As the UCF football team took the field Saturday at Nippert Stadium before their showdown with Cincinnati, players and coaches locked arms and made a slow march from the tunnel to the sidelines.
With so much negativity surrounding their five-game losing streak, coach Gus Malzahn’s Knights decided to take a stand and show everyone they were on a collective front.
“There’s a lot of outside noise that comes with playing college football, but the most important voices and the most important opinions are those in the locker room,” said quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. “That was our way of showing the guy next to us, ‘Hey, I’m riding for you and you’re riding for me. Let’s do this thing.'”
The move appears to have paid off as UCF (4-5, 1-5 Big 12) held off a late charge to defeat the Bearcats (2-7, 0-6 Big 12) 28-26, earning the Knights their first Big 12 win.
“We’re a team and everybody has got to stay together,” said running back RJ Harvey. “We went through a tough stretch of losing, but nobody detached from each other.”
Added edge rusher Tre’mon Morris-Brash: “We wanted to be together. Like we just that was that something that Coach was hitting on like just being together and just being one.”
Here are three things we learned from UCF’s win over Cincinnati:
UCF hangs on at Cincinnati for first Big 12 win
John Rhys Plumlee is getting more comfortable running the ball
Since his return from rehabbing his right knee, Plumlee has grown more comfortable running the football, especially as he gets accustomed to his brace.
He had negative-4 yards rushing in his first start back against Oklahoma and 45 yards a week later against West Virginia. In the win against Cincinnati, Plumlee finished with 53 yards on 13 carries.
More to the point, the 5th-year senior used his legs when it mattered.
Five of his 13 runs were on 3rd down, including three carries in the second half that he managed to convert into 1st downs. Two were on a crucial drive when UCF scored to take a 21-17 lead.
“He’s at his best when he makes plays with his legs,” said Malzahn. “You could tell on a couple of those runs he’s not 100%, but he’s still pretty good with that.”
UCF was 6-of-13 on 3rd downs, with three conversions on Plumlee runs.
“It was one of those things we needed,” said Plumlee. “I’m just trying everything that I could do to extend the drive or to get a first down and put us in the best position to put the ball in the end zone.”
RJ Harvey continues special season
Harvey remains one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal season.
The senior running back has been one of the most consistent performers on the offense, leading the team in rushing with 876 yards. It’s the most rushing yards by a UCF player since Greg McCrae (1,182) in 2018.
He’s on pace to rush for 1,168 yards, joining McCrae as the last player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
“He’s so good and performs that well all the time,” said Plumlee. “To be able to execute at that high level all the time is really, really awesome.”
Harvey rushed for a career-high 164 yards against the Bearcats, his fourth straight 100-yard rushing game.
“RJ Harvey has turned himself into one of the better backs in our league, if not the country,” added Malzahn.
The defense is what it is
While UCF made strides in several areas Saturday, one area that continues to be a concern is the rush defense.
The Knights allowed Cincinnati to rush for 248 yards, the fourth time the defense has given up 200 or more rushing yards in a game this season. The defense, which allowed two more 100-yard rushers in Corey Kiner (114 yards) and Ryan Montgomery (113), has allowed eight 100-yard rushers this season.
On the plus side, UCF forced two turnovers (fumble, interception) and sacked UC quarterbacks a season-high 5 times, with Morrish-Brash leading the way with 2.5 sacks.
The unit also knocked down a critical two-point conversion late in the game that would have tied the game and possibly send it into overtime.
“We haven’t really put it all together yet this whole season,” said Morris-Brash. “[Today] we put it all together, from the front seven to the back end. We kind of put it together.”
Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.
