Junior tight end Dylan Wade turned in a career game that helped the UCF Knights rally for a 17-14 victory over Oklahoma State on Senior Night at the Acrisure Bounce House in Orlando.
Wade hauled in two touchdown passes and finished with a single-game career high 145 receiving yards on four catches. His performance enabled the Knights to erase a 14-0 halftime deficit and improve to 5-6 overall (2-6 in Big 12 play) while sending the Cowboys (0-8 in Big 12) to their 10th loss in 11 games this season.
Having things go their way in the first two quarters, Oklahoma State grabbed the lead when quarterback Zane Flores threw 5 yards to Gavin Freeman for the first score, then ran it in himself from 6 yards out. But wasting little time in their second-half comeback, the Knights struck on the first offensive play after halftime. UCF quarterback Tayven Jackson connected with Wade on an 83-yard scoring strike to give the Knights the spark they needed.
“At halftime coach drew a play, and we talked about it,” Wade said of the game’s key play. “We actually knew about it all week. We knew it was going to be a big hitter and he called it at the right moment, first play out of half. It was a big play.”
It was a distinct turnaround from a couple of games in which the Knights came out of halftime a little sluggish.
“We lost two games at home that we had a chance to win, and in both of those games, we came out and didn’t do much with the ball to start the second half,” UCF Head Coach Scott Frost said. “That was a big improvement, and I think we needed that just to get us within one score.”
With renewed life, the Knights battled all the way back with a game-tying drive early in the fourth quarter. Jackson found Wade again for a 2-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal that completed an 8-play, 43-yard drive.
But the two weren’t quite finished. After another stellar defensive series, the Knights forced a punt and took over on their own 10-yard line with 6:46 remaining in the game. On the first play of that drive, Jackson, who threw for 271 yards (16-25-2) lofted a deep ball that Wade hauled in for a 50-yard gain which set up the game-winning field goal.
“He got a game ball tonight,” Frost said of Wade. “That’s two games at home where we needed a spark, and we were on fumes, and he made a huge play for us. He made two tonight. He’s a big part of this. He’s become one of our best weapons, and he can keep improving, and he knows that.
“But the plays he made out there gave us seven and set us up for the winning one, and that was a key part. Kind of guy you want to build a program with. Another young guy that hadn’t played a lot of football until this year, but he’s continued to improve, and hope we can have him around here for a while.”
That game-winning drive stalled at the Cowboys’ 16-yard line, where with just under a minute to play, UCF kicker Noe Ruelas came through with a 34-yard field goal to complete the comeback.
“I am happy to send the seniors out on a high note, on a win here at home,” Ruelas said. “I was ready for it the whole game, I told D-Law (Deshon Lawrence, Senior Director of Player Development) in the third quarter, ‘I’m hitting a game winner today, I feel it.’ You have to stay locked in and ready for that moment as well as years of training.”
Frost said he had no doubt that his reliable kicker would come through in the clutch.
“At the end of that game, I had confidence in two things,” Frost said. “One was our kicker, ‘cause he’s done an unbelievable job all year, and the other was our defense, the way they played the entire second half.”
The Knights defense allowed just 27 total yards in the second half, the fewest in the final half of any game this season. It’s the fifth time in conference play this season that the Knights have held an opponent to 30 yards or less in the final quarter, limiting the Cowboys to just 22. It’s also the third time this season that UCF has shut out a conference opponent in the fourth quarter.
Holding Oklahoma State to just 228 total yards for the game, the Knights have won all four games in which they held opposing offenses to fewer than 300 yards.
The victory keeps alive hopes of securing a bowl bid, something the Knights were unable to do last season, snapping an eight-year bowl streak. But to do so, the Knights must clear a big hurdle on Saturday when they travel to Provo, Utah to face No. 11 BYU (10-1). The Cougars are tied for first place in the Big 12 standings heading into the final week of the regular season.
“It would mean a lot,” said Jackson of making a bowl game. “It would mean a lot for these seniors and mean a lot for these coaches and their families. A lot of people don’t understand a lot is on the line, winning and losing in college football. As long as we just focus on winning, that‘ll take care of itself.”
