SMU defeats UCF 38-17

Coach George O'Leary didn't hold back following his team's 38-17 loss to Conference USA foe Southern Methodist (5-1, 3-0) on Saturday.

"I didn't think we did anything well," O'Leary said in a release. "I thought we were outcoached and outplayed on offense, defense and special teams."

Now, the Knights (3-3, 1-1), who started the year with hopes of a dream season and playing the role of a BCS buster, have already equaled their total losses for all of 2010; UCF is a .500 team at a point in the season where few expected them to be.

Offense

UCF's offense wasn't awful, but consistently bogged down after good starts to drives.

The Knights totaled 459 yards of offense (19 more than SMU's 440) and 25 first downs and also dominated time of possession. Despite the statistical advantage, UCF struggled when it came to translating those yards and first downs into points.

Sophomore quarterback Jeff Godfrey threw for 231 yards and one touchdown on 23-of-32 passing, but multiple times he missed open receivers downfield. Early in the game, Godfrey appeared determined to stay in the pocket, but did use his legs as the contest went on and finished with 46 yards on the ground.

Redshirt freshman Blake Bortles relieved Godfrey late with the game out of hand and had some success. Bortles threw for 118 yards and a touchdown on nine-of-12 passing.

Bortles' longest completion was for 48 yards, displaying an ability to connect on a deep pass that the Knights were missing earlier in the day.

"Jeff made a lot of good throws and made some yards with his feet," O'Leary said. "But Blake has more opportunity to throw down the field. We have to sit down and see what the best situation for our team. But we have to get Blake in more often."

Redshirt junior running back Brynn Harvey again got the start and rushed for 66 yards on 21 carries, a little over a third of what he rushed for last week. Harvey may have had even less yards had he not picked up extra yards multiple times after initial contact.

SMU's physical defensive line clogged the running lanes and also got into the Knights' backfield frequently, forcing three sacks. The Knights finished with only 110 total rushing yards.

Defense/special teams

UCF's special teams unit continued to struggle, this time with punt returns. The Knights allowed two huge punt returns by the Mustangs, one of which was taken 92 yards to the house after some poor coverage left SMU's Richard Crawford with only the punter to beat.

"We put ourselves in the hole with some bad [special teams] plays, and I don't think we ever recovered," O'Leary said.

The Knights' defense, which has been the sole bright spot in UCF's previous losses, was humbled on Saturday. SMU's J.J. McDermott passed for 358 yards, as the Mustangs' spread attack again and again created mismatches that the Knights struggled to correct.

While UCF was able to limit SMU's rushing attack to 82 yards, its difficulty containing the air attack proved to be costly.

Also, with the Knights possibly gaining some momentum after cutting the lead to 24-10, the defense uncharacteristically gave up a big play, a 72-yard touchdown toss that pretty much sealed the win for the Mustangs.

"This is very frustrating because we're not used to this," junior cornerback Josh Robinson said. "We expect more out of our defense."

Final word

With the loss, the Knights' road woes continue. UCF has yet to win away from home, with all three of its losses coming from away games.

The Knights won't have long to prepare if they hope to remedy the situation this week. They will be in Birmingham on Thursday to take on the winless-UAB Blazers (0-6, 0-3).

"We can't hold onto this longer than the bus ride and the airplane because we have a game [against UAB] in four days," sophomore defensive tackle Victor Gray said. "Other than that we'll look forward to seeing [SMU] again in the conference championship. We look to see them again, and we'll have a whole different attitude."

This and that

— Freshman kicker Shawn Moffitt, who at the moment has the field goal kicking job for the Knights, made his first career field goal a 36-yarder. Moffitt was not so fortunate on his second attempt, though, missing from 39 yards out.

— UCF's streak of seven-straight wins over opponents from C-USA's West Division was snapped Saturday.