 "Photo: Associated Press")
UCF won because . . .
There’s no way around it.
Rice is simply a bad football team, and the Knights made the Owls pay for their inefficiencies. Rice has given up an average of 45 points a game this season, and Saturday’s game against UCF was no different.
The Knights were able to move the ball at will against the Owls, and for the first time this season, were able to dictate their offensive game plan the way they wanted to.
The first play from scrimmage, Brett Hodges connected with A.J. Guyton for a 76-yard touchdown to give the Knights the early lead.
On UCF’s next possession, Hodges put the Knights up 14-0 with a 1-yard touchdown run as part of a 14 play, 87-yard drive.
Rice had no answer for stopping UCF’s wide receivers as the Knights also recorded touchdowns of 36 and 52 yards.
The Knights also gashed the Owls for 213 yards on the ground with seven different players getting carries.
Brynn Harvey led the way with 12 carries for 71 yards in limited action.
In all, UCF totaled 465 yards, in the Knights most lopsided road win in the team’s 31-year history.
Rice lost because . . .
Rice could not stop the UCF offense all game long. The Knights averaged 5.5 yards per run against the Owls, while Hodges and Rob Calabrese combined to throw for 216 yards on 11-of-17 passing and three touchdowns for UCF.
The Owls were outmatched, much like they have been all season long, and were held scoreless until four minutes into the fourth quarter.
The Owls totaled just 282 yards of offense and turned the ball over four times. If it weren’t for recovering four of their own fumbles, the Owls would have totaled eight turnovers for the game.
What this all means
Next week’s game against Marshall (5-3 overall, 3-1 C-USA) takes on a new level of importance as the Knights trail the Thundering Herd by just one game in the East Division of C-USA.
Much was said early on that winning the conference would be out of reach when the Knights started conference play with a 0-2 record. Yet, UCF has battled back and is still alive.
The offense was finally able to hit on all cylinders after only showing glimpses of being able to consistently move the ball on offense so far this season. Granted it came against one of the worst defenses in the nation, but it came at a perfect time, and just may well give the Knights the confidence they need with the toughest part of the schedule ahead.
UCF faces C-USA East Division leader Marshall Sunday, then No. 3 Texas and No. 17 Houston in consecutive weeks.
At 4-3, the Knights are just two games away from becoming bowl eligible. They will finish the season with games against Tulane (2-5, 0-4) and UAB (2-5, 2-2).
Not to take the wind out of UCF’s sails though, but it should be noted that the Knights piled on the points and the yardage, many thought they have been capable of, against Rice, who ranks in the bottom five in the nation in total defense.
And the fact remains, there was no true improvement coming out of this game because of that.
Game ball
The first play of the game, Guyton recorded his first touchdown of the season and notched his second 100-yard receiving game of the season, finishing with 4 catches for 113 yards.
Guyton now has 306 receiving yards on the year.
In the second quarter, Guyton, a former high school quarterback, threw a 36-yard touchdown to Kamar Aiken to put the Knights up 28-0.
Noteworthy
The Knights scored touchdowns on the first play of a drive twice against the Owls with Guyton’s 76-yard receiving touchdown at the start of the first quarter and a 27-yard rushing touchdown by Ronnie Weaver with two minutes left in the first quarter.
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