Rushing Attack, Defense, lead UCF to 27-10 Win Over Georgia Tech
Despite what the scoreboard shows, UCF’s 27-10 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday might bury what both teams produced.
While the Knights had the ball for 77 plays, producing 333 yards. On the other end of the spectrum, the Yellow Jackets had 63 plays but for 452 yards, an average of 7.2 yards per play against UCF’s 4.3.
“We’ve got a good football team,” head coach Gus Malzahn said in a postgame press conference. “We can’t beat ourselves. If we don’t beat ourselves, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat.”
Notably, UCF opened the game with a 20-play drive that lasted almost 10 minutes, resulting in a field goal.
Once again, most of UCF’s offensive production came on the ground. The Knights rushed for 284 yards against just 49 through the air. UCF had just one offensive touchdown in the game, a 28-yard run by John Rhys Plumlee.
The game on the ground also gave Johnny Richardson a milestone. The junior running back now has 1,000 career rushing yards after seven carries for 33 yards on Saturday.
Through the air, Plumlee was just 8-of-16 for 49 yards and an interception.
“There’s a lot of things I need to do better,” Plumlee said. “I will be better, but it is always good when you can have a bad game, passing wise as I did, but then have your defense pick you up.”
On the defensive side of the ball, junior Josh Celiscar was one of the bright spots for UCF. The defensive end had three total tackles, but two of them were for loss. He also had a big forced fumble of a fourth down with the Yellow Jackets at the UCF’s 15-yard line in the fourth quarter.
Even though UCF allowed many yards, the defense stopped the Yellow Jackets in the red zone, with the visitors scoring just one touchdown.
Jason Johnson and Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste also had their moments. Both having at least seven solo tackles, with the latter having a sack and two tackles for loss.
Also, Tre'Mon Morris-Brash was very important. He recovered two fumbles and almost scored a touchdown. Ricky Barber had a big game as well, registering a sack and a tackle for loss.
Perhaps UCF’s biggest moment of the game was when Jarvis Ware blocked a punt and Quadric Bullard recovered and ran for his second touchdown of the season.
With areas such as special teams, red zone defense and running the football shining, Malzahn said things might be going towards a good direction for the Knights.
“Our team is growing, I thought it was a quality win,'' Malzahn said. “There’s a lot of things we can correct, which is good, but it’s a quality win. I’m very proud of our players and our coaches.”
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