UCF quarterback Keyone Jenkins (12) celebrates scoring on a 1-yard sneak to give the Knights a lead in Saturday's game against BYU (Photo/Taylor McFee)
UCF Athletics, Ryan Ladika — As the daylight that illuminated the UCF football team’s 3:30 p.m. Homecoming kickoff on FOX against the No. 2 team in the nation turned to dusk, the Knights finally clinched their signature win.
As head coach Scott Frost told the broadcast at the halftime break, with his team leading the second-ranked undefeated BYU Cougars 17-14, his team had been in this situation before, but had been unable to produce the second-half performance it needed.
A 21-21 halftime deadlock at then-No. 18 Oklahoma State Oct. 10 resulted in a disappointing 42-28 defeat. UCF a week before led then-No. 20 Houston, 10-0 at halftime before falling 27-17.
On the strength of a second half that saw the Cougars muster just 10 points against a stout Knights defensive effort and an overtime period during which UCF outscored BYU 15-7, the Black and Gold finally recorded the finish it had been searching for.
“I’m happy for our kids. The message all week was we put ourselves in position to have a chance at the end against three really good teams, and we haven’t got it done," Frost said. "This is the best team we’ve played, I’ve got so much respect for them. I’m happy for UCF, a win like this has been a long time coming for us.”
Indeed, Keyone ‘Lyghtz’ Jenkins, in just his fifth game since taking the reins of the UCF offense in the wake of Alonza Barnett III’s last second injury in Pittsburgh Sept. 12, keyed the Knights to the highest-ranked win in program history, by a 39-31 double-overtime final score over the Cougars in Orlando Saturday evening.
In handing the Cougars their first loss of the season, UCF clinched its first ever triumph over an AP top five foe, the Knights fourth AP top 10 win, and the program’s 11th overall ranked win. The Black and Gold’s previous highest-ranked win came in the squad’s 52-42 shootout victory over then-No. 6/5 Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 2014.
Jenkins represented a steady presence through it all under center during the over-four-hour-long affair, completing 25 of 41 attempts for a season best 293 total yards, four total touchdowns and no turnovers.
After BYU on its first drive of overtime grabbed its first lead since its 21-17 edge with 9:45 left in the third quarter, Jenkins breathed new life into the crowd of 45,112 strong, sending the game to double overtime tied at 31 with a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Josh Derry.
The Knights moments later possessed the ball to begin the contest’s second overtime period, and Jenkins led an eight-play scoring drive, kept alive by a BYU roughing the kicker penalty on Will Stone’s fourth-down field goal try, that finished with a four-yard Grayson Brousseau touchdown reception and a Tyren Hornes two-point conversion catch.
The Knights’ defense once again held strong in the moments after, yielding just a 17-yard BYU reception before denying the Cougars on four consecutive plays from the eight-yard line.
The team’s overtime effort punctuated a back-and-forth contest that saw neither side manage more than a one-score advantage throughout. The Cougars emerged from the afternoon’s first 15 minutes of play with a 7-0 lead, but were quickly answered by a Landen Chambers two-yard touchdown rush within the second quarter’s first two minutes that tied the game at seven all.
Stone later gave the Knights their first lead of the game, 10-7, on a 20-yard field goal with 8:10 remaining in the first half, and the two sides traded touchdowns once again in the final minutes of the second quarter, with Chambers hauling in his first career touchdown reception and second score of the game to send the Knights to locker room with a 17-14 advantage.
BYU snuck ahead once more in the opening minutes of the second half, on a one-yard score by running back Sione Moa, but the Knights’ attack was relentless. Jenkins led an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took close to seven minutes off the clock in producing UCF’s third touchdown of the game, a one-yard rush over the goal line from the signal-caller himself to restore the Black and Gold’s three-point edge.
UCF yielded only a Cougars field goal in a defensive struggle of a fourth quarter before outlasting the No. 2 team in the country in the Knights’ first game that went beyond regulation since their 62-55 win over then-No. 16 Memphis in the AAC title game Dec. 2, 2017.
Freshman wide receiver Tyren Hornes led the team with a game-high 137 receiving yards on six receptions, recording a single-game career high, while senior wide receiver Josh Derry notched his third consecutive game with a touchdown catch in addition to his 54 yards on six receptions.
Junior running back Duke Watson finished the contest with 94 rushing yards as well, marking his third game of the year eclipsing the 90-yard plateau.
