UCF just accomplished a feat it hasn’t been able to achieve in nearly a year.
With their 14-10 victory over the Tulane Green Wave on Saturday, the Knights picked up their third consecutive win for the first time since Nov. 14, 2020.
The win guaranteed bowl eligibility, given they will finish the season with a record at the .500 mark or higher.
It wasn’t pretty – some parts were, others were not – but the Knights were able to avoid the upset and come away with the homecoming victory over Tulane.
Building off a Career Performance
UCF freshman quarterback Mikey Keene — coming off a career-high five-touchdown performance vs. Temple — continued to play like a true Division 1 starting quarterback in the Knights’ win.
Keene looked comfortable in the pocket throughout the entirety of the game, which is something Knight fans haven’t seen much of from the freshman this season.
Prior to last weekend’s win at Temple, Keene had the tendency of making your typical freshman QB mistakes: misfiring on his targets, failing to identify the open receiver downfield, and lacking pocket awareness.
Showing his progress, Keene threw a 53-yard bomb to junior receiver Ryan O’Keefe in the first quarter.
Keene took the third-down snap, stepped back into the pocket, and launched a perfectly-placed deep ball to O’Keefe, who took it down to Tulane’s 19 yard line, resulting in UCF’s longest offensive play of the season.
Three plays later, Keene found O’Keefe again for the 15-yard touchdown, capping off the drive.
Keene made the biggest play of the game when delivering an on-target missile to senior receiver Brandon Johnson, who took it in for the 23-yard touchdown.
The score put the Knights ahead 14-10 with just 5:55 remaining in the game — a lead they would not let go.
Keene ended his night completing 19 of 25 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns.
Hitting a Milestone
O’Keefe, who hit the 1,000-yard mark in career receiving yards on Saturday, exploited Tulane’s secondary, which ranks among the nation’s bottom 10 defenses in passing yards allowed per game.
The junior receiver picked on the Green Wave corners with his speed — something he takes great pride in — ending the day hauling in game-highs 11 passes and 94 receiving yards, topped off by a touchdown.
Is this UCF defense for real?
UCF’s defense, which has held its past two opponents to just seven points each since allowing 56 to Cincinnati, carried its recent dominance into Saturday’s win.
The greatest challenge the Knights faced going into this game was Tulane’s run game, which accounted for nearly 70 percent of the Green Wave’s total yards against 6 Cincinnati.
UCF was able to limit Tulane’s rush attack, to 132 rushing yards — 20 yards less than it’s season average of 152 yards per game.
The Knights’ front seven forced it’s way to 11 tackles-for-loss, netting for 43 yards.
The most noteworthy of these occurred when Knights’ senior DB Bryson Armstrong laid a massive hit on Tulane freshman back Tyjae Spears, resulting in a five-yard loss.
The Knights defense also registered five quarterback sacks, netting for 29 lost yards and forcing two fumbles.
Battling Through Injury
During the first quarter, UCF head coach Gus Malzahn suffered a knee injury after being rolled up on by a Tulane defender during a play.
Malzahn was evaluated by the UCF medical staff and was given a brace, which he wore while coaching the remainder of the game.
The Knights’ coach was evidently in pain, limping back-and-forth along the sidelines.
UCF Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir provided an update on the coach in the midst of the game.
“He is just fine, just banged up his knee,” Mohajir said
During the post-game press conference Malzahn joked about the incident, describing it as “embarrassing” and told media he would be “just fine.”
With the win, UCF improves to 6-3 on the season.
The Knights will travel to University Park, TX next Saturday to take on the SMU Mustangs (7-2). Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
The game will be aired on ESPNU.
