CINCINNATI — The Big XII drought continues for UC football.
RJ Harvey ran for three touchdowns and 164 yards on 20 carries to lead the UCF Knights past the Bearcats, 28-26, Saturday before a sellout crowd of 38,193. The loss drops UC to 2-7 on the season and 0-6 in the Big XII, with just three chances left at a conference victory in the school’s first year of play.
The boos rained down hard and heavy on head coach Scott Satterfield and the Bearcats, who committed several mental mistakes en route to their seventh straight loss.
Corey Kiner had 114 yards on 19 carries and a six-yard touchdown run that gave UC a chance to tie on two-point conversion with under two minutes left. The two point conversion from Emory Jones to Dee Wiggins fell incomplete and UCF ran out the clock.
Ryan Montgomery, playing his first game after a four-game absence due to a head injury, also provided a big spark to the Bearcats offense.
The senior back ran eight times for 113 yards and his first touchdown of the season, marking the first time in school history that UC has had two 100-yard rushers in three different games.
UCF entered as the third leading rushing team in the country at 227 yards per game. UC wasn’t far behind at 222.6 yards per contest.
The game certainly followed those two trends. UCF finished with 216 yards on 35 carries while the Bearcats had 248 yards on 43 carries.
The Bearcats took a 3-0 lead on Carter Brown’s 39-yard field goal in the first quarter. But the Knights answered with touchdown runs from quarterback John Rhys Plumlee and Harvey for a 14-3 lead.
The game turned early when Emory Jones called for a pass on 4th-and-1 from the UCF 41. The pass fell incomplete and the boos came down with intensity. He was benched for the next two series and replaced with Brady Lichtenberg.
UCF seized momentum and went deep on a pass play that was flagged for defensive pass interference.
Just before Plumlee’s TD score, the Bearcats were flagged for pass interference, setting the stage for the rushing touchdown. Bryon Threats showed his frustration by making contact with a referee and was ejected.
Braden Smith caught a perfect pass from Jones late in the second quarter to close UC within four, 14-10, at the half.
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pic.twitter.com/cagdAEw5OA— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) November 4, 2023
Montgomery’s two-yard run with 5:19 left in the third quarter marked his first touchdown of the season and put UC ahead for the final time, 17-14. But UC couldn’t stop Harvey and the UCF offense, which answered with an 85-yard touchdown drive.
UC had a chance to take the lead late when Emory Jones found Braden Smith for 35 yards on 4th-and-6 down to the UCF 2. But a false start on the ensuing snap took the ball back to the seven. Two ill-fated runs amounting to no gain left the Bearcats to settle for a 28-yard Carter Brown field goal, cutting the UCF lead to 21-20.
But the Bearcats, as was the case on the previous 85-yard UCF drive, couldn’t get stop and Harvey ran it in from the 2 for his third score of the day.
Emory Jones rebounded from his brief benching to complete 16-of-22 passes for 217 yards, including six passes to Braden Smith for 114 yards.
Jones again completed a clutch pass to Smith in the closing two minutes to set up the Kiner late touchdown.
