Pegasus Podcast: What do we need to see from KJ Jefferson against Sam Houston?

welcome into episode 223 be sure you're following us on Twitter Bailey jadams 22 byca Simmons night Sports now and Pegasus podcast you can also email us at Pegasus podcast by KSN gmail.com Christian this is weird because I just like saw you in person not even 48 hours ago that's so it's like now to see you again but via Zoom is weird it's too much right don't know why yeah feel like we like I feel like we just talked a bunch for the three days I was in Orlando and it's like all right maybe we need a break from each other but here we are do podcast I actually the it was very lovely three days and at the end of it I was like maybe we should end the podcast I feel like Bailey and I have uh We've exhausted all our topics um I always forget it's actually always funny because we've talked about this before but since particularly because well he we text all the time but because we do the podcast like this I can never remember when I have and haven't seen you like I'll be like we we hung out in person three weeks ago and you'll be like no but I'll just say that randomly like I'll be like oh we hung out like a few weeks ago and you'll be like that was in January like I just don't have any frame of reference but I feel like I've been seeing you a lot lately I was in Tampa than you were here it's football season yeah it is I will not be seeing you for the Sam Houston game now you absolutely will not um I am not g I will not be showing up and that's by Design I just I couldn't do too I couldn't make that drive back toback weeks for New Hampshire and Sam Houston so I would usually usually judge you heavily for that because I finds missing a UCF home game repulsive but I these two games back toback man I I I feel like most fans if you live out of town I can't justify driving for both of these it's like you there are there are more factors at play too like Sunday the Bucks have their home opener or season opener at home and I have to be there for that so it's like do I want to drive to Orlando for the 6:30 kick against Sam Houston and then drive back that night or in the morning if that's the answer I don't know for some reason this is instead I don't know the the the BYU game is the second game of the season which you've driven oh yeah I've done it before like I I'll have more I'll have more this this season where I have to be back in Tampa for Sunday but I just couldn't just because I have more yeah and it's because I have more of those days it's like all right well I can skip this one because it's Sam Houston but yeah doesn't think it's a fake game though apparently Gus Smalls on but we'll get that later in the podcast yeah we'll uh we'll preview I guess preview we'll talk Sam Houston a little bit um and then but before we start there we we'll we'll go back with some of the things we missed from UCF New Hampshire um and we'll start that I'll throw it over to Christian thanks I don't know why we're making this such a thing I Bailey sent me over the outline and the first line is Christian apologizes to night nation which I did not mean it to be that serious but we can I can apologize anyway um so as I always do and I got to do it with you Bailey we rewatched the game the day after the game as his standard to you know see what we missed all that and um I I on the postgame podcast said that I was unhappy with the crowd and I just wanted to say that that was a very bad thing to say because not only was it not true it was arguably stupid as hell because the crowd was fantastic I don't know maybe I was just in a bad mood maybe I saw KJ whiff on a pass I just had to direct my anger somewhere and I was like this crowd sucks there's like four empty seats in front of me but no the crowd was excellent like the whole game it looked awesome on the broadcast obviously not like the fourth quarter but whatever and the what's the new lights up lights down is there a name for that yet I don't know if there's I don't know if there's a name yet okay we're just going to call it lights up lights up because I don't think they go down at any point the lights up lights up looked really cool um a lot of like awesome visuals came out of that game and I was just reminding of okay so the other reason I was reminded of this is because you asked we were talking about when UCF back in 2016 very wisely was trying to get like crowd patterns going like this section where's this color this section where's that color and there was one that was the mo which was the white and black layers and you were and you asked me did it look good at all and I said don't worry I took a photo at that game and I'll show it to you and the photo of an empty stadium and I'd kind of forgotten how as recently as 2016 it was like UCF would be playing games and just there just wouldn't be people at the games like I don't mean like it was sparse I mean there just people there and maybe I got a little too over the top for being like why didn't the Cabana fully fill out for this Thursday night FCS game so I just want to apologize it was a great crowd I think it is wonderful that UCF is at the point where they're coming off a six- win season that fans were mostly angry with and they were still packing the house for an FCS team I think that's the biggest indicator of a program making it other than winning games on the field is to have big crowds for all their games yeah and I think it should probably be the same against Sam Houston because I mean it's a SAT first Saturday home game of the year Family Weekend all that stuff I think week family weekend probably saves it because I think otherwise it might be a little we'll see see because that was the case with Villanova last year wasn't it I think Villanova was family weekend and there was a great crowd for that game so yeah it was the first Saturday home game also so plus according to Gus Maan this is a top tier opponent so yeah we keep hinting at that until we get to the there's nothing hint at Gus was just very he his presser was an hour ago I recording this and he was just very adamant that Sam Houston looked really good well you know I think he was talking about how like the the quarterback won a national championship in Jo and then the coach I think he said like the coach has won three championships or something I don't know he was very complimentary with them which I would kind of expect him to be because then when they win by 35 he'll be like that's a good team we just beat by 35 well I would say because it's always coach speak like no matter who the team is like they can be playing 0 and9 Yukon and the coach is going to be like oh you know they got some ball players uh you know we're we're going to have to bring our a game whatever but we're coming off of Gus on his halftime interview going well we just got stuffed on fourth and one by a one doua team so I I we'll see he also said he also said in his press conference today that's the thing is he usually is like very comp he and I I mean I get it it's he's actually speaking in reality which is nice but he he referred to New Hampshire like he said something like oh yeah anytime you're playing a lesser opponent like that yeah so it's like I I don't know did someone at New Hampshire just piss him off because that is he would never do that like we've played FCS teams with him and it's always oh they're really good you know they got good guys and New Hampshire he was just like awful program like just like every chance he gets is like they're lesser than us they're one doua I don't know yeah I don't know um some of the other things we missed um I don't know if we mentioned it or didn't mention it enough on Thursday night but ucf's lack of penalties was an encouraging sign they had three for 35 yards um which I mean I don't I don't even think it's a gus thing I think Gus teams at UCF have been undisciplined but I think like hypo's teams run disciplined I think Frost team's got a lot of penalties penalties too so it's just been a UCF thing for too long so hopefully that's a step I mean when you when you play that fast on offense in particular it's like you just leave yourself open to more things than the more like old school teams that really take up every second to set their adjustments and everything but I mean I was shocked because during the presser today Gus was asked did he feel like the team was disciplined which is a question that you could ask basically at any point you know the last few years and he replied yeah I think so which is like great but it was just so shocking for me to hear that because I think I actually could have asked that at any point last season the year before or the year before that and would have gotten a very different answer from yeah they're doing good it was a different feeling too than about 12 hours ago when Brian Kelly of the LSU Tigers said he was angry at his team and just basically threw all of them in front of a moving truck so he at Notre Dame he said he wanted to execute his players I don't know why this is shocking that was that was supposed to be a joke that he botched really badly and I think it's funny every time I see it was it um was it Don schula was that the coach who said what he was trying to say joh John McKay said it well I don't know it's funny there's like a bit of lore around it because John McKay was credited as saying it when he was the buck head coach and like I think it was 76 or 77 when they first established but some there's some things that I've read that's like no he never said that but I'm like how did no one knows it's it's like what the original quote was was he was asked what do you think of the team's execution and he said I'm in favor of it yeah and which is funny when you frame it that way and Brian Kelly tried to do a playoff of that and was just like I think our team should be executed which like came across very differently yeah so while he thinks that or he thought that at Notre Dame and maybe thinks that at LSU now Gus melon happy with his team's discipline on Thursday night so I don't know hopefully step in the right direction but I could also see them doing okay again against Sam Houston then going to TCU and having like eight penalties for 95 yards they'll be penalty free in the first half and they'll be like all in the fourth quarter like game on the line situations just start committing all kinds of penalties yeah it' be great um next thing we'll talk about uh Colton Boomer which he's a popular topic on this podcast um we did say on Thursday that things looked great and was encouraging to see him make his two kicks watching back on the broadcast on Friday as we did those two kicks were closer to being misses than we thought originally yes and he did miss the 39 y that didn't count because they called delay a game on him and then it moved back to 44 and he made that one which I'm not sure if Gus knows because in his Press today he complimented him on that making that like he said he makes the field goal then we get the delay of game and he makes it again he did miss it though right we saw him Miss okay we only rewatched the game once I'm almost certain he missed it but doesn't matter not a real feeling anyway but yeah I mean we came out of that like Colton Boomer is back no more concerns there yeah I mean I'm still not I'm not like any more I'm not notably more freaked out about it than I was before we rewatched the game but it's just you know if you've been to a football game at UCF Stadium which if you're listening to this I suspect you have you know that like unless you're sitting with a head-on view of the end zone it's like you're kind of just we're looking to the refs to see if they're going to tell us it win it or not and I did not realize that both of Colton's makes while they were makes were like pretty razor thin makes so now I'm a little more like okay we'll like hold off a little bit on the congratulations on being back Colton Boomer hype but still I mean he made them at the end of the day he's always kind of been like even when he was at his Peak he you know he was never like perfectly nailing them I mean the Boise State made field goal to win the game that thing like hooked in at the last second Gus was doing Gus was doing the the this thing you know so yeah to our audio listeners we did the the when hands on his head do you w to mention what he said about Colton Boomer and in sports psychology today in press conference uh yeah so Gus was asked about Boomer and the press conference today Gus said that he is starting to be a bit this is a quote starting to be a bit more of a SP sports psychologist for Boomer I don't totally know what that means but it probably just I don't know kicking's weird he Gus gave the analogy of oh if you have one bad swing in golf you can like come apart and everything and I think it was just in so many words saying hey when kickers Miss they crumble um but guess I mean he seems happy with Boomer he said that what I thought was interesting because we saw because Grant redic started uh taking kickoffs in the second half of that game and they weren't like the best kickoffs in the world but they you know whatever and Gus mentioned that last year with Boomer both kicking field goals and and kicking kickoffs that he felt like maybe they're asking him to do a little too much and G kind of left the door open for if reick can show he can do that they'd like for Boomer to really just focus on field goal kicking so I thought that was interesting and noteworthy for sure yeah and if I remember correctly I don't have the ESPN stats pulled up which are not they don't have it what I saw on ucf's official stats on Thursday night but I seem to remember I think Boomer had like six touchbacks on his kick and I don't know if reic had any so that's probably what he's talking about as far as if reck can prove that he's able to do that um the reic ones W awesome One landed it's not a huge deal because like they covered it fine but it's like like one of red kicks landed at like the 20 and it's like I don't know if you want to see that against some of these big 12 special teams units you know I that seems like a nice to have if they can get reic there but I I don't know if that's I don't know if that's totally worth it yeah um the last thing and this is more of a wider college football week one thing is we I don't know I think we did an okay job we were we were freaking out a little about KJ on Thursday night but we did I think make a good point about everything everything else looking good they won 57 to3 and then over the course of the weekend we saw a bunch of other Big 12 teams almost lose and in Houston's case lose and never look competitive against UNLV um so yeah I mean pretty good week one for UCF to to not have anything to worry about outside of K looking a little shaky yeah and I want to be I want to tow the line carefully on that because I'm not trying to pull the whole see fans who were upset that KJ Jefferson looked incapable of playing quarterback it could have been worse it just more put things in perspective a bit because it is sometimes I find it silly like it's hard to explain especially to like a non- diard fan of like my team just won 57 to three and I'm I'm I'm not feeling great like that's just such a strange sentence to say but it did put in perspective a little bit I mean just thre it Colorado struggled North Dakota State there's no shame in that North Dakota State's a really good team I but still um Colorado more interesting that like Colorado's o line was getting like handled by an FCS team North Dakota State or not um Cincinnati is projected to be pretty bad and they sort of backed that up they struggled for about three quarters of talson before finally putting them away Iowa State struggled with North Dakota not North Dakota State just North Dakota which is which is a different thing uh Texas Tech went to overtime with abalene Christian um which I I'm not I'm actually not worried about Texas Tech at all there because apparently it's just that's how Texas Tech starts their Seasons with is with shocking performances against teams they're supposed to be much better than and then there is Houston who hosted UNLV and just got curb stomped on their home field by a Mountain West team so it's not to say that we shouldn't worry about the things with UCF it almost in a weird way re this gonna be bad when uh KJ doesn't improve but it almost reinforced me that maybe UCF really can be a big 12 Contender and I know I'm going crazy off of one game but just all the teams that weren't supposed to be Big 12 contenders this year looked like it in their first games and had wide ranging issues of this unit looks like a problem and this was an issue and penalties and UCF it was more like everything looked pretty damn good good except KJ so I just it could have been worse and and I I said it on our last podcast I want to reemphasize we should not come away from the New Hampshire game and say great we've established there are no issues on this roster there definitely are they just didn't show up in game one much and that's that's good so I'm sure we'll learn more on Saturday I'm sure there will be things that we'll discover but for for now it's that was about as good of a debut as you could have hoped of literally everywhere outside the starting quarterback yeah and another one was wasn't Arizona struggling for a little bit and then I mean they didn't in the end there was the McMillan the receiver had like 300 yards and four touchdowns yeah I went from cool uh80 in Space games to oh Arizona's going to kill UCF in like a one game swing because Arizona hosted New Mexico who lost to Montana either Montana or Montana State last week and it was rough early on it was at halftime or close to halftime New Mex it was a 1714 game and I'm like oh man and then Arizona just decided you know you New Mexico scored 39 points let's be real but in the second half Arizona just decided what if we remembered that we have two of the best offensive players in the Big 12 and just let them cook and they scored 61 points Noah fa had four touchdowns and 422 yards I don't know how to say the receiver's name but um yeah McMillan is his last name and he had 10 catches for 304 yards and four touchdowns so that's not really what you want to see um from because where my brain went with that was it went Arizona's offense is really good uh the space game will be a shootout oh wait we don't have a quarterback like that was the the process of events in my brain where I was like okay I'm not worried about the space game again so we'll see but that's that's like us two months from now's problem we don't have to worry about that right now yeah we'll worry about that later um what we'll worry about now is Sam Houston I guess I don't know if wor is the right word but we'll shift our attention to to Sam Houston and I think the natural place to start with this is what do we need to see from KJ Jefferson this week to kind of get everybody off of the cliff um and I don't really know the answer to that did you after we rewatched the game did you feel better about KJ worse about KJ or the same about KJ I think the same I think I'm probably I think I might have felt like a smidge better like just a tiny little bit like I don't know I just because there were some plays like I I know I feel like you vaguely disagree with me on this but like Co the the pass to KOB The End Zone like should have been a touchdown that just sort of went through k no yeah after I saw it again I realized that I think he was credited with a drop I'm pretty sure right yeah and so I it's like like I don't know it's little things like that I'm like if he had just hit that play and everything else is exactly the same are we a little more calm right now like I feel like it was just the combination of a the struggling on the throws and B that all the touchdowns just came off of short passes to running backs like set the like I feel like if we just see like one receiver touchdown from him it would have really changed things a little bit but I don't know I just I'm having a hard time getting as worked up as everyone else is still and all I really want to see from Sam Houston is just don't do that again I don't think he needs to go out there and we need to see six total touchdowns from KJ or he's just lighting it up I don't think you see needs to change their game plan here and like the goal of this game is to like get KJ chucking it through the air I just just don't look ineffective that's really the bar for me for this game yeah I I just would like to see him hit the easy passes honestly I don't think he was really doing that against New Hampshire and when you look at the numbers like that's what he had that one long one the 46 yard to Kobe like that that was a great throw and it was a great catch it was a tough throw like it was it was one of the harder throws he had to make and he made it but you look at the rest of them like the the dump offs of the running backs like he he was making the short ones to the running backs but there was nothing else from the receivers like you'd like to see some of the shorter intermediate throws kind of be there and and have him hit those but yeah I like I just don't want to see him go 50% again and yeah have one of the worst picks I've ever seen and have that weird fumble moment where he did recover it but like I just he he looked coming away from it like everybody nationally was like oh wow KJ Jefferson what the heck was that like I don't want to see that again yeah it's not good when you're playing an FC team in your quarterback starts making National headlines for bad reasons like people were taking note of how badly KJ was playing but peeling back the current a little bit I was laughing because at the time we recorded our postgame pod you had not seen the interception because you were down getting a drink or something yeah happen yeah and I I really enjoyed getting watching getting to see you see that for the first time in real time because it is a terrible interception like it is so bad yeah and like it was one of those where I think we watched it two or three times and I was like I don't really know like like what what H what did he do what was he do we tried to figure it out I'm like I said I think I think he meant to like I I mean he wanted to get it towns in the only receiver in the area I don't know if he thought that he was gonna like put a little touch on it and wob it over and then he just didn't I don't know I don't know I think honestly more than anything it was just like he it was like not even really a mechanical thing it was more just like oh that wasn't what I meant to do like yeah it was pretty much there the play was there although actually was that was the same one that we were talking about right where Townsen was open for a good like few seconds before or he decided to throw it wasn't it no that was in the there was an end zone play where I don't recall how the play ended oh this is one KJ just thrown in the dirt in the end zone this was earlier in the game and on the replay townzen was open for a while like probably a good three4 seconds I think there were two of those cuz I'm I'm thinking I I think it was the interception too I'm pretty sure that somebody broke open on the interception because we watched it from his point of view and we're like throw it now throw it now throw it now okay and we did rewat separate play several times that was that end zone play from earlier in the game so that again there were concerns it's concerning yeah um I just QB qbr is not a great stat but 7.5 qbr is making me laugh see that means nothing I just ignore qbr I it's just funny though yeah I he needs to I mean I said it on the postgame podcast and I think I'll stick with this is that say that the Sam Houston game comes out and comes out like it's a video game dropping say we go to the Sam Houston game and he you know looks exactly the same it's the exact same problems wideopen guys he's missing throws a pick just looks ineffective yeah I'll Panic like we'll get on the postgame pod and I'll say never mind this is a problem but I'm just kind of skeptical that against two teams that have significantly less Talent than UCF he is gonna do that twice and I also don't really necessarily know for me just saying that I'm gonna panic I don't really know what he's going to do against Sam Houston that's gonna inform TCU anyway it kind of just feels like it's going to be a different season when they get to the Big 12 slate anyway so like I just don't know it's it's hard to try not to overreact in One Direction or the other CU it it it's hard to figure out where things are going to land but I he's got to improve but I just don't think that the season hinges on it being a star right and I think that's like the official stance of this podcast at this point we talked about in the postgame was like he doesn't have to be the best quarterback in the in the conference or in the country for UCF to be really good I mean we saw their their run game he just needs to be good enough to where he's not going to hinder the Run game exactly which is not a high bar no it's not he didn't really hit the high bar on Thursday you're right because I was about to age with you you're right it's not a high bar and then right as you're saying it I'm I'm like in my head I'm like that's a bar he did not hit against New Hampshire but yeah because I mean really that's all it is now is just is is be enough of a threat to throw the ball that they can't just focus on the Run game like just open things up for the Run game and that's kind of it that's all you really need to do and he's also he the one thing that he did show he was good at against New Hampshire is that in his own right he was a good runner on his own he had several good runs he was also a good improviser there were a couple plays where things broke down he turned it into something and and just having that sprinkled in with just completing some basic throws getting it to a receiver when they are wide open that's the bar for and and again now we will get on after Sam Houston and be like wow it turns out the D tackles suck who would have who knew we just didn't know against New Hampshire not predicting that I'm just saying as an example like we'll find more problems I don't think the team's perfect but it's just very hard when you see an offensive line that appears to have come together well this group of running backs that appear to have come together well and Gus was talking about them at the presser and how one of his main takeaways is just how he he referred to as the luxury they have that they are basically going to always be able to put a fresh running back out there who's really good like like there is like at whatever team plays UCF this year from the first snap of the game to the last snap of the game they're going to face a very good UCF running back who is not tired and that is that should terrify you if you're an opposing defense so it's just all KJ needs to do is not be so bad that that is just you know that's it every single game is is they can't do anything and I just kind of have a hard time believing that a performance that bad against New Hampshire is somehow going to become the standard I could be wrong but I just I have a hard time envisioning that I mean I'll say it again I said it on Thursday night he's never been he's never looked that bad I don't think like it's never been this bad that might have been his worst game yeah honestly I mean maybe not I mean statistically it was pretty bad but like maybe he had worst games at Arkansas against better teams but for that to be his statline against New Hampshire probably one of his worst performance but he's never looked like at a baseline that bad and now that you said that about the running backs I can't remember doing that thing again where I can't remember if it's something you and I talked about or if it's a conversation I have with someone else it might have been with Brian at the game but I I was talking about basically what you just said about how and what Gus said was you know I RJ Harvey should be their number one back right but yes you can you can do a thing where maybe he gets you know 12 13 14 carries in in the first half and that keeps him pretty fresh on it on its own but even in the third or fourth quarter if he's run the ball a bunch and he's a little bit you know worn down you put a fresh miles Montgomery a fresh Penny Boon fresh Johnny Richardson out there like that's that GNA like you kind of can see defense is just kind of groaning and being like come on like yeah okay we don't have to deal with R.J right now because he's he's getting a break but we've got to deal with these really really good running backs who are also problems so yeah it is a luxury and it's it's one of those things that I I don't really know how it happened I still like there I guess all of it was kind of like different circumstances right like we had like you see I've had RJ and and Johnny but the whole yeah they added miles Montgomery in the portal and then the whole Penny Boon situation with was it Louisville yeah um and and so like that kind of was a break in ucf's favor but to have all four who I think all four could be starters in some capacity at other programs that's crazy yeah I mean all literally it's you just said it all four of them can start other programs and what's extra exciting too is I miles has a year of Eligibility left and even and which you like um you never know in the portal ER Tommy castalano said I'm a KN and hit the portal two days later one time so like anything can happen but he was talking about the presser how he's excited to grow in the next couple years I think Penny Boon might have eligibility left too that one's like a little up in the air still but like this is beyond this season too it's like that's what's great about this room is it's not just they all cash in on this season it was just a weird for test number of events that took place where we're all expecting John to transfer he doesn't for some reason they land miles Montgomery who could have gone to a lot of places and agreed to back up one of the best quarterbacks in the country then they get Penny Boon because he had had some portal issues and there were just a limited number of schools that could get him in like I just it was just a really unusual number of situations that allowed that um before we get too far away of it while you were talking I did look it up I I did a quick look so apologies if I'm wrong but as far as I can tell the last time KJ Jefferson completed 50% of his passes or fewer was September 25th of 2021 against Texas A&M when he completed seven of 15 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns so I think that was actually New Hampshire was actually literally his worst passing performance of his starting career it appears so like I'm not expecting that to be the standard for him going forward I think it was just I also I know I said this on the postgame pod and I I looked a little bit like a profit because it's continued to to show up throughout the weekend I looked like a profit I came up with this take because G brought up in his presser but the whole helmet communication iPads thing is messing up everybody like that was a theme throughout the weekend where every team thought that they had that nailed and practice and they got into games and were like whoa so and Gus talked about in the Press today how he's still really trying to figure out how how much is too much information and he felt like they were particularly sort of set up poorly for that because you know so the way the helmet the helmet coms work is the radio cuts out at the at when the play clock hits 15 seconds you can't talk to the quarterback anymore as Gus point out they never get down to 15 seconds on the play clock so he can just talk to KJ the entire time before he snaps the ball and I think Gus was kind of being open about maybe I was doing a little too much there like maybe I should just let him be the quarterback and not be like this this this this this so I I just think that the those things have played a role as well and I think that once they get into a groove on that that's going to help too I mean it was just it was a very new situation in a lot of ways I think it was and and I think like you said for for it being through throughout the whole country it's like it was really bad for the the overs like it most games it felt like there was not a lot of points going for for either team and I think in some cases like and I don't know again this could have just been game Flow but like Georgia Clemson as an example like Georgia didn't really score much early like even though they controlled that whole game like they didn't really score their offense didn't really get going until late either so it's like I almost wonder if it's like as the game went on and maybe Arizona had that kind of same thing where it's like games going on although that might have just been more of hey we've got two really good players let's let them do what they do but I think you saw more scoring as games kind of came down to the wire rather than shootouts the whole way so yeah I mean I think it's a work in progress for everyone and that includes Gus and KJ so I mean yeah again it's again the benefit of having Sam Houston come in and after New Hampshire is like you get these two times to kind of like all right let's let's get on the same page and let's figure out all this stuff and the helmet communication thing I think is probably I mean it definitely is and I think they've talked about it plenty but it's like for as far as us on this podcast like it's something maybe we overlooked as far as being a huge deal and huge adjustment for for this offense yeah and that's why like I said it's the same stuff against s Houston and I do want to clarify too because I don't want this to come across as we're just blindly being like KJ will be fine I don't really Envision a reality I mean you tell me if you disagree but I I I like I don't buy that we're going to get to mid-season and we're laughing about this and being like wow he had it so wrong like he should win he should be all big 12se second team raig 12 first team I don't see that coming because we also talked about too that it just it was getting a little weird how there just wasn't much hype coming out from him after fall camp like there wasn't a lot of Buzz and there wasn't negative Buzz there just wasn't like wow he's looking awesome like we love him I that's when we first start get little ansy and then so that performance so I I don't I don't want this to come across as where like we still think KJ is going to be elite I just don't think that he's going to be so bad that he's gonna that the story of this season is gonna be KJ loses them games over and over I just don't see that coming yeah I'm not sure think the next like thing we can talk about here is and we mentioned it and how Gus talked about them but also like Sam Houston obviously a newer FBS team but will be a stiffer test than New Hampshire they just played rice uh this past weekend and and beat them I think it was 3414 yep um at r r good game not that rice is a tough home atmosphere but they won by 20 on the road against a team that went to a bowl last year um so yeah I mean I think it'll be a little bit of more of a test but I I think it's again a good another good tuneup before going on the road to TCU so like I think it'll be good to kind of get maybe a little bit more resistance than they got against New Hampshire but I I think there's still plenty of of opportunities for them to iron things out and you know get another win get to 2 and0 and then head to TCU for their first like real test of the year yeah and I do really want to get ahead of a potential UCF Twitter freakout is I I feel like I have perhaps set our audience up for this particularly poorly by referring to these as fake games the whole way through but Sam Houston's not an FCS team and even when they were at the FCS level they were like they won the National Championship in FCS a few years ago like they're closer to North Dakota State than New Hampshire even when they were FCS now they've had a couple years to recruit FBS level players a quarterback who's pretty good this isn't going to be another game where UCF goes and wins 57 to3 the last time I said all this to you was before the Kent State game last year and I said it won't be that big of a score and then they killed Kent State but Kent State ended up being like one of the worst FBS teams out there and I don't think Sam Houston is that Gus said in his Press today after watching their game and their quarterback he feels like they might win their conference and they might I mean they really might it's the worst conference in college football but it's certain in FBS football but it's still a conference and I just hope fans what I want to get ahead of is when the final score of that game is like 38- 13 let's not go on and be like wow the season is doomed it's just like it's not another FCS game they're going to win it it shouldn't really be competitive at any point but it's not I don't think it's gonna be one of those games where they just a score it will and B the defense prevents them from putting up a point it's just not that type of game yeah and and I think that'll be fine hopefully I don't know there's there's always a tendency where you know you can say as much as you want that we want to get ahead of a UCF Twitter free cap but there will be one anyway about something so I don't know that might fall on on De appears just because that's what I think not say that's what this fan base does that's what every fan base does every fan base Across America right now pretty much is probably has something that they're griping about but no I mean it's a good chance and really I'm starting to get it's bad but like I'm starting to just really worry about the TCU game more than I'm even like thinking about this week it's like that because TCU they beat Stanford on Friday night um their offense I thought and the game was closer than I thought it was going to be but I think the off their off defense look really good theyve got a good quarterback so it will be it'll be a different thing like you said earlier it'll be a different season once they get into the Big 12 play and that's that's coming next week so yeah it' be nice to kind of get another one out there and get out of the way and and get to get to next week hopefully with with some things clearer at the quarterback position and feeling just overall okay about the fact that they're big tough test is you know week three conference at TCU and and then it'll get tougher after that so not to jump ahead and preview the TCU game because we have time to do that you know for the next like two podcasts after this one but we watched I think we missed what just the first quarter of the TCU game I we watched three quarters of that stay up till like two in the morning and it ended and I'm like I don't really have any idea what to make of TC after watching that like I don't feel any better or worse about that game their quarterback looked good they looked undisciplined as hell I just I don't know I I just I feel like you might be more worried about that one than I am but that might just be I don't know and it's not that I'm not worried about it's just I I don't know I just I'm I'm we'll see I I just am not viewing that as like a game that I'm really freaked out for it's more so the fact that it's the first road game Big 12 Road game probably will be a tough environment and Gus teams at UCF on the road haven't always performed great um so I don't know we'll see again like for them I think we probably learned all that we're going to be able to learn about TCU in that Stanford game um because this week they play Liu I'm not even sure really who that is um so yeah they play Liu this week so yeah I I don't know I think whatever we can gather from TCU before UCF plays them next week I think that's already happened so we're in that phase we're in that phase of the uh of the uh start of the Season where we've now seen everyone play one game and we think we can learn we can't learn anything like like we're saying what do we learn or what do we take away it's like it's college football is so weird because it's such a short season like 12 games there no teams ever this is going to sound and might it might be a little different in the playoff ER now that there are going to be teams playing like 16 17 games but no one ever really becomes anything like like I'm trying to figure out how to phrase this like 12 games is not always enough time to actually form a full identity and those that do were typically forming it in the final few games of the Season like teams just vary wildly into week in week to week 18 to 22 year olds or 27 year olds if we talking about that one Miami player just don't play always consistently exactly so like it's so funny to sit here after one weekend and I'm like yeah UCF is perfect everywhere but quarterback Florida sucks UCF is going to win that by 50 the Big 12 has some shaky teams like it's just all of it is then next week it's GNA happen all this other stuff will happen we'll be like oh wait we know nothing that's just going to be the season but I I just I don't know I I I do not I I don't like that they're opening on the road at TCU but I also just seeing how much particularly this helmet comom stuff and the and and I keep saying helmet helmet comom it's the iPads too that's been a big thing as well that Gus has talked about that and other coaches have talked about that if it's not having the information is great figuring out how to dispense that information in a meaningful way during games this ended up to be like quite a learning curve and Gus talked about that now that he's seen it for a game he's realizing he thinks it's going to help defenses a lot more than offenses because defenses like have more real-time information on what to predict and things like that versus where offenses it might not be quite the same but I just at least UCF is getting these two games for and a lot of other teams are having to play you know very serious like Miami and Florida that's that sucks for them that they both had to play a game that is like determining the mood of their season and UCF just kind gets to warm up a few times before going on the road so it'll it'll be interesting but I I don't know I I for Sam Houston it's like there are thing is there anything you're really looking for outside of KJ that you're really like I really want to see this against that team no like I not really it's maybe maybe more so on on the defensive side of the ball like can they look as good not that they're going to look as good and going give up three points but you know is it going to still be is it going to be that much of an improvement you know what I mean like are we going to see a very very good defense out there and again not that I'm going to take much away from both of those games but if they can do something similar like that and the secondary looks as good as they did um or in that same realm like I I'll be like all right cool like I I feel good about the improvements they've made on defense the transfers they brought in some of the performances there but outside of KJ really there's nothing I'm going going into this game like oh I need to see this I don't know well it's actually on the defense that's interesting because you know Sam Houston's quarterback good he's a good quarterback and he's a mobile quarterback he throws the ball well he runs the ball well and that is kind of like I I think I like that we're going to see them go up against a good quarterback in this game because that will be an interesting test for the defense particularly just given how many Dynamic quarterbacks there are in this conference that they're going to face throughout league play and I'm not being like this guy is a great test before they face shider Sanders like I'm not saying he's on that level I'm just saying that I I I'm interested to see them face off against that style of quarterback and see if they still come away looking as locked down as they did against New Hampshire or close to it yeah yeah no I think that's AB that's a great point because I mean the quarterback they saw against New Hampshire like he didn't really have much of a chance to be honest and actually one thing I I did probably go a little too hard on I don't think I went that hard on it but I said some stuff about the the pressure lack of pressure that they were getting on Thursday and like Gus kind of we we rewatched it and that confirmed what I had maybe said I was like maybe they were getting the ball out quick they were and Gus said that again today he's like I think we did a good job and when that's I think that was when he made the comment about playing a lesser opponent so whenever you play a lesser opponent like that that they're going to try to get the ball out and all that and they were so I mean the the quarterback's average for the game was 3.4 yards so like they were they were getting the ball out quick and short trying to get short passes out and UCF was doing a good job against it so yeah I feel like we fall into that trap I feel like we fall into that trap every year like after the first game against an FCS team or a G5 we're like wow they really didn't get a lot of pressure like wow where were the sacks and then three games later it's fine and we're like oh okay yeah um so yeah I'm not really worried about that right now so that's good um anything else I mean I feel like this was a quick this is a quick podcast a quick Sam Houston preview but again we talked about it last last week on the preview for New Hampshire it was like what are we gonna talk about over these next you know post game next preview and it's good well it's that's actually not good I was gonna say it's good the KJ played poorly it's not it's actually quite bad but I'd said I think three or four times to this offseason I was like what the hell are we gonna talk about on that Sam Houston postgame pod like why even do it what is there to talk about and then we're watching New Hampshire and K is looking terrible and I'm like ah storyline for the next two so it's there will be things to talk about but no I don't really have anything else crazy I mean I don't think that this it's I don't think it's a game they can lose I We're Gonna Knock on Wood just in case it would be very funny if I call this a fake game all offseason and they did lose it but I just hope fans are ready for a score that isn't you know it's not gonna be 57 to3 I think they'll win it easily but not like it's not going to look insane and I just yeah it's it it's weird that to be game two and does really feel like all eyes are on KJ like it's just I feel like the fan base is going to be living and dying by basically every play of his which is a weird weird spot to be in two games in the season against no opponents of your level yet but yeah I guess Boomer too probably keep an eye on him but I think it's pretty much yeah that's where we're at yeah the funny thing about the KJ thing is like it reminds me of the Darren Rell tweet I think it was Darren Rell he said like I feel bad for our country but this is great content like that's what it was with KJ it was like feel bad for for the state of UCS fan base but it's great content for us so I will say because if you're just if you have podcasts of UCF or any sports team it is Gen Ely Better Business for your podcast when there are bad things happening involving the quarterback like I can tell you like peeling back the curtain like all of our most listen to podcasts are podcasts about some sort of bad quarterback thing like Dylan Gabriel gets hurt John rice peley looks terrible Mikey Keane starts like it's always like all the like things are going wrong as a person who has followed use of my whole life I really wish they could just figure out quarterback and we could stop having to talk about this I did not anticipate this being a season where we were going to have a lot to talk about at quarterback and I'm not loving that a game and we are back there so let's hope that after the San Houston game we're just kind of like oh yeah he looked great anyways like that would be awesome if that's where we're at I love it but we'll see uh we'll see on Saturday night 6:30 kick on ESPN Plus for myself and anyone else not going to the game but I think it will be good crowd so that'll be good um we'll jump into the football news which not a lot there's just a quick UCF NFL John rice Plumley update um he didn't make the Steelers uh 53 man roster and rather than sign with the Steelers practice squad I don't know if that was an option but he has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad so he will be um in the same practice fields in the same locker room as Gabe Davis that's cool um that's all I have really for football news so can get right into game of the week which will be UCF women's soccer who is 20 and two um they just beat Georgia on Sunday night 2-nil uh they're two and two their big game this week at TH Thursday night at Seven at USF so war and I4 being renewed there USF is 31 in one um so I'll probably keep I'll keep one eye on that probably on my phone while uh the NFL gets underway on Thursday night so big game for them um excited just to have like we watched a little bit or did we did we watch any of the volleyball game I think I oh no I pulled it up on my phone as it was ending okay what yeah I was gonna say I did not um yeah um but I don't know just good to see Clips back on on Twitter even if we hadn't didn't have a chance to watch it or same thing with with men's women's soccer so always good to have that back but with all of that said tweet of the week not yet um I wna I want to bring up something about women's soccer that we talked about in real life okay because I'm baffled by this women's soccer just had their senior night like last night was that last night it's Georgia which they won good for them they took down a top 25 Georgia and that's awesome if any of our listeners because I'm confused on this have any insight as to why women's soccer is having senior night in their third I think it's their third home game of the season if you could like fill us in on that cuz I'm very confused I thought it was a we went through this we thought it was like a typo or mistake then the day rolls around and they're like excited to honor our seniors tonight and I'm like but why I I'm very baffled by that and confused so didn't didn't you look it up didn't they do that last year too no I looked it up and they've never done this before I was like maybe this is some soccer thing I'm unfamiliar with which happens you know it's it's a different sport and maybe they maybe senior night is like the first home game or something and then I went back like four years it's always been the last home game I don't know what happened I don't understand I'm yeah I'm curious so if anyone does have any insight let us know um that would be helpful but yeah tweet of the week tweet of the week uh instead of doing a tweet this week we're going to do um I don't know what to call this one in-person Stadium fan of the Week uh something like that there also wasn't any I got to say we were Wonder we were wondering what the big UCF Twitter fight was going to be and really just KJ's performance overun all that there wasn't really anything dumb there was definitely some discourse around the lobster role which we actually kind of nailed that one because I think we suggested that might come up and someone did post a photo of it and from the bottom my heart it's the most disgusting looking thing I've ever seen in my life and I wish I could credit them I think that person says that it was a three out of 10 lobster roll but it was a six out of 10 Stadium concession lobster roll which seems about right and we should check in and make sure that person's still with us this time next week because that was a shocking decision to eat that um but anyway we're gonna go to fan of the Week uh um so I think I've if you've listened this podcast for any length of time you would know that I'm a UCF fan because my dad is UCF fan my dad went to UCF I'm a second generation Knight I grew up watching UCF my parents go to the games that's the reason I'm so in UCF they got I was very blessed that they got season tickets when I was a very young kid so I got to grow up going into games at the Citrus Bowl and at the bounce house so my parents go to the games uh my parents decided to leave at the end of the third quarter when the score was 57 to3 and got heckled on their way out of their seats by a group of fans who yelled at them for leaving and told them to go back to their seats and all I have to say to that is I listen I have to be Bailey correct me if I'm wrong I have to be I'm not trying to brck because this isn't something to brck about I have to be in like the 1 perent of the one percent of caring about UCF in the world right like it's to unhealthy degrees it affects my mental health I all of that if you are at a UCF game and the score is 57 to3 against an FCS opponent on a week night and you see someone go to leave and you not only in your head think I don't like that they're leaving but feel so passionate about that that you're like I'm going to yell at them out loud for leaving you are a bad human being like you are actually just a bad person so I just want to send a message to all UCF fans that like don't be that because that's actually horrible and that's also which this isn't my parents since they always go to games but you want to know how to not grow your fan base is get mad at the people who aren't as Psychopathic as you are and want to be there to watch like J Curry Brown's handoff at the end of the fourth quarter that's how you make people feel bad for going to games and when we're trying to grow as a fan base and get more people to games where everyone's not going to be a die hard that is a pathetic thing to do so if you're if for some some strange twist of fate you the Heckler listening to this just know that I don't like you and at all and think you're a bad person and I'm sure they're not listening but also just don't do that behavior that's horrible don't do that yeah what's especially funny about it is like your parents missed nothing in the fourth quarter the final score wased crazy how that leaving when they did yeah I went so I went to have lunch with my parents on Sunday to talk about the game and I yeah it was my dad with tears in his eyes were like I just can't believe that I missed kylin Fox's first career reception for four yards in the fourth quarter I I it's crazy I just I don't I I can't believe that I don't know how they live themselves without seeing jacobe Jones get two Targets I really I I it's just it's crazy who would have thought yeah um what's especially weird and funny is that like everyone left like the stadium emptied out by like the early in the fourth quarter so did they yell at everyone or they just decide to yell at your parents I wonder if I I I I will tell you that if I ever find those people I am going to make sure that they are I they those people better for the rest of their lives be in their seat before kickoff and never leave before that on the moer is finished for any UCF game ever for all the Sports if they're not out at volleyball if they're not out at women's soccer if they're not driving to the tennis games wherever the hell they are off campus I better find them everywhere I like I I'm serious they they better be freaking everywhere Christian versus The Fan who heckled his parents is like the feud of the year now so this is this is a real time thing about how no one will ever get more defensive when than when their family is on the line I'm so annoyed about that like I would my parents was kind of casually like yeah no we got like yelled at I'm like that is I am so mad at that person but yeah so I'm going to find that person I'm find that person and make sure that they never Rel a UCF game more than a second early but really I on I thought you were going to threaten violence on them when you said I'm going to find I not do that good Lord um but seriously on the larger point though we're talking about this is a growing fan base don't be that type of fan we want to be a Welcome Stadium atmosphere and we want people to not feel like get people feeling bad about themselves for leaving the game it's ridiculous don't do that yeah I agree um that's it we're at the end of can I say one more thing really quickly sure this coming off last year when I was brutal to you for missing UCF game forget which one you decided to not go to I think it was Houston Lova oh andov no cuz Houston it was like yeah because you I think you missed it for like Thanksgiving and I was like that's ridiculous but other than that yeah yeah exactly um yeah it's it's weird that that happened but hopefully it doesn't happen again but unfortunately knowing some some of the people in our fan base it probably will um hopefully not to your parents and hopefully not to anyone but you know it might um we'll get out of here now we'll be back on Saturday night with a postgame podcast after the Sam Houston game there'll be episode 224 until then you can find us on Twitter Bailey jadams 22 byca Simmons night Sports now and Pegasus podcast thank you guys so much for being with us and we will talk to you on Saturday bye everybody