It was a tale of two halves Saturday night at Bright House Stadium, as Nick Cattoi’s 22-yard field goal with 6:02 remaining gave the UCF Knights the lead for good, and a 23-17 victory over the Buffalo Bulls.
The game began with a great fourth down stand by the Knights defense, which led to a 2 yard touchdown run by Brynn Harvey. But the Knights were silenced for the rest of the first half as Buffalo scored 17 unanswered points to end the first half with the Knights down 17 – 7.
The Knights carried their first half woes into the start of the second half by fumbling the snap on the first drive and giving Buffalo great field position.
Entering this game, the Knights’ defense had failed to force a turnover and at this point in the game, the Knights desperately needed one.
The Knights received that request for a big turnover when CB Derrick Hallman forced a fumble, which was recovered by DE Bruce Miller.
That was all Brett Hodges needed as he took over the rest of the game and asserted himself as the deserving starting QB. Hodges’ third down completion to Kamar Aiken for 39 yards was a huge play during that drive that was capped off by another Harvey touchdown run.
The Knights’ defense dominated the rest of the game as they forced three more turnovers after the first fumble recovery.
Hodges was 15 of 20 with 141 yards, as well as 71 rushing yards, and Harvey rushed for 98 yards on 25 carries for UCF.
The Knights outscored Buffalo 16-0 in the second half.
Looking Ahead… The Knights travel to East Carolina, who lost to UNC 31-17, next week for a very important conference game.
