Scrote's Revenge Loss #6: Houston 48 UCF 9.
Coach Scrote and the gang made a return trip to Texas a few weeks after getting absolutely pants'd by Dave Aranda's Baylor Bears. But unfortunately for Coach Scrote redemption in the Lone Star State was not on the menu as they faced off against presumptive Big 12 favorites Texas Tech lead by Tiny Baby Coach's dad and former Matt Rhule assistant Joey McGuire. And it sure does seem like Papa McGuire's balls have dropped and he dropped them right on Scrote's face.
Texas Tech ran out to a 21-0 lead before UCF's converted a first down. But the Knights got a glimmer of hope when a hold in the end zone put them on the board with a safety. Sadly, however they failed to capitalize on the momentum and headed into half down 38-2. The second half featured a mostly disinterested hopeful national title contender running the clock and looking to get out of there injury free and the Red Raiders held the ball for the final 10 minutes of the game to ice a 48-9 victory.
Coach Scrote noted in the post game that UCF didn't match Texas Tech's preparation and physicality and that these things would come with time as his really special group of guys turn into Frost Davidians. However as my grandma used to say "you have to learn how to not crap on yourself during Sunday Mass before you can executed football at a high level" and I feel like that statement holds here. Scrote's boys turfed the ball 4 times (only losing 1) and racked up 5 more procedure penalties including one on a kick off (lol wat). Scrote employed his screen heavy game to minimize negative plays but the Knights still gave up 4 sacks and 8 TFLs on what would be an otherwise forgetful afternoon.
Scrote's Revenge Stat #6: Execution. It's the state motto of Texas and also a prerequisite for winning football games at a high level. Of course the national lead in procedure penalties is a sign it's not up to snuff in Orlando right now, but turfing the ball 4 times is also very not good and even though the Knights only lost 1, it's not a promising sign.
But how did Scrote do with fumbles in his time in Lincoln? Many of you probably have The Scrote Era fumble stats tattooed on your body to remind you that it can never happen again, but lettuce review.
2018: 2.4 fumbles per game, lost 1 per game.
2019: 2.2 fumbles per game, 1 lost per game
2020: 2.8 fumbles per game, 1.1 lost per game
2021: 1.1 fumbles per game, 0.5 lost per game.
Fortunately for UCF, even with the debacle of turfing the ball yesterday, they're at 1.1 fumbles per game with 0.5 lost. Maybe we've found the 1 thing in Scrote's tenure that improved and he actually carried it over. Or maybe it's just luck