Pittsburgh Holds Off UCF 12-7 on a First-half Burst
Pittsburgh scored all 12 of its points before halftime and then spent the second half hanging on. It was enough: 12-7 over UCF.
Antonio Chadha kicked a 28-yard field goal with four seconds left in the first quarter. Early in the second, Braylan Lovelace picked up a safety, and Damon Ferguson Jr. ran in from 13 yards with 28 seconds left in the half for a 12-0 lead. (A field goal, a safety and a touchdown is a very specific way to get to 12.) Pittsburgh never scored again, and UCF did not either until late.
The visitors finally got on the board with 2:51 left in the fourth quarter. Alonza Barnett III hit Waden Charles from 19 yards, and the extra point made it 12-7. That is where it ended. UCF had one touchdown and about three minutes to find another, and it did not, so Pittsburgh stayed at 2-0 and UCF fell to 1-1.
The box score tells you how it played out. Pittsburgh ran 40 times for 107 yards and threw for 212, 319 total, with no turnovers. UCF ran 22 times for 20 yards, so Barnett's 186 passing yards did most of the work, and the Pittsburgh defense collected four sacks. Neither team turned it over once. Take away the safety and it is a 10-7 game, with the same winner.
For fantasy, there were not many points to go around. Ferguson led everybody at 17.6, and the other two top scorers came from the losing side.