Despite facing the No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats in front of a limited home crowd, the UCF Knights weren’t able to come out on top during the last home game of the season.
The Knights fell to the Bearcats 36-33 at the Bounce House on Saturday, but not without a battle.
Cincinnati opted to kick the ball to UCF after winning the opening coin toss.
UCF was able to take advantage and strike first with a 70-yard scoring drive. Two crucial third downs were converted by senior receivers Marlon Williams and Tre Nixon, who returned to the lineup this week after missing six games.
Jacob Harris had a huge 41 yard reception that allowed the Knights to set up shop at Cincinnati’s three yard line.
McCrae was able to punch it in on the ensuing play, giving the Knights an early 7-0 lead. With the score, McCrae tied Alex Hines for fourth most rushing TD’s in UCF history with 27.
Cincinnati responded by posting three points on their opening drive, courtesy of a 47-yard field goal.
After UCF was unable to convert, special teams came up big and forced a Bearcats fumble which positioned the Knights at the 22-yard line to start their third offensive drive.
A facemask penalty extended UCF’s drive, which resulted in a 6-yard touchdown to Williams, earning him his ninth score of the year.
Williams finished his last game at the Bounce House contributing 8 catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns.
Williams was honored before kickoff along with the rest of the seniors on UCF’s squad.
Following the passing touchdown, UCF has at least one passing and one rushing touchdown in 47 straight games, which still qualifies first overall in the nation.
UCF sophomore defensive lineman Tre’Mon Morris-Brash came up big on defense, with a sack and a big tackle for loss, along with junior linebacker Eriq Gilyard when UCF gave the ball back to Cincy.
Cincinnati had consecutive fumbles on special teams, but was able to recover the second botched catch before their offense stalled yet again.
UCF ended the first quarter of play with a 14-3 lead.
Consecutive roughing the passer and pass interference penalties allowed Cincinnati to creep back into the game and score a 29-yard touchdown — the Bearcats were only behind 14-10 after the score.
The Knights reacted on the next drive with a 22-yard carry by Otis Anderson, followed by a 13-yard reception by Williams before stalling out on 4th and five, after a rare dropped pass by Williams.
The Bearcats regained position at their 33-yard line and hit a bomb to Wide Receiver Jordan Jones later in the drive for a 34-yard pick-up.
Cincy was able to capitalize off of the Knights failed fourth down conversion attempt, and cash in three points from a 26-yard field goal.
UCF only held a one point lead 14-13 after Cincy’s field goal.
The Black and Gold went three-and-out on the next drive, which allowed a three-yard rushing touchdown by Cincinnati sophomore quarterback Desmond Ridder.
Luke Fickell elected to go for a two point conversion, but the Bearcats attempt was unsuccessful after a clutch tackle by UCF freshman cornerback Corey Thornton.
Cincinnati pulled ahead with a 19-14 lead with 1:23 remaining in the second quarter.
A key pass interference call on Nixon set the Knights up for success to start the eusing drive, but was soon negated by an unnecessary roughness penalty by sophomore offensive lineman Lokahi Pauole — Pauole was defendeding Gabriel when he was tackled hard towards Cincy’s sideline.
UCF kicker Daniel Obarsky was able to cut the Knights deficit to just two points after nailing a 36-yard field goal with just one second left to spare in the first half.
Prior to the field goal, Williams eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards — with 1,004 yards — becoming the third Knight in school history to pass the century mark since 2016.
Williams’ trails only behind current NFL starters in Tre’Quan Smith and Gabriel Davis.
UCF trailed Cincinnati 19-17 at halftime — up to this point, both teams posted up perfect percentages in the red zone.
Cincy started the second half hot before having to compromise for a 22-yard field goal after a key stop by sophomore linebacker Tatum Bethune on third down.
Cincinnati slightly increased the lead to 22-17 after their first possession of the second half.
When the Knights began to retaliate on their first drive of the third quarter, Williams went down and had to exit the game for a few plays before returning to action with a 19-yard touchdown. Williams’ second score of the game qualified for his 10th touchdown of the season.
UCF head coach Josh Heupel decided to go for two points, and drew up a play call that targeted Williams on a screen pass that was deflected, but then caught by the big bodied receiver.
UCF reclaimed the lead 25-22 after their 75-yard drive ended in eight points.
UCF’s defense answered the call and caused Cincy to punt to close in the third quarter.
The Knights first drive of the fourth quarter concluded with Gabriel’s first interception in the 229 passing attempts.
The turnover proved to be costly for the Knights, as the Bearcats clawed their way back into the ball game after their 16-yard drive was completed by a one-yard rushing touchdown by Ridder.
Cincinnati regained the lead 29-25.
After another empty possession by UCF’s offense, Cincy scored again and extended their lead to 36-25 after a 7-yard touchdown pass by Ridder.
A pass interference penalty helped instill life back into the Knights, as Gabriel led the team into the endzone with a 10-yard touchdown catch by redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jaylon Robinson.
The Knights converted again on a two-point try, this time to redshirt senior wide receiver Alex Harris, narrowing Cincy’s lead to just three points.
Cincinnati was able to ice the game after running the clock out, but almost turned the ball over after a near fumble on fourth down.
UCF fielded the ball at the 7-yard line with one second left, but could not come up with anything.
UCF suffers its third loss of the season, falling to 5-3 on the year and 3-3 in AAC play.
This is a developing story.
Check back with Knight News for updates.
