Knights Earn 27-13 Win Over Houston to Become Bowl Eligible

ORLANDO – The UCF football team earned a 27-13 win against the Houston Cougars Saturday afternoon at FBC Mortgage Stadium to become bowl eligible for the eighth consecutive season, which is the longest streak in the state of Florida.

The Knights (6-6, 3-6 Big 12), which recognized more than 30 seniors pregame, compiled 476 yards offensively and limited the Cougars (4-8, 2-7) to just 260 yards. UCF held Houston to 94 rushing yards to mark the fourth time this season the Black and Gold have held an opponent to fewer than 100 rushing yards.

UCF scored touchdowns on each of its first two drives to jump out to a 13-10 lead early in the second quarter and never trailed again, as the offense was firing on all cylinders and the defense was strong to send the Knights to their sixth win of the season.

For the sixth time in the last seven games, running back RJ Harvey surpassed 100 rushing yards as he logged 136 with a pair of rushing touchdowns. The Orlando native now owns 1,296 rushing yards, the fourth most in a single season in UCF history, and 16 rushing TDs to tie for the second most in a single season in program history.

Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee was on target throughout the day, completing 23 of 27 passes for 253 yards with a touchdown. He also rushed 15 times for 58 yards and found the end zone with his legs on an eight-yard TD rush.

One of Plumlee’s favorite targets in the game was wide receiver Kobe Hudson, who reeled in a career-high nine passes for 98 yards, highlighted by 37 yards after catch. Tight end Alec Holler caught five passes for 44 yards, recording a season high and matching his career high.

Houston scored on its opening possession after UCF won the toss and deferred to the second half, but the Knights countered with a 13-play, 94-yard drive to knot the score at 7-7. Plumlee found Hudson for 23 yards on 3^rd and 4 to extend the drive and Plumlee slipped the UH defense on a quarterback keeper for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season.

The Knights defense came up with a stop on 3^rd and 7 at the 15-yard line to force a field goal and then UCF capitalized on the stop to take a 13-10 lead on its next drive. Plumlee hit Xavier Townsend with a short pass and the sophomore would not be denied, breaking several tackles before finding his way into the end zone with his third touchdown of the season.

 

Leading by the same margin at halftime, one of the primary focuses at halftime was to receive the kickoff and go down the field and score. The Knights did just that on their first drive after the intermission, as Javon Baker caught a 57-yard pass from Plumlee and Harvey scored from 21 yards out two plays later to push UCF’s lead to 20-10.

Tre’mon Morris-Brash sacked Houston quarterback Donovan Smith for a nine-yard loss to knock the Cougars’ next drive off schedule before they were forced to punt. It only took the Knights eight plays to find the end zone again, as Plumlee had a big run for 24 yards before Harvey’ 15-yard rush and ensuing two-yard TD run.

Leading 27-10 after three quarters, the UCF defense stood tall to thwart any ideas of a UH comeback as fifth year linebacker Jason Johnson had a couple big sacks in the frame. His first sack put helped reach 100 tackles for the third consecutive season and second straight with the Knights, becoming the first player with consecutive 100-tackle seasons since Clayton Geathers and Terrance Plummer in 2012-13. Johnson finished the game with eight tackles and 101 total tackles on the year.

Walter Yates also had a stellar game defensively, notching 12 tackles including five solo stops.

With its inaugural Big 12 regular season now in the books, UCF will learn which bowl it has been selected to participate on Sunday, Dec. 3.