On Saturday the UCF Knights charged on to Boca Raton and improved their 2019 record to 2-0 behind Freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel who led the UCF Knights football team to a 48-14 road victory over FAU. Gabriel threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another for the No. 18/17 Knights.
Gabriel went 7-of-19 passing in the game, but totaled 245 yards through the air, finishing the night with 35 yards per completion. He also rushed for 19 yards and a score, one of five Knights to find the end zone on the ground Saturday.
“I’m proud of the way the guys played for four quarters in all three phases of the game,” UCF head coach Josh Heupel said after the game.
The Knights had a big game on the ground against the FAU defense as they pounded away for 312 rushing yards, making it two straight games for the Knights to move past the 300-yard rushing mark.
Running backs Greg McCrae, Adrian Killins Jr., Otis Anderson and Bentavious Thompson all scored TDs on the ground for the Knights. McCrae finished with 93 yards, Thompson had 91, Anderson totaled 75, and Killins had 37 as UCF averaged 6.6 yards per rush in the game.
“I’m proud of that group,” Heupel said of the running backs. “They cheer for one another and they’ve done a great job of understanding what we’re doing against the looks that we’re seeing and getting to the right spot.”
After McCrae scored on the first drive, Gabriel went to the air and hit Jacob Harris for a 57-yard touchdown to put the Knights up 14-0 early. Gabriel’s second passing touchdown was a 74-yard strike down the middle to Killins.
The senior running back’s two touchdowns gave him 29 total touchdowns in his career, tying him for fourth all-time in UCF history, matching David Rhodes’ total form 1991-94.
The UCF defense was equally impressive for the second straight outing, allowing just one second half touchdown and two first half field goals.
The win over FAU improves the road winning streak to 10 games. The Knights are now 3-0 all-time against FAU and will p[ay next Saturday at Spectrum Stadium where they’ll host Stanford at 3:30 p.m.
