re: T-Will a Broyles Award nominee in his 1st year at UCF

quote:

---

No, its not a lie. There are plenty of message boards with UCF fans.. don't listen to me, ask them. Of course their offensive numbers are down.. Gabriel got hurt in like the 2nd game of the season and then they had to play a true freshman QB. Their RB got hurt, they had injuries all over the place this year. According to UCF fans, Gus and the entire staff is an upgrade over anything else they've had before.

---

Dude, have you considered that....they're delusional? You're asking me to believe what their fans are saying, meanwhile their fans are operating in the most predictable manner imaginable: their previous HC who walked out on them supposedly really wasn't good at all (despite the fact that in year 1 at Tennessee he immediately fielded a dangerous offense with a depleted roster), meanwhile the new guy they brought in is the savior and a "huge upgrade" despite a season of ineptitude on the field LOL. How gullible are you? It's no different to how we as Auburn fans talked ourselves into believing that the offense was failing because it was Lashlee's fault! Then it was Chip Lindsay's fault! Then it was Chad Morris' fault! It wasn't until Malzahn was fired that most were finally willing to admit the obvious: it was Malzahn's fault (actually, some on here still haven't been willing to see that LOL).

UCF fans are outright lying to themselves. Why don't you just look at their year over year performance against Cincinnati, which is their big in-conference rival and the barometer that they judge themselves against (because those are the two teams that battle it out for "King of the G5" status, with both schools considering themselves to be the best GS program).

2018: Heupel beats an 11-2 Cincinnati team by a score of 38-13
2019: Heupel loses to an 11-3 Cincinnati team by a score of 27-24
2020: Heupel loses to an 9-1 Cincinnati team by a score of 36-33
2021: Malzahn loses to a 13-0 Cincinnati team by a score of 56-21

This was the first year since Fickell has elevated his program where UCF wasn't even competitive against Cincinnati. They got absolutely clobbered and didn't belong on the same field. But yes, please continue telling me that UCF fans think that not only is Malzahn superior, he's even running a better offense!

I'm well aware that their QB got injured, but actually, even WITH Gabriel they were clearly regressed. Before Gabriel got hurt, Louisville had held them to just 21 points going into the 4th quarter. Bear in mind, this was an offense that was scoring 40+ points on basically everyone under Heupel. Even with a backup QB, you're telling me that UCF isn't talented enough to score more than 17 points against a horrible USF team? They literally scored 14 points against a 2-10 Tulane team - and actually, those 14 points is the BEST that Tulane has played defensively all season long. No one scored less points on them than UCF did this year.

Conclusion: UCF fans are idiots, and you're an even bigger idiot for believing them. Their program took a big step back this year, and Malzahn is nowhere near Heupel on offense (the fact that you're quoting UCF fans suggesting otherwise is comical). Heupel's performance at Tennessee this year in the SEC vs. Malzahn's offensive ineptitude at Auburn literally proves that. Also, your suggestion that they "improved defensively" is completely devoid of reality - as evidenced by the fact that they couldn't stop any of the actually challenging teams on their schedule at all (Cincinnati, SMU, Louisville) - they couldn't even stop a bad Navy team. Look back the last three years: Heupel's defense never gave up more than 33 points to Cinci - and they gave up 56 points this year. Nice improvement!

Josh Heupel in Year 1 in the SEC with a bunch of slop at Tennessee:

38.8 PPG (9th)
459.0 YPG (16th)

Gus Malzahn's Final 3 seasons in the SEC at Auburn:

25.1 PPG
382.0 YPG

33.2 PPG
406.5 YPG

30.9 PPG
389.9 YPG

So not only did Josh Heupel put up vastly superior offensive numbers at UCF (literally ~10 PPG more over three seasons compared to Malzahn's first season offense at UCF), but in his first season in the SEC after inheriting a complete mess he fielded a DRASTICALLY better offense than anything Malzahn did recently in the same conference. Lets also reiterate that Heupel doesn't have elite talent all over the field at Tennessee.

But forget all that, UCF fans are saying that they're totally better on offense now! Despite the fact that there is quantifiable evidence in both directions the size of Mount Everest to disprove that idiotic claim.

Josh Heupel has literally never fielded anything lower than a Top 10 scoring offense in 4 seasons as a HC. You have to go back to 2013 to find a comparable Gus Malzahn offense.