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UCF 57, UNH 3

The worst is over. Perhaps that’s the best way for University of New Hampshire football fans to view the team’s season-opening 57-3 loss at Central Florida on Thursday night.

There’s no team remaining on UNH’s schedule that has the talent equal to what UCF threw at the Wildcats, who trailed 6-0 after one quarter, 29-3 at halftime and 57-3 entering the final 15 minutes. 

GAME STATISTICS

UCF, which competes in the Big 12, had a 639-162 edge in total offense. UNH was 2 of 15 on third down, was held to four first downs through the first three quarters and punted 11 times.

“Yeah you know what, I mean that’s a really talented football team that we went up against,” UNH coach Rick Santos said. “Both sides up front, you know that was a determining factor. Physically opposing, defensive line that gave us a lot of issues. We struggled to run the ball and then personally I think they did a really good job wearing us out, particularly going into the second half.”

It was 6-0 early in the second quarter, but the dam broke when an interception led to a UCF touchdown and then the Knights recorded a safety on a blocked punt to go up 15-0 with 13:12 remaining in the first half. UCF extended its lead to 22-0 before UNH’s Nick Mazzie connected on a 38-yard field goal with 4:31 left in the second. 

“I’ll give our guys a lot of credit,” Santos said. “We fought and certainly didn’t back down. They gave a ton of effort and I thought that was as good of a start as we could’ve wanted in this game. And ultimately I think the size, speed, and talent discrepancy kind of wore on us in this game a little bit. But you know I’m happy with the way we fought and I think the last couple drives showed a lot of character from our guys.”

The UCF offense did most of its damage on the ground. The Knights finished the game with 454 rushing yards and averaged 8.4 yards per carry. Running back R.J. Harvey led the way with 142 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

“RJ’s elite and I think everybody knows that,” Central Florida coach Gus Malzahn said. “First game’s first game. We were pretty vanilla. And sometimes when you’re vanilla, it is what it is, but we’ve got a lot of good things to build upon.”

The brightest spot for UNH came on defense, where safety Wande Owens – a transfer from Yale – recorded a game-high 14 tackles (six solo). Defensive end Josiah Silver and linebackers Ryan Toscano and Brandon Perkins each made eight tackles.

Quarterback Seth Morgan was 14 of 28 for 95 yards in his UNH debut. Wide receiver Logan Tomlinson had six catches for 73 yards.

The Wildcats averaged 2.3 yards per rushing attempt (29 carries for 67 yards), a total that got a boost when Matt Vezza replaced Morgan on the final series and picked up 21 yards on two carries.

UCF quarterback K.J. Jefferson, a transfer from Arkansas, overcame a rough start to complete 7 of 14 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once (Zedane Williams). Jefferson also carried the ball 11 times 39 yards and a TD.

“There were times when I was trying to overdo it and do too much instead of letting the game come to me and then just play my (style) of ball,” Jefferson said.

The loss dropped UNH’s record against FBS opponents to 6-15. There’s nothing but FCS opponents for the Wildcats the rest of the season, however, starting with Saturday’s game at Holy Cross (2 p.m.).

“Proud of our team,” Malzahn said. “Taking care of business with a convincing win against a lesser opponent.”

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