ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 20 UCF football team went on the road and snapped Navy's 17-game regular season home win streak, battling to a 31-21 victory Saturday. The Knights improved to 6-0 for the first time in school history with the win.
Here's Why We Won
Every time Navy came at us, we answered the bell
After punting or turning the ball over on downs for three possessions in a row through the first and second quarters, we clung to a 7-0 lead late in the first half. With 4:46 to play in the frame, Navy finally found the end zone on a six-yard run by quarterback Zach Abey.
How did we respond? Mike Hughes returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards and McKenzie Milton orchestrated a five-play, 35-yard drive that took all of two minutes to put us back on top 14-7 with less than three minutes remaining in the half.
When Navy started the third quarter with an 85-yard drive to tie the game at 14-14, what did we do? We handed the ball off to Adrian Killins on the first play and he ripped off a 79-yard touchdown to put us back in front.
In the fourth quarter, leading only 24-21, Milton threw just his third interception of the season and Navy began to drive down the field looking to tie the game or take the lead. In comes Brandon Moore. The redshirt freshman cornerback delivered a demoralizing hit on Darryl Bonner, forced a fumble and recovered it himself to regain the momentum.
Just over three minutes later, Otis Anderson was sprinting into the end zone to make it 31-21 in our favor and ultimately put the game away.
We stayed disciplined against the run and held Navy in check
The Midshipmen came into Saturday's game leading the nation with 397.5 rushing yards per game. We didn't stop Navy from running at all, obviously, but our defense held the Mids to 150 yards less than their nation-leading average, with just 257 yards on the ground.
Inside linebackers Pat Jasinski and Chequan Burkett had career days, finishing with career highs of 14 and 13 tackles, respectively.
Adrian Killins went off again
Head Coach Scott Frost called Killins an eraser in the post-game press conference, and that was never more evident than when he fired off a 79-yard touchdown run on our first play from scrimmage in the second half.
- Killins finished with a career high 122 yards rushing and scored multiple touchdowns on the ground for the first time in his career.
- He now has six total touchdowns on the season and 11 in his two-year career as a Knight.
"That was huge. AK has been doing that for us for a year and a half. I thought they did a good job on defense. They mixed some things up. They were really trying to plug up the middle. I think they squeezed it down a little too much and AK found the edge and outran everybody. He's an eraser. He erased a tied game and gave us a seven-point lead." – Scott Frost
For the fifth time this season, we won the turnover battle
We were able to turn Navy over three times in the game and only gave the ball away once against the Midshipman defense.
- Kyle Gibson recorded his team-leading third interception of the season
- Brandon Moore grabbed his first career pick
- Moore also delivered a game-changing hit, forcing a fumble and recovering it late in the game.
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