The University of Central Florida Knight’s long football season got even longer after the #21 Houston Cougars plowed through them on the ground for 366 yards to a 59-10 blowout victory.
The UCF offense was clicking early on as Justin Holman got them off to a fast start with a 44-yard completion to redshirt freshman Tre’Quan Smith. However, in a sign of things to come, a Cam Stewart fumble on the subsequent play was picked up by Houston’s Brandon Wilson and returned 85 yards for a touchdown.
Tristan Payton made a good play on a 46-yard pass from Justin Holman for UCF’s first score of the game to keep the Knights in it at 7-7. Penalties also played a major role in keeping the Knights in the game early on as Houston was forced to punt twice following a holding call and a personal foul.
The defense also had Greg Ward Jr. stifled early on with stop after stop in the first half, but everything took a turn for the worse following a 47-yard field goal for Matthew Wright.
Houston scored 17 points consecutively over the span of just two and a half minutes to close out the first half and take the lead 24-10. The Ty Cummings field goal to close out the half came after Justin Holman’s second interception that looked like it was intended for Houston’s William Jackson III.
“I can’t lie, it hurt. But we still knew we had it, we were right there,” redshirt junior defensive end Luke Adams said. “The game was not over yet, we just have to learn how to keep fighting.”
When the Knights came out after halftime, they gave up 79 yards on just three plays to running back Kenneth Farrow to put the Cougars up 31-10. This winless Knights have consistently performed poorly in the second half of games and the Houston game was no different.
“The trend I see is that they don’t sustain. I think some has to do with lack of strength and some has to do with youth,” Coach George O’Leary said. “The other part is mental toughness, bad things are going to happen and normally you just recoup and the other kids get that, but we don’t have a lot of them.”
UCF’s first offensive drive of the second half showed some life, but it came to an abrupt end following a false start call and another dropped pass on third down.
“I think we have a lot of growing up to do regarding what it takes to win games and it’s a 60-minute game. You can’t play 30, you have to play sixty minutes and then sustain it,” O’Leary said.
Redshirt freshman Mac Loudermilk may have been one of the lone bright spots for the Knights, registering seven punts and downing two of them inside the 20. Houston continued their scoring at a blistering pace, posting two more scores on a 67-yard shovel pass and a 29-yard run, bringing the game into blowout territory at 45-10.
On the Knight’s ensuing drive, Justin Holman misplaced another pass which resulted in his third interception of the game and all but sealed the Knight’s homecoming fate.
“I think [Holman’s interceptions] were bad decisions. One was underthrown before the end of the half and the others were just bad throws,” O’Leary said. “You just can’t turn the ball over like that, especially with the field position that we had.”
Knight fans slowly poured out of the stadium as the Houston offense took it down the field and scored their fourth touchdown in the third quarter bringing the game to 52-10. Redshirt freshman Tyler Harris was thrown into the game to close out the third quarter, but the drive resulted in another quick 3-and-out and Houston bringing in their second-team offense for the remainder of the game.
Holman returned after the Harris 3-and-out, but his drive resulted in a punt as well which led to Bo Schneider getting some playing time as well in the fourth quarter. However, Schneider didn’t throw the ball once as UCF had to punt again after three rushes couldn’t pick up the first down.
“It’s tough when you’re losing like that. It’s hard. There’s really nothing to say,” redshirt junior Taylor Oldham said. “We’re losing. We are 0-8 now. We’ve got to keep fighting.”
The air was sucked out of the stadium for the entirety of the fourth quarter as Houston’s second team managed one more score against the Knights bringing the game to its final score of 59-10. After taking the 10-7 lead, UCF gave up 52 unanswered points and the Houston Cougars never looked back. Unfortunately, the Knights hope to right this perennially sinking ship against another scary American Athletic Conference team in Cincinnati next week on Halloween.
Photo courtesy of UCF Athletics Communications
