The UCF football team ended its disappointing season with a 31-14 win over UTEP on Friday night at Bright House Networks Stadium.
It was Senior Night on Friday, and even though the Knights won’t make it to a bowl game this year, they wanted to finish the season with a win at home in front of the UCF fans.
Some notable seniors honored before the game were TE Adam Nissley, PK Nick Cattoi, OG Cliff McCray, LB Josh Linam, RB Ronnie Weaver and WR A.J. Guyton.
In a game that was the last game for some seniors, the night was highlighted by two younger Knights: QB Blake Bortles and RB Latavius Murray.
Murray, who took over the starting rushing role two weeks ago, rushed for a career-high 233 rushing yards on 21 carries and posted two touchdowns. He also had a six-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter in a career night for the junior.
“I wanted to help the seniors a lot because I would hope if I was a senior, the underclassmen would do the same for me,” said Murray in a press release from UCFathletics.com. “We did what we had to do, and the seniors did what they had to do, and we went out on a great note.”
Next season, Murray will be competing for the starting runningback position against Brynn Harvey.
Redshirt freshman Blake Bortles, who has been seeing significant time at QB lately, completed nine of his 12 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown. He also scored his first career rushing touchdown on a one-yard sneak.
After the game, UCF head coach George O’Leary said next season he anticipates using both quarterbacks.
UCF finished 5-1 at home this season, but 0-6 on the road. On the bright side, UCF (5-7, 3-5 C-USA) was in almost every game. Six of the Knights seven losses were by seven points or less. The only loss at home for UCF came on November 3, against Tulsa.
O’Leary remembers the close games, but all he could do was focus on winning the final game on senior night.
“I’m happy for the senior class on Senior Night to go out winners. As I told the team, I thought they played hard all year, but we just weren’t as successful as we’d have liked to have been,” O’Leary said in a press release. “We just came up a possession short or a stop short in each of those games. But our kids executed today and made plays.”
UCF started the scoring five minutes into the game with a 38-yard run from Murray, which capped off an 80-yard drive.
In the second quarter, the Knights had an 11-play, 77-yard drive finished by a Bortles QB sneak touchdown. UCF finished the half up 24-0 after a Bortles touchdown pass to Murray. The UCF defense returned to form at home, holding UTEP (5-7, 2-6 C-USA) to just five first downs in the first half.
On the Knights fourth play from scrimmage in the third quarter, Murray broke free for a 40-yard touchdown, giving the Knights a commanding 31-0 lead. That would be all the scoring the Knights would need to secure a victory over the Miners. The UCF defense recorded four sacks and held UTEP to just 66 yards rushing.
O’Leary is already looking forward to next season to show that the Knights can get back to the top of the C-USA standings.
“I thought we were ready to play every game this year except for Dallas,” said O’Leary in a press release. “I think we grow and learn from these tough losses. We only lose 12 kids, three on offense and two on defense for the whole team. There is a lot of work to be done in the offseason, but a great nucleus to work with coming back.”
