by George Diaz
Anybody catch a whiff of the University of Central Florida Saturday night?
Stinky stuff.
Samford was supposed to be a gimme, an orchestrated scrimmage to help George O’Leary’s team gather confidence for the Saturdays ahead.
Instead of confidence, we got chaos.
Starting quarterback Rob Calabrese was so inconsistent he couldn’t finish the half. The secondary got smoked for TD passes of 29 and 67 yards. The kicking game disintegrated — two missed field goals, a missed extra point and an offsides penalty allowed Samford a second chance to make good on a field goal. Kicker Jamie Boyle was replaced by Nick Cattoi in the second half.
This team wasn’t ready to play against a Division 1-AA opponent. The Knights had to come from behind — at home — to win 28-24. And it might have been much worse if not for a Samford drop deep in UCF territory in the fourth quarter.
Inexcusable.
The pressure builds on O’Leary on a number of fronts. And it’s not just about the legal entanglements involving the death of Ereck Plancher last year.
Now in his sixth season, O’Leary needs to give players, students and alumni reason to believe in his leadership ability. His 27-36 overall record doesn’t exactly exude big-time bravado.
O’Leary wasn’t brought in to be below average. He is the marquee coach this school wanted, a guy who could establish this program in a state where college football is an obsessive passion.
He was supposed to help quiet all those Gator chomps and Seminole tomahawks, and lift UCF to stand among them as competitive peers.
Hasn’t happened.
Needing a solid W to jump-start the season, UCF looked less like a team that won a Conference USA championship in 2007 and more like the team that stumbled to a 4-8 record last season.
Bouncy football programs not only make people dizzy, they make them lose patience.
O’Leary has to win over fans again after last year’s fall. That’s what high-profile coaches are supposed to do. That’s how they justify huge salaries in a time when schools are trying to salvage teachers and textbooks from the next economic-driven purge. More – OrlandoSentinel.com
