UCF Downed By Stanford: 31 - 7

Last week against FIU was no freak incidence. Nope, it turns out this UCF team just isn't as good as the previous two AAC Champions.

Teams' skill ebbs and flows with the recruits, and it should be no surprise that the Knights aren't a juggernaut after losing three fourths of their starters from last year. It is a little shocking, however, just how far we have fallen, and the bad news is that with the loss of Holman things look to get a lot worse.

I don't think anyone expected to win against Stanford. The Cardinal were preseason ranked, and we were traveling 2500 miles to play in their backyard. I think we were hoping that the FIU game was a wake-up call and after a solid week of practice and adjustments, we were actually going to play football at an adequate level.

Well, all that came crashing down when Holman went down on the first drive of the game. It seems to be bad. Like, compound fracture in his hand bad, but we will wait to hear from the team on this. One thing for sure is that it doesn't look like he'll be back any time soon.

Enter Bo Schneider.

The true freshman was dropped in probably the most brutal situation imaginable. Behind a bad offensive line and with no veteran WR or TE to throw to, Schneider had the performance you'd expect. He finished 7 for 19 for 45 yards and an INT. I will say that Bo was not a disappointment. I think he did the best he could in the situation.

Later in the second half we got a glimpse of yet another QB: Tyler Harris. He turned out to be the better of the two, and put together UCF's only scoring drive. Late in the second half, set up by an Akin return of 44 yards, Harris connected on 3 of 4 passes, including a 36 yarder to Tre'Quan for the score.

I was not expecting to score a touchdown after Holman went out, and even with him the chances seemed slim. Got to hand it to the backups who did their best and kept this blowout from being a shutout.

Questions remain on defense, which wasn't complete garbage, but failed to bring much pressure or record a sack. They did hold Stanford to 3 yards a carry, but they provided no opposition through the air.

In regards to our rushing performance... let's just say I no longer feel comfortable with Stanback receiving any carries. Seems like the coaches agree. After his fumble on our most promising first half drive, I don't think he got a single touch.

Taj is looking decent. He averaged 3.3, and with our O-line that's a miracle. We won't be completely dead in the water on the ground in conference play but there isn't anything to be excited about as it stands.

Well, the poor get poorer. The Knights proved that the doubters were right, and it looks like this will be a rebuilding year. It would seem that with a team destined for 2 wins this season (Furman, Connecticut I hope) this will definitely be GOL's last year.

Prepare yourself for several more years of sub-par ball! Hey, the Fiesta bowl was really fun though!