This afternoon the Bearcats (6-1, 3-0 AAC) traveled to Orlando, Florida where they would take on the UCF Knights (5-2, 2-1 AAC) at FBC Mortgage Stadium as they’d look to deflate the “Bounce House” and make it four straight victories over the Knights dating back to 2019. The Bearcats would look to make it seven straight victories after falling 31-24 to Arkansas back in week one as they knew the Knights would bring a very tough fight, as the Knights would be the early favorite for this contest. The Bearcats would look to get great news as junior wide receiver Tyler Scott was looking to give this one a go after missing the Bearcats 29-27 victory over SMU last week. The Bearcats are also looking to see if Jabari Taylor would be back and healthy after leaving the SMU game with injury and was listed as a true game time decision after participating in the teams’ warmups.
The Bearcats knew they would have to fire on all cylinders though as the nickname “Bounce House” has really lived up to its expectation as the Knights fans really brought the energy as they students and fans really filed into FBC Mortgage Stadium for this highly anticipated matchup between both teams atop of the American Athletic Conference.
The Knights would start the opening drive with a great 19 yard run by quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, but would eventually be forced to punt. Interesting note for the Bearcats on that first defensive drive as Noah Potter the Ohio State transfer got the start for Jabari Taylor who is battling injury, but Taylor is on the sideline with his helmet so something to keep an eye on today for the Bearcats. The Bearcats would eventually go three and out on their opening drive and be forced to punt giving the Knights great field position to start their second drive.
The Knights would march down the field as they continued to run the ball down the Bearcats gut to start that drive, but the blackcats defense would stand tall behind two great plays by Ja’Quon Sheppard to hold the Knights to an early field goal as they took a 3-0 lead with 8:50 remaining in the first quarter after a 26-yard field goal from Colton Boomer.
The Bearcats offense got off to another slow start as their first two drives resulted in three and outs, while the Knights continued to establish the run game, as they averaged nearly 243 yards on the ground coming into this one and have rushed for 109 yards on the team’s first three drives as they continue to wear the Bearcats defensive line out in the Florida heat as the temperature for kick off was 82 degrees here in Orlando.
The Knights would take an early 10-0 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter following a 26 yard touchdown run from RJ Harvey and the Bearcats knew they had to find some momentum offensively as the Knights were running all over the Bearcats defense early, and a lot of that factors into not having Jabari Taylor up in the trench’s vs a high-powered Knight offense.
The Bearcats would look to find some momentum to start the drive after Bryant connected with running back Ryan Montgomery for 30 yards on an absolute dime down the right sideline, but the Knights defense would stand tall and force another Bearcats punt after Bryant was sacked on 3rd and 9. The Bearcats offensive struggles continued early as the Knights came out and fired off 181 yards of offense compared to the Bearcats 30 as they took a 10-0 lead heading to the second quarter.
The Bearcats would start to click on offense after the defense forced a huge three and out, Ben Bryant and the Bearcats would drive down the field after a huge 32 yard catch by Jadon Thompsen set that drive up, but the Bearcats would be held to just three after Ryan Coe connected with a 33-yard field goal to make this a 10-3 game with 9:19 remaining in the second quarter.
The Bearcats defense would get a big stop on third down after Arquon Bush laid a huge hit on UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, who then proceeded to stumble as he headed back to the timeout and was immediately taken out by the UCF medical staff to be evaluated for a possible head and neck injury and with everything that has happened in football as of late with the latest hit to Tua Tagovailoa it would be hard to see the Knights medical staff let Plumlee return after seeing his reaction to that hit, a very scary scene. The Knights would see sophomore quarterback Mikey Keene come into this game and take over for the injured Plumlee after the Bearcats were forced to punt as the Knights would start the drive at their own 3 yard line after a 40 yard punt by Mason Fletcher.
The Bearcats would get a chance to put points on the board before the break after a great return from Ryan Montgomery on the Knights punt, as the Bearcats were looking to establish momentum after great starting field position to start the 2-minute drill. The Bearcats would get a huge third down completion as Bryant connected with Nick Mardner to extend the chains, but the drive would stall as the Knights defense would hold the Bearcats to a field goal where they made it 10-6 headed to the break.
