After trailing 13-10 at halftime, UCF QB John Rhys Plumlee and the Knights offense rebounded with 31 unanswered points in the second half to beat the SMU Mustangs 41-19 in the American Athletic Conference opener Wednesday night.
The Knights picked up their first conference win of the season Wednesday after experiencing two different game delays due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ian to the Central Florida area after originally being scheduled for Saturday Oct. 1.
The delayed matchup proved to be detrimental to the Knights’ offense sharpness as the team had a hard time getting anything going through the air and on the ground as the team was trailing the Mustangs 13-10 at halftime with noticeable boos from fans of Knight Nation in attendance not impressed with team’s offensive showing.
That feeling didn’t last long as Knights went on and scored 31 unanswered points in the second half that included 316 passing yards and two touchdowns from Plumlee and three touchdowns on the ground from UCF fifth year Senior Running Back Isaiah Bowser.
UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn said that the importance of coming out strong in the second half of play has been something the team has been preaching in preparing for the Mustangs.
“In the second half, we settle down and simplified things on offense,” Malzahn said. We’ve been talking all week, ‘We’ve got to come out in the second half and play good football. We dominated the second half.”
UCF Wide Receivers Ryan O’Keefe and Javon Baker had a big do on the field with O’Keefe making six catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns and Baker adding 138 yards off of six catches as well.
Plumlee said that watching the two receivers make yards happen after the catch was great to see and will be important for the season.
“Those guys are pretty special with the ball in their hands,” Plumlee “They’re fun to watch when they get it and make things happen.”
The Knights’ defense had a strong night containing the Mustang Offense that included linebacker Jason Johnson recovering a fumble on SMU’s first possession of the game, defensive back Divaad Wilson making an interception to end the first half and defensive lineman Tre’Mon Morris-Brash getting a sack for a safety in the fourth quarter to shut down SMU.
Bowser praised the defense for their handling of SMU’s offense in the second half and said he believes their defense should get as much credit as the offense for their performance.
“Those guys played great tonight,” Bowser said. “SMU had a pretty good offense too. For our defense to hold them for the whole second half as they did just shows how much talent we have on defense.”
With the win the Knights improve to 4-1 on the season and 1-0 in American Athletic Conference play.
The Knights will be back in action at FBC Mortgage Stadium on Thursday Oct. 13 for its SpaceU Game against the Temple Owls at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
