A little #UCFierce déjà vu ? pic.twitter.com/c1lgWoDESr
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) September 9, 2018
The first quarter opened with an interception from McKenzie Milton. The UCF defense stopped the Bulldogs of South Carolina State. The Knights offense went back to work and moved down the field with ease; scoring in 23 seconds on an Adrian Killins run.
Kyle Gibson picked off an SC State pass to get the ball back to Milton and co. But Milton would return the favor and throw another pick.
UCF blocked the SC State field goal attempt and returned it to the 26-yard line; two plays later Killins ran it in for a 24-yard touchdown.
They kicked a field goal to go up 17-0, got another stop and then Milton threw a third pick. He wasn’t reading the defense and throwing passes directly into coverage.
UCF’s defense had tackling problems throughout the first half, none of the missed tackles ended up costing the Knights, but if they make mistakes like that against a better team, they could lose a game.
UCF closed the half with a 20 play, 94-yard touchdown drive to take a 24-0 lead into halftime.
? ?—–that first half
Got the late TD we needed ✊ #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/iMh3XfLRQB
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) September 8, 2018
The second half UCF seemed to come out with a sense of urgency, scoring touchdowns in two of their first three drives. Milton looked slightly better but he still didn’t seem like himself.
After a 10-23 first half, Milton needed a huge second half to keep his Heisman hopes alive, he went 11-16 and one touchdown in the third quarter. Will that be enough? Probably not, but that’ll be a later article.
Milton’s touchdown was a beautiful strike to Gabe Davis in the back of the endzone.
As expected UCF rolled, even though they didn’t look that impressive, the team had very little energy and seemed like they knew they’d win easily.
Next up, the Knights travel to UNC to take on a Tar Heel team who lost to fellow AAC member, ECU today.
