09-17 vs. Maryland - Images by UCF KnightsORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – UCF and Maryland went toe to toe for 60 minutes Saturday night at Bright House Networks Stadium. And that wasn't enough to determine a victor. After two overtimes, the Terrapins took advantage of one of four UCF turnovers to escape with a 30-24 win.
With the game tied 17-17 at the end of regulation, Maryland scored on the opening possession of overtime to go up 24-17. UCF's true freshman quarterback McKenzie Milton answered, finding Tre'Quan Smith for a 31-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-16. The Matthew Wright PAT tied it at 24-24.
The Knights had the ball first in the second overtime and reached the 2-yard line on third-and-goal. Milton's pass attempt slipped and was ruled to go backward, making it a live ball. Maryland's Kingsley Opara recovered it.
"We kind of drew up a rollout to the right, trying to leak out the tight end to the backside," Milton said. "I saw that it was covered. I just looked, tried to see who was open and it just sort of slipped out on me."
On the ensuing Maryland possession, Terrapin quarterback Perry Hills was knocked out of the game. On third-and-9, freshman backup signal-caller Tyrrell Pigrome took his first snap 24 yards for the game-winning score.
UCF head coach Scott Frost said he was "heartbroken" for his team.
"I'm brokenhearted for our kids. They worked their tails off," Frost said. "I told them before the game they were poised and ready to knock off a team very few people thought they could beat. We had our chances in this one. We had a lot of chances to finish it, to score early and make it a different game. I'm hurting for our kids that we didn't get it done"
UCF got on the scoreboard first on a 4-yard TD pass from Milton to senior Dontravious Wilson. Maryland answered early in the second quarter to make it 7-7. Late in the first half, Maryland QB Perry Hills found Teldrick Morgan running free in the UCF secondary. The 51-yard gain set up a 33-yard Adam Greene field goal as time expired.
Another fumble – the fourth of the game – came in the third quarter. This time, it wasn't disastrous. Milton lost it on the fake handoff, but picked it up and went around left end for a 7-yard touchdown run, putting UCF on top 14-10 with 3:40 left in the third. That TD was set up by a 71-yard Milton-to-Jordan Akins completion.
Maryland drove 75 yards – 68 of it on the ground – to regain the lead, 17-14. The Knights tied it at 17-17 with 12:04 left. Matthew Wright converted a 42-yard field goal.
Solid Start
- Milton was 21-of-36 passing for 260 yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut as a true-freshman.
- Milton's 260 yards were the second most for a UCF QB in his first start during the FBS era. Ryan Schneider threw for 365 yards vs. Eastern Michigan in his debut.
- In addition to his two passing TDs, Milton rushed for a touchdown in the contest, as well.
- Milton was responsible for all six UCF fumbles, three of which were lost. He also threw an interception.
"I got about what I thought from McKenzie, he was calm, cool and a heck of a lot of fun to watch and made a lot of great plays. There were some first game mistakes. Just looking at the first half, we're up 7-0 and get the ball on the 50 and fumbles on the play. We need to take one of those first half drives and get ahead of them [Maryland] and we weren't able to. Ton of great plays but we have to clean up the mistakes."
– Head coach Scott Frost
Free Football
- UCF is now 2-7 in overtime games.
- Saturday night's game was only the second double overtime contest in school history. The first was a 38-31 win over Southern Miss in 2012.
- The last overtime loss for the Knights was Dec. 1, 2012 at Tulsa in the Conference USA Championship game.