UCF Football Score: Knights Fall 26–13 to Arizona State as Bowl Hopes Narrow
Arizona State flew in the morning of the game after Friday's FAA ground stop, then beat UCF 26–13 at Acrisure Bounce House on Saturday night — leaving the 5–5 Knights two games, starting with Iowa State on Friday night, to find a sixth win and a bowl bid.
2 minute read
UCF’s bowl math is down to its simplest and hardest form: win one of the last two, or stay home. The Knights fell 26–13 to Arizona State at Acrisure Bounce House on Saturday night, a game between two 5–4 teams in which only the visitors left bowl-eligible. Arizona State improved to 6–4; UCF is 5–5 overall and 3–4 in the Big 12, with a home game against Iowa State and a trip to Colorado left to find a sixth win. More Knights coverage lives on our UCF Knights page in Orlando Citizen Sports.
A game delayed before it started
Kickoff was pushed back two hours by the Big 12 Conference after Friday evening’s nationwide FAA ground stop disrupted Arizona State’s travel to Orlando; the Sun Devils flew in on Saturday morning and arrived hours before the game. If the Knights hoped the travel chaos would soften the visitors, the first half answered otherwise. After a scoreless first quarter, Marquis Gillis opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second. UCF drove 58 yards in nine plays but came away empty when Will Stone’s 34-yard field goal missed wide left, and a 50-yard Carson Smith field goal made it 10–0.
The swing before halftime
UCF’s best moment of the night cut the deficit to 10–7: Alonza Barnett III hit Josh Derry for 47 yards to set up Landen Chambers’ 2-yard touchdown run, the running back’s team-leading fifth score of the season. But Arizona State answered with a field goal, then turned a Barnett fumble inside the UCF 20 — with 36 seconds left in the half — into a third straight Smith field goal and a 16–7 halftime lead. The Knights never got closer. A 14-play, 81-yard drive that consumed seven minutes ended in a Cardae Mack touchdown run, Smith’s fourth field goal stretched the lead to 26–7, and UCF’s only reply was a late 40-yard touchdown catch by Tyren Hornes from Barnett with 2:12 remaining.
The numbers that tell it
Barnett finished with 257 passing yards and a touchdown, and Derry caught passes for 124 yards — his third 100-yard receiving game of the season. But UCF ran for only 54 yards, converted just two of nine third downs, and scored once in three trips inside the red zone. Arizona State’s freshman backfield did the rest: Jake Fette completed 21 of 36 passes, and Mack carried 25 times for 111 yards and the touchdown that put the game away. In the game’s strangest footnote, the final Arizona State snaps were taken by backup quarterback Mikey Keene — who played at UCF in 2021 and 2022 — kneeling out the win against his former school.
Two chances left
The Knights stay home for Senior Knight against Iowa State on Friday, Nov. 20 at Acrisure Bounce House (6:00 p.m. ET, FS1), then close the regular season at Colorado. One win sends UCF to a bowl; two losses end the season at 5–7. While the football team fights for December, the basketball Knights are rolling — read our recap of Friday’s 84–70 win over Georgia Southern, and catch up on the Magic’s NBA Cup win over Milwaukee.
Photo: Spectrum Stadium – 2017 AAC Championship Game by DampFrijoles · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons · AI-enhanced to magazine grade by Orlando Citizen.
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