The Jayhawks improved to 5-1 with their 51-22 victory over UCF as they pounded the rock right through the UCF defense in the win, rushing for 399 total yards during the win.
1st quarter
UCF got the ball into Kansas territory with relative ease as John Rhys Plumlee started at quarterback. However, he was quickly put back on the sideline just a few plays into his first game back from an injury suffered against Boise State. Timmy McClain came in and UCF could not get into field goal range as they pinned Kansas at their own 10-yard-line.
Jason Bean came out for the start, and the Jayhawks were rolling on the ground early. Both Daniel Hishaw and Devin Neal had some nice carries, and Bean threw first down completions to Mason Fairchild and Luke Grimm as the Jayhawks set up a 25-yard field goal to open up the scoring.
Plumlee returned for the next drive, but threw two incompletions as the Knights went three-and-out.
2nd quarter
The second quarter got started with the Jayhawks already in the end zone. Hishaw and Neal had yet another successful drive as the offensive line was opening up lanes for them. The drive concluded when Lawrence Arnold caught a pass just short of the goal line and powered his way into the end zone with the stretch of his arm. The five yard touchdown was his first reception of the day.
After the score, the Jayhawk defense forced yet another three-and-out against UCF. The Knights' defense was asked to come out shortly after, and Kansas ran the ball right through them. Hishaw finished the drive with a four yard run in between the tackles to put Kansas up 17-0 with 6:31 to go in the half.
UCF went back to McClain for their next drive, but only picked up one first down before being forced to punt. That's when Trevor Wilson returned a punt 82-yards for a Kansas touchdown. It looked like he might call a fair catch, but Wilson made a couple of Knights miss on his way to the end zone.
It looked like UCF had finally figured out the Kansas defense, but Austin Booker made his biggest play of the year, stripping McClain of the ball as DJ Withers came in to scoop it up. The turnover did not lead to anything offensively after Bean took a big sack, but the Jayhawks were content to pin UCF deep and take their 24-0 lead into halftime.
3rd quarter
Kansas got busy on the first play from scrimmage of the second half, freeing up Devin Neal to run 75 yards to increase the lead to 31-0. The rush put him over 150 yards on the day.
UCF finally had an offensive response to the Jayhawks, scoring their first touchdown of the game. The drive opened up with RJ Harvey going 53 yards to put the Knights in the red zone. Shortly after, McClain found Alec Holler for a 13 yard touchdown pass. After a missed two-point conversion, it was 31-6 with 13:01 to go in the third.
The Jayhawks came out with a long, methodical drive as they continued to have success running the ball. This drive featured a lot more action for Hishaw, but it was Dylan McDuffie who finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Kansas took nearly six minutes off the clock on the drive. The extra point was botched on the hold, and UCF picked it up and scored two points on the play, making the score 37-8.
4th quarter
UCF took over seven minutes to drive down the field and score as their drive extended into the fourth quarter. They punched it in with a four yard rush from RJ Harvey.
The Jayhawks got the ball back and continued to dominate in the run game. Hishaw took the majority of carries, and even took some of the snaps in the wildcat formation. Another long Kansas drive led to another Kansas touchdown as Hishaw scored to make it 44-15.
UCF answered Kansas' score, this time in a much quicker manner, taking just five plays to cover 75 yards. They tried an onside kick to try and make a further dent into their 22 point deficit, but Quentin Skinner got on top of it for Kansas.
The shortened field created an easy opportunity for Kansas to get into field goal range, but Seth Keller missed his first field goal of the year from 32 yards.
The next UCF drive ended in their own territory as Taiwan Berryhill got in for a sack on fourth down.
Kansas put one last score on the board before going home, as McDuffie scored for the second time of the day, putting Kansas up 51-22. The Knights could not score after that, and Kansas officially moved to 5-1.
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