UCF wraps up regular-season with win over Houston, bowl bid

As John Rhys Plumlee ran out of the tunnel at the Bounce House Saturday before facing the Houston Cougars , the 5th-year senior quarterback couldn’t help but look around.

Normally, Plumlee would be laser-focused on the opponent ahead, but this being his final home game, he wanted to absorb the moment one final time.

“A lot of times, I have tunnel vision as I get into competitive mode,” Plumlee said. “What’s the next play? How we’re going to execute it. But for a second, when we’re running out, I got to look around and soak it in a little bit. It was really, really special.”

Plumlee was among 33 seniors to participate in Senior Day at FBC Mortgage Stadium before Saturday’s kickoff. His performance helped guarantee at least one more game as UCF (6-6, 3-6 Big 12) became bowl-eligible with a 27-13 win over Houston (4-8, 3-6).

The Knights rallied from an early 10-6 deficit to outscore the Cougars 21-3 over the final three quarters to secure the win.

“That was a hard-fought victory and it was really close right there at halftime,” said coach Gus Malzahn . “Our guys came out ready in the second half and they put the game away in the third quarter.”

After Houston jumped to a 7-0 lead, Plumlee started the scoring for UCF with an 8-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, but kicker Colton Boomer ’s extra point kick hit the upright and bounced away. It was one of three kicks that Boomer couldn’t convert.

The Knights took the lead early in the second quarter after Plumlee found Xavier Townsend in the flat and the sophomore receiver slipped past several UH defenders for a 28-yard touchdown.

Plumlee connected on 13 of his first 14 pass attempts, including the touchdown throw to Townsend. He would complete 85% (23 of 27) of his passes for 253 yards and a touchdown while adding 58 rushing yards on 15 carries with a score.

The Knights came out of the half riding a wave of momentum, going 81 yards in 53 seconds, capped off by a 21-yard touchdown run by running back RJ Harvey . Harvey would add another touchdown a few minutes later — a 2-yard score — that pushed the score to 27-10.

“He’s turned into one of the best running backs in the country,” said Malzahn. “Everybody sees that he’s special.”

Harvey finished with 136 rushing yards on 21 carries. His sixth 100-yard rushing performance in the past seven games gave the redshirt senior 1,296 yards, the fourth-highest single-season total in school history.

“It’s a credit to the offensive line,” said Harvey. “They’ve been working hard each and every week and they’ve gotten better each and every week.”

UCF’s defense stepped up in the second half, holding Houston to four first-downs and 75 yards. The Knights had three sacks in the final 30 minutes: two by linebacker Jason Johnson and one by edge rusher Tre’mon Morris-Brash.

“We had a good plan of what they were doing,” said Malzahn. “We were pretty thin in the secondary. [Safety] Braeden Marshall went down on the first series and [safety] Jireh [Wilson] wasn’t able to play as he had a back issue he was dealing with. It was next man up.”

The Cougars (4-8, 3-6 Big 12) finished with 259 yards of offense and were 1 for 10 on 3rd downs.

It hasn’t been the season many anticipated with UCF struggling in its first year in the Big 12. After sweeping their non-conference schedule (3-0), the Knights opened their conference schedule by dropping five straight games. They recouped by winning three of their final four games to become bowl-eligible.

UCF must wait a week to find out where they will spend the postseason with projections having them playing anywhere from Tampa to Dallas.

“I’m happy for our guys,” said Malzahn. “I want them to enjoy this. We’ll come back tomorrow [Sunday] and regroup and hopefully, we’ll know pretty quickly where the bowl is and start focusing on the opponent.”

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