The Knights improved to 6-2 Saturday night after obliterating the Marshall Thundering Herd (3-5) 54-17, remaining undefeated in Conference USA.
In a game riddled with explosive plays, not one but two kickoffs were returned by Quincy McDuffie for touchdowns, and Latavius Murray played a central role in igniting the offense, finding his way into the end zone four times.
McDuffie accounted for the only points put on the board in the first quarter of the game for UCF, returning a 97 yard kickoff for a touchdown in response to a Marshall 43 yard field goal.
The offense got rolling in the second quarter after a 29 yard bomb to J.J. Worton set up a Latavius Murray rushing touchdown from the 2 yard line. Bortles looked impressive on the offense’s first scoring drive, completing 4 passes for 76 yards, moving down the field in only 3 minutes and 22 seconds.
After that initial second quarter score the proverbial floodgates opened, and UCF was able to head into halftime with a comfortable 27-10 lead.
The momentum kept up in the third quarter, when McDuffie returned the opening half kick for a touchdown to put the Knights up 34-10, seemingly putting the game out of reach for the Thundering Herd. Marshall was silenced in the quarter, gaining only 56 total yards, turning the ball over on downs on their first drive and punting it away with their second.
The offense was relentless in their two possessions during the third quarter, marching down the field for a Latavius Murray rushing and receiving touchdown.
A highly successful rushing game took over in the fourth quarter to eat up the clock and bring the Knights their sixth win of the season on a 15 play, 99 yard drive that ate up over ten minutes of the clock and culminated in a 21 yard Brynn Harvey touchdown.
Bortles ended his day with 277 yards through the air, two touchdowns and two interceptions, continuing his solid first season as starting quarterback. The story of the day however, was the monster day Latavius Murray had in the backfield, racking up 194 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns, once as a receiver and three times on the ground.
UCF heads the Eastern Division of Conference USA after the victory, holding a slight edge over East Carolina, who is 4-1 in division play. The next game for the Knights will be their homecoming game against Southern Methodist University at 7 PM on Saturday, November 3 rd.
