Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

Before taking on their rivals, the usf bulls (4-7; 2-5 AAC) on Black Friday (8pm, ESPN) and after a disappointing loss to Tulsa before their bye week last week, the UCF Knights (8-3; 5-2 AAC) went into New Orleans on Saturday and defeated The Tulane Green Wave 34-31. As reported by the AAC:

Darriel Mack Jr. threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score, Dillon Gabriel threw a touchdown pass and UCF held off Tulane 34-31 on Saturday to keep its hopes for a third straight American Athletic Conference championship alive.

Tulane scored 24 second-half points and closed to the final tally after UCF recovered an onside kick.

The Knights (8-3, 5-2) entered having lost three games by a combined seven points but jumped to a 10-0 lead after Dylan Barnas’s 35-yard field goal and Gabriel’s 23-yard scoring pass to Marlon Williams (nine catches for 119 yards). Otis Anderson’s 44-yard scoring run put the Knights up 17-7 at halftime.

Mack scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and his 2-yard pass to Anthony Roberson gave the Knights a 31-17 lead before Barnas kicked what proved to be the winning 26-yard field goal.

Stephon Huderson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score for Tulane (6-5, 3-4). Corey Dauphine ran for two TDs and the Green Wave closed to 34-24 after his 7-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

After stopping the Knights on downs, Tulane’s Justin McMillan threw a 7-yard TD pass to Jalen McCleskey on fourth-and-goal with 26 seconds to play and UCF recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal it.

Gabriel was 24 of 46 for 317 passing yards for UCF.

McMillan was 13 of 27 for 181 yards passing and rushed for 102 yards on 23 carries for Tulane.

Check out video highlights of the game, courtesy of the AAC, below:

After solidly defeating the Temple Owls last week in Philadelphia, the UCF Knights returned home and delivered a 44-29 victory over the Houston Cougars on Saturday. As reported by the American Athletic Conference:

Dillon Gabriel passed for 298 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Tre Nixon, and ran for a score as UCF dominated the second half and beat Houston 44-29 on Saturday.

Houston jumped out to a 10-0 lead on Mulbah Car’s 37-yard TD run and a 45-yard field goal by Dalton Witherspoon. Gabriel hit Marlon Williams for a 6-yard score and, after Car scored on a 2-yard run, added a 32-yard scoring strike to Nixon to pull UCF (7-2, 4-1 American Athletic Conference) with 17-14 after one quarter.

Gabriel scored on a 22-yard run midway through the second quarter to put the Knights up 21-17, but Witherspoon kicked two field goals in the final 4 minutes and Houston (3-6, 1-4) took a 23-21 lead into halftime.

UCF put the game out of reach with three third-quarter touchdowns. Bentavious Thompson scored on a 43-yard run, Gabriel and Nixon hooked up for a 34-yard score and Thompson added a 2-yard TD run for a 42-23 lead heading into the final quarter.

Gabriel hit 21 of 30 passes without an interception for the Knights. Nixon had six receptions for 123 yards.

Clayton Tune completed 18 of 30 passes for 179 yards with one TD and one interception for the Cougars. Mar carried 26 times for 132 yards and two scores.

Check out video highlights of the game, courtesy of the AAC, below. UCF hits the road to face the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7;00pm. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2.