UCF Football: In Jeff Godfrey We Trust...Why Rob Calabrese Must Be Benched

This year’s University of Central Florida Knights football season is off to a 1-1 start. Yet even this early in the season, it is time for the UCF starting quarterback, Rob Calabrese, to be benched again. In each of the past three years, Calabrese was named the starter of the team. And this will, eventually (and hopefully sooner rather than later), be the third straight year in which Calabrese finds himself on the bench. True freshman Jeff Godfrey will take the honor of dethroning Calabrese this time around.

But why should Calabrese be benched you ask? It’s simple; he just doesn’t make great decisions on the football field. UCF head coach George O’Leary has often stated in the past that Calabrese is great during practice. I’ll save myself from quoting Allen Iverson, but nobody cares how you do during practice. It’s during the game in which you earn your stripes. Right before UCF’s season opener against South Dakota, Calabrese was slightly booed by the students when he was announced on the PA system. Calabrese seemingly quieted those boos with a great performance against the Coyotes, but showed again against North Carolina State why he has been benched each of the past two years. Calabrese played terribly, throwing two picks, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and the other one was placed over 15 feet over his wide receiver’s head. Calabrese also did not make many smart decisions, often times throwing the football when there was simply nothing there. Until he was taken out of the game midway through the third quarter, the Knights managed just 106 yards through the air without scoring any touchdowns on offense (The Knights trailed 21-7 with the only score being a kickoff return for a touchdown by Quincy McDuffie).

But then entered the savior of this team: Godfrey. Godfrey took the team down the field on his very first drive and scored a touchdown, capping off the drive with a 6 yard quarterback keeper. That gave UCF fans a sliver of hope, then just down 28-14. Then he just got ridiculous and got the Knights to within a touchdown on another long drive down the field. The true freshman then almost did the unthinkable, and got the Knight in striking distance of a tie. A fumble on the ten yard-line disrupted these hopes, but the damage was done. The story of Jeff Godfrey already has its first chapter written.

But besides the last game, here’s the point: Godfrey needs to be the starting quarterback in order for the UCF Knights to move forwards. The team already plays great defense, lead by defensive lineman Bruce Miller. The running game will return once Brynn Harvey is cleared to play, which will probably be within a couple weeks. There are also many explosive wide receivers on the team. But, other than improvement on the offensive line, the one thing that the Knights lack when Calabrese is playing is a quarterback that can make plays both with his arm and his legs. Calabrese may have a very slight edge on Godfrey when it comes to arm strength, but that is useless if you can’t be accurate with your throws, which has been the case with Calabrese so far. Godfrey, in his quarter and a half against NC State, proved that he is more accurate on his throws and makes much better decisions than Calabrese. Not only that, but Godfrey is also much more mobile with his legs, and understands how to use his legs in order to turn a broken play into yardage. That is the one area in which he was highly praised by O’Leary and others after last week’s game.

So, now we have to ask, will Godfrey be starting? And the answer is maybe. O’Leary said that he isn’t quite ready to name a starter for Saturday’s game at Buffalo. This could mean one of two things. Either he is planning on starting Godfrey and wants Buffalo to have to prepare for both Godfrey and Calabrese, or he is planning on starting Calabrese and doesn’t want there to be a distraction on the team before the game. But the bottom line is that Calabrese just can’t cut it as a starter in the FBS, at least for a team that has a goal of a bowl game. Godfrey on the other hand, has the skill set of a prototypical “college quarterback.” He can throw, but more importantly he can run in order to get yards, and he can run in order to open up throwing lanes. For all of these reasons, if UCF is to seriously compete for the Conference-USA championship this year, and force the issue to get into a BCS conference in the near future, Jeff Godfrey needs to be the starter of this football team.

By crawfordfan14: A Jabberhead and SJ Contributing Author

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