ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF football team welcomed undefeated Memphis to Spectrum Stadium last night and thoroughly dismantled the Tigers 40-13, to improve to a perfect 3-0 on the 2017 season.
Here's Why We Won
We turned them over
The Memphis offense came into Saturday's game having thrown just three interceptions in three games. Our defense, however, picked off Tigers quarterback Riley Ferguson three times and recovered one fumble in the victory.
Mike Hughes and Kyle Gibson each recorded their second interception in as many games, while Seyvon Lowry picked up his first pick of 2017. It was the defensive lineman's second career interception.
Shaquem Griffin and Pat Jasinski also teamed up for a takeaway on Saturday, as the former forced a Ferguson fumble and the latter scooped it up. With Memphis driving and in the red zone, the Griffin-Jasinski duo changed the momentum.
At the five-yard line, the Tigers were ready to take a 14-9 lead, but thanks to Griffin's first sack of the season we kept Memphis off the board. In fact, we held them scoreless from that point early in the second quarter, until the final play of the game.
Adrian Killins, Jr. was unstoppable
Yes. The speedy running back recorded the longest play from scrimmage in UCF history, the longest run in American Athletic Conference history, and the second longest play from scrimmage in the nation this season, but that wasn't all Killins did.
The Daytona Beach native totaled a career high 115 rushing yards on the day, besting his previous high mark of 87 yards at Michigan last season. He also racked up 64 yards receiving out of the backfield and found the end zone twice on the night.
"AK is the type of guy - he's a big play waiting to happen. It happened a bunch last year. He's not the biggest guy, if you haven't noticed, so we can't force feed him 40 carries a game. But, man, if he touches it 12 times, something good is going to happen. We're going to give it to him as much as we can and keep him healthy." – Scott Frost
Our defense made the Memphis offense one-dimensional
We came into Saturday holding our first two opponents to just 88 yards per game, which ranked eighth in the nation. Against a Memphis team that came in averaging 219 rushing yards per game, we allowed a mere 75 yards on the ground.
In having to throw potentially even more than normal, the Tigers had to take chances, resulting in three interceptions. Our defensive line was also able to pin their ears back and get to Ferguson. Griffin and Gabriel Luyanda each tallied a sack, while we finished with six quarterback hurries on the night.
The offense took advantage of multiple weapons on the field
It wasn't just the Adrian Killins show. On Saturday, we proved that we had plenty of options at McKenzie Milton's disposal. The sophomore quarterback found eight difference Knights for catches and handed the ball off to six players who finished with 10 or more yards rushing.
Receiving Leaders
- Adrian Killins, Jr. - 5 catches for 64 yards and one touchdown
- Dredrick Snelson - 4 catches for 32 yards
- Tre'Quan Smith - 3 catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns
- Jordan Akins - 2 catches for 34 yards
Rushing Leaders
- Adrian Killins, Jr. - 9 rushes for 115 yards and one touchdown
- McKenzie Milton - 11 rushes for 88 yards
- Taj McGowan - 12 rushes for 63 yards and one touchdown
- Otis Anderson - 5 rushes for 46 yards
"The O-line's quick and the receivers are doing their job to get into their landmarks. We're just playing in a rhythm and we're taking it one play at a time. We had a couple of drives today that lasted longer than five minutes. For an up-tempo team, that's not usual but it just shows that we can we can attack teams in all sorts of ways." – McKenzie Milton
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