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UCF drubs winless SMU

 
Published Nov. 23, 2014

ORLANDO — It normally doesn't pay to play just one quarter, but it did for UCF in a 53-7 rout of winless SMU on Saturday.

Justin Holman passed for two touchdowns and Dontravious Wilson scored twice, all in the first quarter, as UCF raced to a 27-0 lead. The Knights ran up 247 yards of offense in the quarter, forced two turnovers and didn't commit a penalty.

"We got some turnovers early that made a difference in the game," UCF coach George O'Leary said. "Everybody wants to see more offense, but I've been at both ends of that score. We just tried to eat the clock and run the ball down the stretch."

UCF held SMU (0-10) to 116 yards of offense and four first downs. Mustangs starter Matt Davis was 6-of-15 for 44 yards. Backup Garrett Krstich entered the game midway through the third quarter and was 3-of-7 for 6 yards. SMU had five turnovers.

"We've played some Big 12 teams this year, and UCF is in that caliber of team," SMU interim coach Tom Mason said.

Said O'Leary: "Any time you hold a team to just four first downs, that says a lot."

In the first quarter, the Knights got scoring runs of 1 and 11 yards from Wilson, and TD passes of 58 and 18 yards from Holman to J.J. Worton and Breshad Perriman to build a 27-0 lead. The one positive for the Mustangs in the quarter was a 64-yard kickoff return by Deion Sanders Jr.