Under the nation's spotlight, the UCF Knights were unfazed by Bill Belichick’s status and dissected the North Carolina Tar Heels defense on national television in Saturday's 34-9 victory at the Acrisure Bounce House.
This was the Knights last non-conference game after winning their last two against Jacksonville State and North Carolina A&T. Belichick, UNC’s new head coach, drew the attention of the national media since his coaching transition from the NFL to college football, but the Black and Gold remain resolute.
Heading into the game, UCF received the ball to start as the Tar Heels deferred after winning the coin toss. Quarterback Tayven Jackson was chosen as the starter and methodically picked apart UNC’s defense.
Jackson completed 25 of 32 passes for 223 yards and one touchdown. He also carried the ball 10 times for 66 yards and one touchdown. Jackson got the ball into the open field multiple times, an aspect of the Knights' offense Coach Belichick praised in his press conference on last Sunday.
In conjunction with Jackson's passing, the Knights' run game, led by duo Myles Montgomery and Jaden Nixon, helped UCF charge forward as they continued to move the chains.
The Black and Gold struck first when Jackson rushed for a 13-yard touchdown off a read option play. UCF’s first drive lasted six minutes and thirty-seven seconds, and it was time for the defense to step up.
The Knights’ defense was a force to be reckoned with as they forced UNC’s Gio Lopez to throw two interceptions as their defensive line shrank the Tar Heels’ pocket and generated quarterback pressures.
EDGE Nyjalik Kelly caught the first interception of his career, and cornerback Braeden Marshall picked Lopez off from Jayden Bellamy’s pass breakup on a long UNC drive. EDGE Sincere Edwards and linebacker Lewis Carter each sacked Lopez once.
Kelly went into detail on his first career interception and his mentality during the play.
“The play was called, Horace Lockett was great with the pressure, slapped it and it just landed in my hands,” Kelly said. “I knew I had to catch it for a big play to get the offense back on the field to possibly get points.”
Kicker Noe Ruelas made two field goals to push UCF’s lead to 13 straight unanswered points before the Tar Heels’ kicker Rece Verhoff got his team on the board shortly before halftime.
With a minute and a half before halftime, Jackson connected with his receivers to lead the Knights into the red zone, where he threw his first touchdown of the game to tight end Kylan Fox to put the Knights up 20-3.
Coach Frost spoke on the importance of UCF scoring at the end of halftime and how it changed the game for them.
“It was really big,” Frost said. “It made it a whole different game. First of all, holding them to a field goal and then using timeouts, and thought Tav had an excellent drive. He took what they gave him.”
To open the third quarter, instead of Jackson, it was Montgomery’s time to shine as he scored UCF’s third touchdown of the game on a 1-yard rush in the end zone.
However, it was a bittersweet quarter for UNC as Lopez was injured on an attempt to convert a 4th down. In his absence, Max Johnson stepped up and led the Tar Heels to their first score of the game on an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kobe Paysour.
The fourth quarter was all UCF as the team chewed the clock. Quarterback Jacurri Brown played extended snaps and converted a crucial 4th down to continue running down the clock. Finally, Nixon put the cherry on top for the Knights' final touchdown, as they defeated Bill Belichick and his Tar Heels 34-9.
Despite the victory, Montgomery knows there are opportunities for UCF to improve, but is pleased with the outcome of the game.
“It’s the best we’ve been so far,” Montgomery said. “Obviously, we need to play better than what we did. We want to be perfect in everything we do.”
UCF’s balanced game against North Carolina brings their record to 3-0 and extends head coach Scott Frost’s winning streak to 16 games.
Next week, the Black and Gold travel to Kansas to play their first Big 12 matchup against the Kansas State Wildcats at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Sept. 27 on FS1.