OPENING STATEMENT: “After watching the film, we got whipped physically upfront. On offense, we couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t get anything established from that standpoint. We had some opportunities to make some plays and we didn’t. I thought some of our young guys, their first experience of going on the road, didn’t react the way I thought they would react. When you don’t get any big plays offensively, it’s hard to sustain things and we weren’t able to do that.”

“Defensively, the couple of things we knew we needed to do; we needed to play well on third down, we didn’t, they were 8-for-10 on third down and when they got in the red zone, we gave up four-out-of-five touchdowns, only made them kick a field goal once.”

“On our very first drive, we get a great turnover by our defense, we got one first down, but really couldn’t capitalize the way we wanted to by getting a touchdown and only got three there, so all-in-all we learn from it, look at the film, move on and get better.”

DEFENSIVE INJURIES: “The guys that went in, they have to play. I think some of those guys played pretty well. True freshman CB Myles Bell got in there, played 40-something plays, it was good for him. CB Jeremy Lucien got more playing time yesterday, that was good. Terrence Ganyi, a redshirt freshman, really just a true freshman, all that time is going to help him. Somewhere down the road, whether it’s this week, next week, more weeks down the road, those guys are going to have to play. Whoever goes in to play, our expectation is they are going to play as good or better than the guy they are replacing, that’s what they need to live up to. I’m not really worried about the injuries, I just want to make sure all those guys understand that when they get in there, they are expected to perform at a high level regardless of their age. You look out at the field in the 2nd half, you have Tyler Coyle as your only junior, Dillon Harris is the other as he’s really just a freshman, playing just three games here, so we were very young out there.”

“I thought we did some good things defensively, we just let them nickle and dime us. You can see the difference. We still aren’t a Big Ten caliber team. When you saw them play and the width and girth and strength of those guys, we’re still a program that is developing, we’re not a Big Ten team. That was a physical, Big Ten team and we aren’t that. It’s part of our process, part of what we’re trying to develop and what we’re trying to get to. We’re better, but we aren’t where we want to be or need to be and that’s what we need to keep working through the process.”

HOW MUCH HAS YOUR DEPTH IMPROVED OVERALL?: “I think it is [better than last year]. The kids that we have that are in there playing, Terrence [Ganyi] can run and he’s athletic, but he has not experience, he’s still learning the game. D.J. has been around it for a long time and can communicate things. That’s where other guys have a step up. That’s why every rep that those guys get, whether it’s in practice or in a game is very, very valuable.”

“Defensively, we had four offsides and that’s unacceptable. We want the guys to be aggressive and get off, but they have the ball right in front of them and they are listening to the count instead of watching the ball. That’s something we can’t do. We are getting some productivity from those guys up front, but if we have 3rd and 9, we can’t jump offsides and make it 3rd and 4. That’s some of the things that hurt us a little bit yesterday in some of those drives.”

OFFENSE RAN JUST 10-PLAYS IN THE 1ST QUARTER, 9 WERE PASSES, WAS THAT THE GAME PLAN HEADING IN?: “No, we wanted to establish the run and there were some things that we wanted to do, but there were some things that we wanted to take a look at. We have to be able to run the ball and have some success and consistency because we aren’t good enough to throw the ball that many times in a row.”

THOUGHTS ON JACK ZERGIOTIS’ 1ST ROAD GAME?: “I think he got hit right there in that first series. We got a first down and the 1st or 2nd play of that next series of downs, he took a good shot and I think that rattled him right there. As a quarterback, we missed the protection up front, but you can’t worry about that. Then I thought he started hurrying some things and then he settled down a bit, but that’s where he just needs to understand that you are going to get hit, but sometimes if you throw the ball where you’re supposed to throw it, you might not get hit. He was inconsistent, he didn’t play well, but it was his first time on the road and he has to play better. We all have to play better and we all have to coach better.”

OPPONENTS PRIOR GAMES DON’T MATTER MUCH, BUT UCF COMING OFF A LOSS, DOES THAT MAKE IT MORE CHALLENGING?: “They’re a good football team, but we need to worry about us. We need to correct the things we need to and go play harder, more physical. Right now, I’m more worried about us than I am them because if we don’t get to playing the kind of football that we want to play, it doesn’t matter who we are playing. That’s part of our process, I told the guys today, 25-percent of the season is over. It goes fast and there are only 9 more to go and we need to take advantage of each one. I know we will be going up against a very good team Saturday night in Orlando.

ROBERT HOLMES REPLACED CAM DEGEORGE IN THE 2ND HALF, WAS THAT TO GET MORE PHYSICALITY UP FRONT?: “I’ve said it, we haven’t been physical up front and whatever we need to get that, that’s what we are going to do. If it means changing personnel, those are the things that we are going to do. You try to tell these guys every day that nobody is guaranteed anything and if there are guys that can do the things that we want done, then we are going to go ahead and do the things necessary to get us where we want to.”