The UCF Knights (1-0; 0-0 American) ushered in a new era of football under the helm of Coach Scott Frost Saturday night at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando. The game, attended by close to 37,000 fans who were eager to see a win, was televised nationally on ESPN3. And a win is what UCF fans saw! UCF shut down South Carolina State (0-1; 0-0 MEAC) 38-0, stopping the Bulldogs in essentially every aspect of play. The UCF offense struggled to put some touchdowns on the board the first quarter despite starting drives from South Carolina State’s territory twice in the first half — one of those set up by a 37-yard punt return from Chris Johnson and the other triggered by a fumble Jamiyus Pittman recovered. Their first 12 points came from field goals– Redshirt sophomore kicker Matt Wright tied a UCF single-game record four field goals before halftime); but they started to gel towards the end of the second quarter.
New head football coach Scott Frost agreed the Knights’ struggled in the first half, remarking, “I thought we played well, [but] we could play a lot better,” Frost said. “Particularly the first half offensively, we missed a lot of opportunities but played better in the second half. It took a little while for UCF’s offense to hit the gas, but once players found a rhythm in the second half, they never looked back. In all, UCF amassed 462 total yards of offense. After 639 days since their last win, the Knight Nation was looking for this game to set the tone for a new era in UCF Football. The 38-0 victory snapped a 13-game losing streak dating back to UCF’s loss against NC State in the 2014 Bitcoin Bowl. The Knights (1-0) shut out the Bulldogs (0-1) 17-0 in the teams’ only previous meeting in 2008. And while the win is sweet for UCF, the Knights must now face what’s sure to be one of the toughest tasks of the season as they head to Ann Arbor to face #7 Michigan (1-0; 0-0 B10), a team that knocked off the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii (0-2; 0-0 MWC) 63-3 on Saturday. That game will be televised nationally on ABC. Kickoff is set for Noon from Michigan Stadium. Below, watch UCF’s final touchdown score in their 38-0 win over South Carolina, courtesy of ESPN:
Picture and Article Excerpts Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.