The losing streak grows to five games as the 11th-ranked BYU Cougars maul the UCF Knights 37-24. The game was not as close as the score indicated. It’s knee-jerk reaction time.
BYU Remains Unbeaten After Mauling UCF 37-24
The Keys of the Game
On the Locked on UCF show this week, I highlighted three keys to the game for UCF. If UCF hit each one, they would have a chance of defeating BYU. The first was to score early. The Knights failed to do this. BYU opened up a 17-0 lead in the second quarter before RJ Harvey was able to get UCF on the board.
The second key was scoring touchdowns on red zone opportunities. The Knights did it on their first possession into the red zone. On the second, quarterback Jacurri Brown delivered a good hit as he ran out of bounds and gestured to the player he knocked over for a taunting unsportsmanlike call. This pushed UCF out of the red zone and they had to settle for a field goal. BYU would score a touchdown on the subsequent drive. The Knights did not get back into the red zone until the fourth quarter when head coach Gus Malzahn subbed out Brown for redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk . Rizk’s first drive would end up with a touchdown.
The third key was to stop BYU on third down. The Knights were not successful here. To add insult to injury, the Cougars were successful on two fourth-down conversions earlier in the game to help tire and demoralize the defense. Those two fourth-down conversions will get the proper attention below.
Do We Have Another QB Controversy?
After being the better quarterback against Cincinnati and being named the full-time starter after the Iowa State game, we thought we were done with this conversation. Jacurri Brown had a rough game, passing for only 96 yards and two unforced interceptions. BYU did an excellent job of eliminating Brown’s ability to tuck and run. In fairness, losing Kobe Hudson on UCF’s first offensive play of the game didn’t help. It did allow Jacoby Jones to step up and lead the team in receiving…