Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Slow start dooms Knights in blowout
BOCA RATON — As if UCF hadn’t suffered enough during this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year; the Knights saw their 2020 season come to an end with a 49-23 blowout loss to No. 16 BYU in the Roofclaim. com Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday night.
It was the worst loss by a UCF team since falling 51-14 to Michigan on Sept. 10, 2016.
“We weren’t anticipating this at the end of the night for sure,” UCF coach Josh Heupel said when asked if he was surprised by the outcome. “I said that to the team, this one needs to stay with us.
“This is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve been beaten like this.”
In the seven previous losses under Heupel, UCF has lost by a combined 27 points and never by double digits until tonight.
The Knights were shorthanded on defense, playing without several starters, including defensive backs Richie Grant, Aaron Robinson and Derek Gainous and defensive linemen Stephon Zayas and Landon Woodson.
Grant, who was a Jim Thorpe Award finalist, entered the game leading the team in tackles (72), interceptions (3) and fumble recoveries (2). Robinson led the team in pass breakups (7), while Gainous had 46 tackles in four starts. Zayas had nine tackles in four starts this season on the defensive front.
Divaad Wilson and Jon Powell earned their first starts of the season, while Jermaine McMillian stepped up in the absence of Grant, Robinson and Gainous.
“You saw a bunch of young guys in there that hadn’t played a lot of quality minutes through the course of this season,” Heupel said. “A part of it is we knew that going into it and at the same time we believe in those guys that we can go out and play better football than we did today.”
With opt-outs and off-thefield issues, UCF (6-4, 5-3 AAC) had to play 17 first-time starters this season, 12 of which were on the defensive side of the football.
BYU (11-1) jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead as quarterback Zach Wilson directed scoring drives of 87, 72 and 76 yards.
While the Cougars’ offense thrived, UCF’s stalled. The Knights managed just 71 yards during their first three drives that culminated in a punt, punt
and turnover on downs.
It wasn’t until the fourth possession that the UCF offense gained some footing, putting together an impressive 15-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 5-yard Greg McCrae touchdown run. It was the longest scoring drive of the season that spanned 5:14.
But any momentum the Knights garnered during the drive dissipated quickly as Wilson directed back-to-back scoring drives to push the BYU lead to 35-7. Wilson was 17-of-21 passing for 330 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for a pair of touchdowns.
UCF kicker Daniel Obarski’s 35-yard field goal cut the lead to 35-10 at the half.
BYU picked up where it left off in the first half. The Cougars needed just 45 seconds to find the end zone, with running back Tyler Allgeier blowing past the UCF defense for a 39-yard touchdown run that extended the lead to 42-10.
Gabriel struggled much of the night, playing perhaps his worst game as a starter. The sophomore was 21-of-45 passing for 217 yards and two touchdowns. At one point, he had thrown eight incomplete passes as the offense struggled to find wiggle room against the suffocating Cougars defense.
“I didn’t think offensively we did a good job tonight, obviously,” Heupel said. “The statistics showed that throughout the course of the first half and the second as well. Structurally, they were a little different than we anticipated going into it in some ways.
“We weren’t efficient enough all night long.”
Running backs Greg McCrae and Otis Anderson, playing in their final games, combined for 150 yards. McCrae scored a 5-yard touchdown in the second quarter. It was his 10th touchdown this season and the 29th of his career.
“I’m not going to hang my head on it,” McCrae said of the loss. “I’m going to wake up tomorrow and try to get better.”
Redshirt senior receiver Jacob Harris led the team with 67 yards receiving, capped by a 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
But the Knights couldn’t do enough to keep up with the Cougars.
BYU became the third team this season to amass more than 600 yards against UCF, joining Memphis (703) and USF (646).
The long layoff between UCF’s regular-season finale against USF on Nov. 27 and the bowl game was a concern for Heupel.
“Any time you’re playing in a bowl game and you have four weeks off, I think you’re always concerned about not being as crisp and as sharp in some of the execution,” Heupel said. “What I’m talking about the skill guys on the offensive side of the ball. You try to put yourself in the best position and you do some good-on-good work to make sure you’re getting the speed of the game.
“We weren’t at our best tonight and part of that was BYU. Part of that was us not executing, either.”