Houston ends UCF football undefeated Space Game streak with final-drive interception
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ORLANDO — UCF’s Space Game mystique ended Friday, Nov. 7, along with, in all likelihood, its postseason hopes for 2025.
Ethan Sanchez kicked a go-ahead, 22-yard field goal, and Katrell Webb sealed Houston‘s 30-27 victory over the Knights — embracing their Citronaut alter ego for the evening — with an end-zone interception with 11 seconds left in regulation.
UCF drops to 4-5 overall, the first time its record has dipped below .500 all year, and 1-5 in its third go-round through the Big 12 Conference. Houston (8-2, 5-2) kept its improbable conference championship hopes with its fifth win away from home this fall.
In so doing, the Cougars snapped UCF’s eight-year unbeaten Space Game streak — in which the Knights had outscored their opponents, on average, by 30.7 points per game.
“They represent Space City, so do we. But we’re the real Space City,” Houston linebacker Latreveon McCutchin said.
Houston survived four turnovers as Conner Weigman threw for 223 yards with two touchdowns. The junior quarterback accounted for 82 of the Cougars’ 210 rushing yards.
UCF must now find a way to steal a victory on the road against either Texas Tech, at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 15, or BYU two days after Thanksgiving. Those two teams, who square off head-to-head Saturday, both debuted in the top-10 of the College Football Playoff committee’s rankings earlier this week.
Here are three takeaways from UCF’s crushing defeat in front of a raucous crowd at the Acrisure Bounce House.
Davi Belfort enters on final drive, throws game-ending pick
Knights coach Scott Frost made a stunning move ahead of the night’s final drive, inserting redshirt freshman Davi Belfort at quarterback in place of the injured and ineffective Tayven Jackson. In the postgame press conference, Frost said Jackson had his hamstring taped up earlier in the evening.
“We just figured, in that situation, they would probably be coming after us,” Frost said. “We needed somebody that could get away from the pass rush a little and maybe create something. For the most part, it worked.”
Antione Jackson gave the Knights great field position with a kickoff return to UCF’s 46-yard line, capitalizing on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed on Houston after Sanchez’s tiebreaking field goal.
Belfort took a delay of game penalty, but atoned for the mistake with a 19-yard scramble before the two-minute timeout. He broke loose again on third-and-11 with a 17-yard scamper up the middle into field goal range.
Warning signs emerged with each Belfort dropback, though. On first down from the Cougars’ 24-yard line, Carmycah Glass rocked Belfort for a sack and jarred the ball free. UCF guard Cam Kinnie recovered the fumble, keeping the drive alive.
Two plays later, rather than playing for the field goal, Frost opted to go for the win. Duane Thomas Jr. separated downfield, but Belfort was late to recognize the open slot receiver and Webb undercut his throw.
“It’s not really in me just to run the ball up the middle and go to overtime,” Frost said. “We had a play that we liked. It’s one of our base plays that (Belfort) knew. We trust him. I thought Speedy (Thomas) was open. I’ve got to look at the tape. Maybe we just didn’t get it to him fast enough. Even if that’s an incomplete pass, we’ll go out and kick the field goal. I’m not just going to call inside zone and get two (yards) in that situation. We’ve got a chance to win the game.”
Jackson went 15-of-29 passing for 136 yards, and he ran two times for 12 yards. He has not eclipsed 200 passing yards in five of his seven starts this season.
Phillip Dunnam becomes 1st UCF defender with 3 INTs in a game
One of UCF’s standouts in spring camp, Dunnam had three interceptions in each of his previous two seasons — at Indiana and Florida Atlantic, respectively. He matched that number on Friday night alone, setting a new program record in the process.
Houston failed on fourth down for a second time in the opening quarter when Dunnam beat tight end Tanner Koziol to the spot on a slant, racing 21 yards the other direction.
Dunnam went even further on his second pick, capitalizing when Cole Kozlowski pressured Weigman into an errant throw and racing 43 yards to the end zone. Houston scored on a pick-six five minutes earlier when McCutchin dropped into coverage off the edge and fooled Jackson into a 50-yard score.
Houston had the momentum rolling in the third quarter after forcing a pair of three-and-outs and tying the score on Weigman’s 9-yard toss to Dean Connors. The Cougars marched 26 yards across midfield in search of the lead, but Dunnam tracked Weigman’s throw over the middle for Amare Thomas and jumped it for the record-setting third interception.
“In practice, Phil’s always getting picks,” junior linebacker Lewis Carter said. “I feel like this game just gave him the opportunity to be able to showcase that.”
Noe Ruelas cashed in the turnover by matching his career long with a 54-yard field goal. He’s the first UCF kicker to convert from 50-plus yards three times in a single campaign.
Demari Henderson previously generated three takeaways in a single game — a Space Game, no less. Two years ago, the Sanford native had two picks and a fumble recovery in the team’s 45-3 win over then-No. 15 Oklahoma State.
Myles Montgomery exits in 1st half with shoulder injury
Myles Montgomery’s first rushing touchdown in a month came at a significant cost.
Montgomery followed freshman interior offensive lineman Jacob Maiava, deployed as a fullback, into the end zone on third-and-goal from the 1 — a troublesome scenario throughout the season for UCF — to give his team a 10-0 lead at the 9:39 mark of the second quarter.
However, during the ensuing Houston series, Montgomery walked toward the tunnel. He later exited in street clothes with an ice pack on his right shoulder. He was ruled out for the remainder of the game prior to halftime, according to UCF’s radio broadcast.
That leaves Jaden Nixon as the lone, healthy scholarship running back on the UCF roster. Nixon scored his team-leading seventh touchdown of the year in the second quarter, sweeping 15 yards around the left end on a direct snap.
Nixon logged a season-high 11 carries and amassed 62 of the Knights’ 146 rushing yards. Freshman Agyeman Addae, a preferred walk-on, spelled Nixon with a couple of carries. Thomas and fellow receiver Waden Charles also popped up on the stat sheet with at least one rushing attempt.
“Even those guys who are injured, we’ve got to rest, recover and take care of their bodies. You never know when they’ll be back. We don’t know how extreme these injuries are yet,” Nixon said.
“I mean, shoot, even if we’ve got to bring one of the kickers to play running back, next man up. You know what I mean? I know they would be excited to get out there and get running, too.”
Stacy Gage underwent surgery after sustaining an injury on a kickoff in the Knights’ Oct. 18 win against West Virginia. Taevion Swint sustained a torn meniscus during the preseason and has not suited up to this point.
In addition to Montgomery, UCF lost three key members to its defensive rotation during the game — starting nickelback Braden Marshall and edge rusher Malachi Lawrence, along with reserve linebacker Jayden McDonald, who recovered a muffed punt on special teams. Lawrence registered his seventh sack, his fifth in the last three games.
“At several positions, you’re kind of just holding your breath,” Frost said. “With the roster limits at 105 (players) and where we were from a salary cap and NIL standpoint, we just don’t have that many guys at certain spots.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football takeaways from Space Game loss to Houston
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