Riding a five game winning streak, the UCF Knights (7-2, C-USA 5-0) shredded the SMU Mustangs (4-5, C-USA 3-2) 42-17 at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando in front of a rowdy UCF Homecoming crowd.
Latavius Murray averaged 6.7 yards for 155 yards rushing with two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown.
“It gives us a lot of confidence…” Latavius said of the victory. “It starts upfront, running the ball, again the offense line created the line of scrimmage and they were getting a lot of movement. I just have to make sure I get the yards that are there, and on the big runs I need to do my job and get the extra yards I need to get,” Murray modestly said of his performance.
Blake Bortles played a cerebral game, completing 10-of-15 passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns.
The Knights kicked off to start the game and senior defensive end Troy Davis set the tone recording two sacks in the opening drive, his fifth and sixth of the season, stifling the Mustangs drive.
Davis recorded five tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble.
On the Knights opening drive, Blake Bortles delivered a 21-yard, third down touchdown pass to Rannell Hall for a team leading fourth touchdown reception.
The Mustangs answered with a 17-yard pass from Garrett Gilbert to Darius Johnson to set up a 32 yard field goal, bringing the score to 7-3
To open up the second quarter, UCF punted to the SMU 28-yard line and Quincy McDuffie recovered a fumbled fair catch to give the ball back to the Knights in scoring position.
Latavius Murray capitalized on the turnover for the Knights with a 23-yard touchdown run, galloping through the Mustang defenders.
The Mustangs continued to keep it close when Garrett Gilbert scrambled for a four-yard touchdown run to bring the ‘Stangs within range at a score of 14-10.
Latavius Murray helped the Knights move back into scoring territory with a 29-yard carry and then crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s on the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to put the Knights ahead 21-10 going into halftime.
Rannell Hall opened the second half with a 39-yard kickoff return to the UCF 45 to set up a 5-play 55-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a Blake Bortles 10-yard touchdown run. The score gave the Knights a 28-10 lead that would only grow.
On the next possesion, the Knights displayed their dual quarterback threat with a screen pass to Jeff Godfrey who then tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Latavius Murray to open up the flood gates on the Mustangs.
With the Knights leading 35-10, they added insult to injury by driving back down to field on the shoulders of Storm Johnson to set up an 18-yard touchdown pass to Breshad Perriman. The diving, fingertip catch, was his first career touchdown reception and it put the Knights up 42-10.
“It had been a long time coming, I’m glad it came to me…”, Perriman said of his reception, “I knew it was going to be a little far but he put it on a good landmark and he knew I was going to go get it, so I’m glad he did that.”
The Knights played an all around solid game against a formidable SMU team.
“I thought we did will. We’ve still got to work on tackling. As I said to the team, it was a good team win. But We’ll be practicing on Monday. That is how it works.” Coach George O’Leary said of the game.
