Tulsa
UCF
TULSA FALLS AT UCF 31-7
11/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 14, 2014
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Orlando. Fla. - The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (2-8, 2-4 American) dropped a 31-7 decision to the UCF Knights (6-3, 4-1 American) on Friday night at Bright House Networks Stadium in front of 35,323 fans.
Tulsa could not muster much offense on the night against the American Athletic Conference's top defensive unit. The Knights defense came into the game allowing just 308 yards per game and gave up just 201 yards to the Hurricane, while the UCF offense amassed 506 yards of total offense.
UCF's Justin Holman completed 16-of-27 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns, while Dontravious Wilson had a game-best 87 rushing yards and Josh Reese had four receptions for 104 yards and one TD for the Knights.
UCF opened up a 24-7 lead on its first possession of the second half as Holman threw 25-yards to Breshad Perriman on a 3rd-and-7 play, capping a nine-play, 84-yard drive in taking 4:06 off the clock. The Knights increased the score to 31-7 at the 1:09 mark of the third quarter when Dontravious Wilson's one-yard run capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive.
Tulsa's offense gained only 39 third quarter yards to UCF's 153 yards, and the Hurricane had just 54 fourth period yards to UCF's 81 fourth-quarter yards.
Tulsa survived two close calls in the first 15 minutes of the game, as UCF traveled inside the Hurricane 10-yard line twice, but the Tulsa defense held the Knights to just three points.
UCF took the opening kickoff to the Tulsa five-yard line, where the Hurricane defense stuffed the Knights and forced a 25-yard field goal wide left, keeping the scoreboard at zeroes.
After a Tulsa turnovers, the Knights put the first three points on the board with a 27-yard field goal at the 0:39 mark of the first quarter. The score was set-up by a UCF interception, which was Evans' first interception in five games, stopping a streak of 166 passes without a pickoff. The Tulsa defense stopped UCF again, this time at the nine-yard line, forcing the field goal.
A 48-yard pass to the Tulsa 15-yard line set-up the Knights first touchdown of the game, scoring on a five-yard toss from Holman to J.J. Worton and putting UCF ahead 10-0 at the 11:08 mark of the second quarter. The score capped a nine-play, 63-yard drive.
After the Hurricane offense stalled on the subsequent possession, the Knights wasted no time in scoring on their first play, as Holman threw a 77-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reese, just going through the hands of Tulsa defensive back Kerwin Thomas.
The Hurricane scored its first points at the 5:41 mark of the second period after Tulsa's Matt Linscott recovered a UCF fumble by J.J. Worton after muffing a Dalton Parks 48-yard punt at the 27-yard line.
On UCF's subsequent possession, Tulsa's defense held the Knights at the 7-yard line, forcing another UCF field goal attempt that missed left.
At halftime, UCF held a 272 to 108-yard edge in total offense and an 18:05 to 11:55 advantage in time of possession. The Tulsa defense held the Knights to just three red zone points on three first-half red zone possessions, while allowing a total of 17-first-half points.
Tulsa will be back on the road next Saturday at Houston. The game time will be announced late this Saturday. Tulsa's closes out the season on Friday, November 28 with a home finale against East Carolina.
Scoring Summary Team Qtr Time Play Score UCF 1 0:39 Rodrigo Quirarte 25 FG 0-3 UCF 2 11:08 J.J. Worton 5 pass from Justin Holman (Quirarte kick) 0-10 UCF 2 7:57 Josh Reese 77 pass from Justin Holman (Quirarte kick) 0-17 Tulsa 2 5:41 Keevan Lucas 8 pass from Dane Evans (Salazar kick) 7-17 UCF 3 9:27 Breshad Perriman 25 pass from Justin Holman (Quirarte kick) 7-24 UCF 3 1:09 Dontravious Wilson 1 run (Quirarte kick) 7-31
