UCF Football: Knights undefeated season on upset alert vs Temple

Days removed from the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings being released, UCF football finds themselves in a dogfight at home with Temple Thursday night.

With the spotlight on them in the ESPN featured game, the Knights will enter the second half trailing, 34-28, after Anthony Russo hit Ventell Bryant on a 15-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left in the quarter.

Russo has out-shined McKenzie Milton in the first 30 minutes, throwing three touchdowns. Russo is 16-for-26 passing for 277 yards, with Milton hitting 11 of 23 for 233 and two scores.

Defense has definitely been at a premier so far in this game, and with so much attention attached to the CFP ranking for UCF, that’s not a good sign. Even if the Knights storm out of the gates in the third quarter and put the Owls to bed early, they’ll have left a likely sour taste in those that will ultimately decide their fate.

For UCF to continue moving up the ladder in the race to the national championship, they need to dominate quarter after quarter, game after game and week after week.

The Knights entered having done that for the most part this year outside of a 31-30 victory over Memphis, earning their six other wins by at least 20 points.

Temple wasn’t expected to be much of a challenge, as the Owls are 5-3, but have scored over 40 points just once this season. They did top Cincinnati last week in overtime, 24-17, but this is a Central Florida team that has won 20 consecutive games, including its last 12 in the American Athletic Conference.

Combined, UCF and Temple had 808 yards and 39 first downs. Russo, a sophomore, had a 300-yard day vs. Navy last month, but also tossed three picks vs. Cincinnati and had topped 255 yards passing in just one other game until Thursday night.

Ryquell Armstead, who missed the last two games, rushed for 96 yards on 15 carries in the first half for the Owls. Bryant had four catches for 82 yards, with Randle Jones hauling in a 70-yard touchdown pass.

The Knights rushed for 130 yards with seven different carriers, as Milton hit six different wide receivers.