Knightrox: Is O'Leary really this disconnected from the fans? I understand that every school has its share of fans who want to fire the coach after every little mistake, but O'Leary seems to be taking it out on all UCF fans. Does he realize that if he were to embrace the fans a little bit more, they might be more willing to embrace him and support the team? Attacking your fan base isn't a very good way to encourage people to come to your games.

Iliana: I can’t speak for Coach George O’Leary’s emotions or thoughts on the fan base. I do get the sense he appreciates the fans who have always supported the program, and I know he has warm relationships with UCF’s biggest donors. I do, however, think he had a legitimate bone to pick with UCF fans failing to pack the stadium on homecoming against No. 13 Houston. I know the fans who showed up were disappointed that the stadium was only slightly more than half full.

The REAL Truth: 1) what bowl game do you think we will most likely land in? eaglebank? st. pete? and if its st. pete, what are the probability that our nemesis the bulls meet us there?

2) some of our younger offensive skill position players shined this weekend in mcduffie and davis. with the speed we have on the team now, do you think taafee might consider running the wildcat in a bowl game (with extra time to prepare)?

3) Bongos or Samba Room?

4) Bahama Breeze, Cafe Tu Tu Tango, or Seasons 52?

Iliana: 1) I would be surprised if UCF didn’t end up in the St. Petersburg Bowl. I think there is a 60 percent chance UCF faces USF. The only way it doesn’t happen is if the Bulls fight the idea of facing UCF or the bowl feels pressure to bring in an out-of-town team with fans who will book more hotel rooms. I think West Virginia and UConn are the other two candidates for that game. I thought Rutgers was a possibility, but it looks like they will get picked well before St. Pete gets its choice of Big East teams.

2) I don’t think we’ll see the wildcat until next season, especially if UCF goes to the St. Petersburg Bowl and is playing on Dec. 19.

3) Ehh, Bongos I guess.

4) Bahama Breeze for a routine night out, Seasons 52 for special occasions.

UCF Hoops Fans: Will you be attending any of the tournament basketball games this weekend in Daytona Beach? I will be there for all 3 of them! How do you see those 3 games going for UCF against tough competition?

Any new news on conference expansions across the board?

Iliana: I’ll be two of the three games, only skipping the game Saturday that conflicts with UCF football. I think it will be excellent tournament for UCF. I think Niagra will be the toughest team UCF faces, but the entire tournament format will be a good test for a young team.

No conference tournament expansion news. Right now all the chatter is bowls, bowls, bowls.

Mike: First, let me say the Houston game was awesome, great effort by our team. My only real question of the game was the 1st onside kick Houston attempted. It seemed pretty obvious the onside kick was coming, but UCF was in an odd return formation with only a few players on the front line. Luckily, our guy made a tremendous effort and recovered it, but it was close. Any insight into that? Were they anticipating a squib kick instead?

Iliana: I didn’t get a chance to go back to the Houston tape and check out the footage you’re referring to. I’m going to open that one up to the rest of the readers who might recall the play. I will check it out and try to post an answer for you after the chat.

Mark: 1) This may get answered in the press conference later today but, did Nick Pieschel tear his acl? Certainly looked like it

2) Predict the score against Tulane

3) What does Diakite need to work on the most? To me he seems like he's great at going to the hole, but misses free throws and has an iffy perimeter game. I think he could be a JT type player, because his abilities are all there and they are similar sized athletes

4) Why is it that every game we have some sort of play/game clock problem? Is it faulty equpiment or a problem with the operator?

5) Any other ticket promos going on this week to get more butts in the seats for the final home game of the year?

6) Our pre-game ceremonies or whatever are seriously jacked. It always looked unorganized and kinda silly. I think it'd be cool to have the knight on horse lead out the team...or even do the thing where he drives the sword into the ground at the 50, plus some standard music..the band isn't loud enough for when the team runs onto the field. Any chance that these issues are discussed and potentially changed in the off-season?

Iliana: 1) Nick Pieschel is out with a patella tendon injury, but he could be back for the UAB game. Offensive linemen tend to hate their knee braces, but this is another case where the brace probably saved Pieschel from a season-ending injury.

2) 42-10. UCF rests its starters late.

3) You pretty much called it on Dave Diakite. He’s a tremendous raw athlete. He’s actually more athletic than Jermaine Taylor. He just needs to spend a lot of time with the coaching staff refining that talent. The other key will be not getting frustrated when some of his short-comings on the court are exposed this year. Things to work on – finishing around the basket, learning the flow of the offense, help defense and an outside shot.

4) It’s not the people. I think it’s the equipment.

5) I haven’t heard anything beyond all students get in free.

6) People complained when the Knight on the horse threw the sword and now they’re complaining without the sword throw. I don’t foresee any changes for the final home game.

tim: There's been a lot of speculation about the Big East expanding, possibly taking UCF. Do you foresee any other conferences shuffling over the next few years? For instance, any chance of the Mountain West adding Boise State and perhaps a few others? Or possibly the Pac-10 picking from Boise State, Utah, BYU, Fresno State, etc to bring their conference up to twelve members?

Iliana: I could see Mountain West trying to add Boise State, but the WAC will fight it. The Mountain West powers – Utah and BYU – never joined the Pac 10 because BYU leadership demands a lot of control over its conference. They weren’t willing to give away that power in exchange for a spot in a BCS conference. The BYU and Utah leadership are behind the Mountain West’s big push to be added as a BCS conference. This would give them BCS money without giving away control over their conference. College football politics are messy at all levels.

Brolando: It was a great win over Houston, and most phases of the game looked very good, but it seems like we constantly have kicking problems when it comes to extra points and field goals. Any word from coaches as to why we seem to have so many problems with making extra points?

Iliana: Nick Cattoi kicks the ball low and sometimes shanks kicks. He makes more than he misses and wins the starting job in competition each week.

Screen name deleted (really, did you think I would repeat it?): 1) With the offense getting 37 does it seems that our offense was lacking cohesion for the ecu & usm games that they have now?
2.If we had played ecu & usm now would it be any different?
3. Does it seem that oleary is becoming more defensive about what going on with the program?

Iliana: 1) Yes. Brett Hodges and Cory Hogue both said they wish they had another shot at East Carolina now that both sides of the ball are performing well.

2) Yes, I think UCF beats Southern Miss. The East Carolina game would be close, and I favor the Pirates on their home turf.

3) I’ve only been covering UCF for two years and it doesn’t seem that different this year to me.

Marvelouz:
1.What do you think about June Jones comments about not going to the Liberty Bowl if they win out?
2. Seeing that we won't have a #1 QB going into next year, do you see Calabrese develop into a solid starter or Crowe step in like Hodges did? I think most fans want to see that.

Iliana:

1) Interesting. I don’t think the Liberty Bowl appreciated it, but I think East Carolina will take care of the problem by beating SMU if the Mustangs make it to the championship game.

2) I think there will be an intense quarterback competition. If Rob Calabrese legitimately beats out LD Crow and Nico Flores for the job, then fans will have no reason to complain. The improvement should be obvious on the field. However, I think it’s unlikely Calabrese ends up beating Crow and Flores. Both have potential to be strong starters for UCF.  

Why not us: Do you think that O'Leary can get UCF to the same level as Boise State and TCU? We seem to have the right resources, but is he the right coach to do it?

Iliana: Scheduling and timing is everything. I think it’s really hard for any non-BCS program to make that kind of perfect run. UCF needs to field a strong offense and defense at the same time, hit the ground running early and face beatable BCS opponents in non-conference play. The schedules look pretty good the next few years, but we’ll have to see if the balance is there for the Knights.

UCF Fan: Have any players left the program? I don't see James Poe name on the roster. Also, the players that are expected in Jan- are they this enrolling?

Iliana: I haven’t asked about Poe, but that would not surprised me given how far he has fallen on the depth chart. Richard Jackson left the team. He’s the main departure I know about. And I think UCF is getting the mid-year enrollees it expects.

That's a good suggestion. I will look into it. Thanks.