for a while a big time kick Boomer made that 50 yard field goal right there and you think about the way we ended our season right there and he is back there's no doubt M flipping the field a couple times every time x Gets In His Hands he's got a chance we just got to continue building a point that return him whatting about the number anything you know I think we had when we have a hold one time we had face mask a uh on a catch a 40 yard catch you know which is pretty bizarre but we got to do a better job with that I had a holding penalty um so we got to be more disciplined man that was really the takeaway offensively I didn't feel great about the five penties we got to clean that up I do you Lear learn a lot more next week but what do you think you've learned about this team through the first two games I I like our team I mean I like our players I like what I've seen chemistry wise so far picking each other up um you know like I said we're just getting started but so far so good you went with r what was the decision on that not using we did we started out we started out with Dylan and we used himate we're going to play him both if something happens and Dylan's had a great week in half of practice and doing some really good things and so you know that's was our plan going in something happened to KJ fortun enough to get him out play both those guys and Dylan did a good job you know executing and I thought Brown did a good job no no explanation he went back in there get us a second coach