Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

The UCF Knights (9-4; 7-1 AAC Co-Champs) fell to the Wolfpack of NC State 34-27 on Friday night in the St. Petersburg Bitcoin Bowl, ending their season on a somewhat sour note. NC State’s talented quarterback Jacoby Brissett seemed to be able to scramble out of the Knights’ defensive pressure whenever he needed to. And the UCF offense struggled throughout the contest, with quarterback Justin Holman completing 291 passing yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. But what really hurt UCF the most was a flat defensive play in the 3rd quarter. A late rally in the 4th quarter which saw UCF score 17 points wasn’t enough to put UCF past NC State. The game was televised nationally on ESPN. Below, watch highlights of the loss courtesy of ESPN:

The UCF Knights (9-3; 7-1 AAC) made HUGE national headlines on Thursday in their literal last-second defeat of the Pirates of East Carolina (8-4; 5-3 AAC) 32-30 in a nationally-televised matchup on ESPN in Greenville, North Carolina. The Knights’ victory came after what could only be called a complete fourth-quarter meltdown. UCF was in the lead 26-9 when the Pirates rallied back hard to score three back-to-back touchdowns. ECU was poised to win the game 30-26 and ran the clock down to just :10 before kicking the ball back to the Knights for their final drive of the game. Determined to never give-up, UCF’s quarterback Justin Holman hit Josh Reese for a 14-yard gain before setting up the 51-yard bomb of a hail Mary pass to receive Reshad Perriman, who reached over the hands of 3 ECU defenders and marched right into the end zone to give the Knights their winning score. The win resulted in UCF sharing the title of American Athletic Conference Football Champion with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and Memphis Tigers (due to only having 10 team members, the AAC is ineligible to hold a conference championship game). On Sunday evening, UCF accepted an official invite to participate in the 2014 Bitcoin Bowl in St. Petersburg. That game will start at 8pm on December 26th and will be televised nationally on ESPN. Below, check-out Justin Holman’s breath-taking hail Mary pass to Reshad Perriman, sealing the Knights’ victory against ECU and their crown as AAC Football co-Champions:

Photo Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.

The UCF Knights (8-3; 6-1 AAC) gave their rivals the USF Bulls (4-8; 3-5 AAC) their first-ever home field shutout in school history on Black Friday, winning 16-0 in-front of 31,000 fans (the majority of whom packed the stadium wearing Black and Gold to support the Knights) at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Although UCF gave USF a handful of scoring opportunities, the Bulls failed on every attempt. This included two 4-1 scenarios in addition to a number of UCF turnovers. UCF, on the other hand, dominated defensively throughout the matchup. UCF got its scoring done in the first half with receivers Breshad Perriman and Rannell Hall, who both scored touchdowns — the only two of the game – in the second quarter. The only two points UCF scored during the second half came from a safety. UCF now moves on to play its final game of the regular season against East Carolina (8-3; 5-2 AAC) who will undoubtedly give the Knights their greatest competition in the second half of their season. The Pirates are coming off of a 49-32 win against Tulsa (a team that fired its head coach Bill Blankenship on Monday). ECU dropped two conference games (against Temple and Cincy) this season and are ineligible to be crowned conference champions. However, if the Knights win, they will more than likely share the title with Cincy and Memphis, who secured its share of the AAC Title with their win over UCONN Saturday. Kickoff for UCF at ECU is set for 7:00pm. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN. Below, watch highlights of UCF’s 16-0 shutout of rival USF courtesy of ESPN. Photo Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.