UCF looks for consistency in season-opener versus Samford

The last time the UCF Football team played Samford, George O'Leary was the head coach at Georgia Tech, and Daunte Culpepper was the starting quarterback for the Knights. The year was 1997. The final score of the game was 52-7 UCF.

The Knights would love to open the 2009 season with that same kind of victory over Samford, who comes into Bright House Networks Stadium for a 7:30 P.M. game, the 11th meeting between the two teams in their history.

O'Leary, in his sixth year as head coach,  is just looking for his team to continue off its success from preseason camp.

"[I'm looking for] consistency and uniformity out there," said O'Leary,  "We want to move the ball consistently and pretty much do what they have been doing since the preseason started. We want to have consistency in both the run and the passing game."

UCF enters 2009 with a ton of optimism coming off an injury riddled 4-8 season in 2008, one which saw the team lose it's top three receivers — Rocky Ross, Kamar Aiken, and A.J. Guyton — it's starting tight end in Corey Rabazinski, and linebacker Corey Hogue, all within the first six weeks of the season.

For Hogue, he is just excited to be able to finally get back out on the field on Saturday.

"I can't wait [to play]," Hogue said. "I've been out all last year and looking at it from a coaches' standpoint, and not being able to be out there with the guys seeing them in some times that weren't so great. I just can't wait to get back out there with my teammates and help them."

The Bulldogs come into Orlando off one of their most successful seasons in recent history, compiling a record of 6-5 for their first winning season since 2003. They welcome back with a majority of their offense, including running back Chris Evans, who ran for 1,284 yards last season, and sophomore quarterback Dustin Taliaferro.

"They have a lot of people back on offense," O'Leary said of Samford. "They have a good running back in No. 24 (Evans) and No. 30 (Alex Barnett), the backup running back. The quarterback (Taliaferro), was the freshman player of the year in the conference for them, and then they have a bunch of receivers back — No. 6 (Riley Hawkins), No. 4 (Brock Johnson), No. 7 (DeMarcus Covington). They all can go and get the ball and have big play potential."

UCF is 7-3 all-time against the Bulldogs, which play in the Football Championship Series. Since the Knights joined the Football Subdivision before the 1996 season, they have not lost to a FCS team, going a perfect 16-0. UCF has outscored its opponents 623-193 in those games.

One of the things to watch for the Knights in the first game is the progression of sophomore quarterback Rob Calabrese. He is coming off a very impressive spring and preseason camp after struggling in his freshman season. With a new offense under offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe and a year of experience under his belt, O'Leary has seen the progression in Calabrese's game.

"I think he is a lot more confident in what he is doing," O'Leary said. "I thought he was probably the MVP during spring football, if we voted for an MVP. As far as the guy who is most improved and probably did the most things to get better, and I think he has carried that over to his summer and the preseason, and he has more command on the field."

"I think sometimes he is his worst enemy because he tries to think through too many things and not let the flow of the game take place," O'Leary said. "I have been very pleased with him and what he has done."

Ross is excited to see the new offense unfold in game speed on Saturday. Taaffe has said he will throw the ball downfield at least twice a quarter, something that excites playmakers like Ross. Saturday's game against Samford will be a big test to see if the Knights will be on the same page on the offensive side of the ball.

"It's more exciting," Ross said. "It gets all the skill players involved. It's fun when you can spread the ball out and let the quarterback go through his reads.

"We have some pretty good weapons out there in the skill positions, so it's going to be exciting to see if we can execute out there on Saturday."