UCF-Rice: The Knights Clip the Wings of the Rice Owls For Homecoming Win

The UCF Knights continued their assault on first place in Conference USA with a 41-14 drubbing of the Rice Owls on Saturday.

By the time the homecoming court took the field at halftime for the fans in attendance, the game was already over on the scoreboard.

“I only asked that they (the team) go out there and give me a 60-minute game,” said head coach George O’Leary. “I feel that we still have that effort to give, but we did play well in spurts.”

The Knights jumped on Rice early, scoring 27 straight points while holding the Owls to under 75 yards of total offense to have the makings of a shutout heading into the half, but Rice managed a completion to get on the board just before the break.

“Coach told us to come out and just play a good game,” said sophomore defensive lineman Troy Davis. “We kind of slipped up right before the half because we weren’t all focused. Come Monday, we’re excited, but there will be things to work on for East Carolina.”

After half, it was more of the same as UCF kept up a stout defensive effort, giving up only one more score, a short touchdown run in garbage time long after the game had been decided.

Coach O’Leary was happy with the win, but the anticipation of the game with rival ECU was fresh in his mind.

“Heading into next week’s game against East Carolina, we haven’t played our best game and we will need to play a full 60-minute game to win.”

Notes

• Six out of seven games this season UCF has led during the contest.
• 13 consecutive home-field drives have taken UCF into opponent's territory.
• UCF has outscored their Conference USA opponents this season by 83 points, 118-35.
• UCF was 3-3 on fourth down conversions in the game, which included two touchdowns.