UCF Beats No. 2 BYU 39-31 in Double Overtime for Highest Ranked Win in Program History

UCF beat No. 2 BYU 39-31 in double overtime on Saturday at the Acrisure Bounce House in Orlando, the highest ranked win in program history and the first top five win the school has recorded. The Knights finished at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12. BYU fell to 6-1 and 3-1, losing for just the fifth time in the last three seasons combined, one week after the Cougars beat Notre Dame and ended a 16 game winning streak.

Keyone Jenkins made his fifth straight start for UCF because Alonza Barnett III, listed as a game time decision, dressed and warmed up but did not start. Jenkins completed 25 of 41 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns, and he also ran for a score. BYU struck first on an 11 play, 84 yard opening drive that ended with a 27 yard touchdown pass from Bear Bachmeier to Kyler Kasper. UCF answered with a 2 yard touchdown run by Landen Chambers, took a 10-7 lead on a 20 yard field goal by Will Stone, and reached halftime ahead 17-14 after Jenkins hit Chambers for a 6 yard touchdown with eight seconds left, a drive set up by an interception from linebacker Tackett Curtis.

Regulation ends tied at 24-24

BYU moved back in front in the third quarter when Sione Moa scored on a 1 yard run for a 21-17 lead. UCF replied on a 1 yard keeper by Jenkins with 3:06 left in the third, a drive kept alive when Tyren Hornes took a short screen 56 yards on third and 17. Matthias Dunn tied the game 24-24 for BYU with a 47 yard field goal with 12:09 left in the fourth quarter.

The finish of regulation was wild. BYU stopped a Jenkins quarterback sneak at the 1 yard line with 1:44 left. In the final seconds, officials overturned a Jenkins fumble, called BYU for unsportsmanlike conduct, and gave Stone a chance to win the game from 46 yards. BYU blocked the kick. Stone picked up the loose ball and went down, lost his helmet on the play, and a 10 second runoff after review ended regulation with the score still tied.

A penalty opens the door in the second overtime

Bachmeier opened the first overtime with a touchdown pass to Legend Glasker on third and 13, and BYU led 31-24. UCF answered on its first play, as Jenkins scrambled and found Josh Derry for 25 yards and a touchdown that tied the game again. In the second overtime, UCF lined up for a short field goal, but BYU was called for roughing the kicker, which gave the Knights a fresh set of downs at the 4 yard line instead of three points. Jenkins then hit Grayson Brousseau for a 4 yard touchdown on second and goal and found Hornes for the two point conversion and a 39-31 lead. BYU reached scoring range on its last possession, but a Bachmeier pass for the end zone on fourth and goal fell incomplete, and the homecoming crowd had its win.

It was the first overtime game for UCF since the 2017 conference championship game against Memphis. The result also continued a hard day for the top of the Big 12, after No. 8 Texas Tech lost at Cincinnati earlier on Saturday. With BYU beaten, Miami, Utah and UCLA are the only unbeaten teams left in the FBS, according to theScore. UCF, which had lost to BYU in each of the past two seasons, now owns a win that will sit at the top of its record book.