#21/23 UCF 56 (1-0, 1-0 The American) at UConn 17 (0-1, 0-1 The American)
Aug. 30, 2018 | Rentschler Field at Pratt & Whitney Stadium | Attendance: 23,081
Weather: Clear | Temp: 83 degrees | Wind: 9 MPH from North
General
• UCF captains: Senior Linebacker Pat Jasinski, Senior Offensive Lineman Wyatt Miller, Senior Defensive Lineman Titus Davis, Senior Running Back Taj McGowan
• Coin Toss: UCF won the toss and elected to defer to the second half
• UCF now leads the series 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Connecticut
Team
• UCF extended its nation-leading winning streak to 14 games
• It was the first game for Josh Heupel as a head coach
• He became the sixth out of eight UCF head coaches to win his first game at the helm of the Knights
• UCF has won 11 of its last 13 season openers and are 26-14 all-time in openers
Offense
• On the Knights’ first offensive series, UCF scored a touchdown as Adrian Killins Jr. ran in from two yards
• It marked Killins’ 15th career rushing touchdown after leading the Knights with 10 scores on the ground in 2017
• Last season, UCF scored on its first offensive drive in eight out of 13 games
• UCF extended its lead to 14-0 on a 34-yard pass from McKenzie Milton to Tre Nixon
• It was Nixon’s first career touchdown and only his second ever catch
• Milton is now tied with Justin Holman for third all-time with 14 straight games with a passing touchdown
• Milton found Gabriel Davis for a 10-yard strike to extend UCF’s lead to 21-3 in the second quarter
• It was Davis’s fifth career score after recording four touchdowns as a freshman in 2017
• Late in the second quarter, Milton found Otis Anderson for a five-yard touchdown, his third passing touchdown of the first half
• It marked Milton’s 50th career passing touchdown and is the fifth Knight to achieve the feat (Daunte Culpeper – 84, Ryan Schneider – 82, Darin Hinshaw – 82, Blake Bortles – 56)
• Anderson, meanwhile, caught his fourth career receiving touchdown
• Anderson found the end zone in the third quarter to give him nine total scores in his career
• It marked the sophomore’s second multi-td game, also scoring two touchdowns against the Huskies last season
• Milton found Nixon for their second hook-up of the game in the third quarter to make it 42-10 in favor of the Knights
• It marks the fifth time in his career that Milton has thrown for four or more touchdowns
• Early in the fourth quarter, Milton found Greg McCrae for a 36-yard catch and run for a score to make it 49-10
• It was McCrae’s career first receiving touchdown and his third overall
• With five passing touchdowns, it’s the third time Milton has thrown for five TDs in a game, which is tied for the third most in a single game
• He finished with 346 yards passing, the ninth 300-yard passing game of his career
• Milton’s backup, Darriel Mack Jr., came in and did nothing short of run for the second longest touchdown by a UCF quarterback in program history
• Mack’s 70-yard scamper made it 56-10 and trails only Daunte Culpepper’s 75-yard touchdown run on Oct. 4, 1997
• Nixon finished his first game as a Knight with five catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns
Defense
• On the first series of the game Pat Jasinski forced a UConn fumble and Richie Grant recovered it
• It was the first career fumble recovery for Grant
• It marks the second career forced fumble for Jasinski
• Grant then stopped the Huskies late in the second quarter with his first career interception
• The Knights turned the Huskies over for a third time when Rashard Causey forced a fumble, allowing Nate Evans to recover it
• It was the first career forced fumble for Causey and the first career fumble recovery for Evans
• Pat Jasinski led the Knights with 11 tackles in the game
• Eric Mitchell recorded a career high 10 tackles, while Antwan Collier added a career high nine stops
• UCF finished with a trio of takeaways, two fumbles and one interception
Special Teams
• Matthew Wright was perfect on extra points, going 8-for-8, giving him 273 career point kicking
• Wright’s 144 career PATs moved him into third place in program history, passing Franco Grilla (1989-92)