ORLANDO, Fla. – As UCF fell to 3-5 with Saturday’s 37-24 home loss to No. 11 BYU, the biggest negatives for the Knights could be the results of the team’s health throughout the season.
With injuries to starting quarterback KJ Jefferson and then with the inexperience of a group of young quarterbacks, it’s reasonable and logical that the Knights, or any of the 16 Big 12 teams, would struggle in a conference as talented as this one.
The Knights’ pains were numerous as the Cougars built a 34-10 lead in the third quarter and prowled to a 37-24 win in “The Bounce House” on the UCF campus.
Quarterback is, of course, where to begin as KJ Jefferson transferred from Arkansas and has suffered a myriad of injuries that have taken him down and caused him to struggle mightily in losses to Colorado and Florida.
Redshirt sophomore Jacurri Brown started for Jefferson against BYU and struggled mightily without the passing game intact. Struggles were even more defined when leading wide receiver Kobe Hudson suffered a leg injury on the first play of the game.
With Brown as the offensive leader Saturday, Malzahn has worked with all of his quarterbacks as true-freshman EJ Colson garnered his first start a couple of weeks ago in a 19-13 loss to Cincinnati. Redshirt-freshman Dylan Rizk played in the fourth quarter on Saturday and directed a touchdown drive after the Cougars had put the game on ice.
Brown completed only 8 of 17 passes for 96 yards and he was picked off once each by Isaiah Glasser and Faletau Spatula. The BYU duo also stopped Knights’ drives in the late third and early fourth quarter when UCF trailed, 34-10.
Head coach Malzahn has had to mix and match to try to compete this season and with the injury situation as a walking mystery, it makes competing much tougher.
“Third quarter we didn’t play good in any phase,” said Malzahn. “Fourth quarter, we put in Dylan Rizk and he gave us a little bit of a boost. Overall, a disappointing loss.”
Rizk completed 6 of 10 passes for 102 yards and threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones that cut the Cougars’ lead to 37-24 with 56 seconds remaining.
Jones caught six passes and totaled 116 yards. He was known as a playmaker at wide out at Ohio University two seasons ago before being sidelined with an injury in 2023. He had to take over the position with Hudson sidelined early.
“He was one of the positives,” noted Malzahn. “The guys around him stepped up and made plays when they had to. Jacoby had a big game. He’s a really talented player.”
With such a revolving door with the quarterback problems, running back RJ Harvey continues to be the Knights’ catalyst.
He rushed for 127 yards on 16 carries as he scored on a two-yard run late in the second quarter to cut the BYU lead to 17-7. He later posted a five-yard score that was followed by a two-point conversion to cut the Cougars’ margin to 34-18 with 9:14 remaining.
Kelly ran for 1,416 yards a year ago and went over 1,000 yards for this season as the five-yard score has him at 1,017 yards for the first eight Knights’ games.
UCF also had to tough out BYU’s resilient two-pronged attack with injuries to starting defensive backs in cornerback Mac McWilliams and safety Ladarius Tennison and an injury to nickleback Braeden Marshall which sat him out for the second half.
Undefeated BYU is Dominant Big 12 Favorite: As Brigham Young scored the game’s first 17 points, its offensive line dominated the UCF defensive front-seven. With the domination at the line of scrimmage, BYU had a 221-50 advantage in total yardage while controlling the ball for around 17 minutes with nine minutes left in the first half.
The push behind the offense this season has been a running game powered by sophomore running back LJ Martin, who netted 101 yards on 15 carries. He scored his seventh touchdown of the season on a 15-yard run that gave BYU a 17-0 lead with 8:13 to go in the first half.
“If we play assignment-sound football, I think we can do some good things on special teams, defense and offense,” said Cougars head coach Kalani Sitaki. “I would like to be a little more efficient when you get the win.”
Martin and change-up back Hinckley Ropati are complementary to quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who is a picture of efficiency as he was 16-of-24 for 228 yards with two touchdown passes.
Retzlaff opened the game with a 29-yard run off of the right side for the first score. He dropped back and scrambled, electing to keep the ball for the touchdown.
The senior quarterback had a rushing and a passing touchdown for the third time in the last four games. It was also his sixth consecutive game where he recorded multiple touchdown passes this season.
The Cougars outgained the Knights 480-378 on offense as their balance between the pass and run thwarted UCF.
