ORLANDO, Fla. – Justin Holman threw two touchdown passes and Dontravious Wilson scored twice, all in the first quarter, as the University of Central Florida routed winless SMU 53-7.
Holman completed 15 of 22 passes for 228 yards as UCF (7-3, 5-1) kept alive its hopes for another American Athletic Conference championship. Wilson had 80 yards on 15 carries. His backup, sophomore Michah Reed, picked up 112 yards on 26 carries.
SMU (0-10, 0-6) committed five turnovers and had only 116 yards of offense and four first downs. The Mustangs picked off Holman twice, but still allowed 490 yards for the game.
The rout was on early as UCF played a near-perfect first quarter. The Knights got touchdown runs of 1 and 11 yards from Wilson and TD passes of 58 and 18 yards from Holman to J.J. Worton and Breshad Perriman to run away to a 27-0 lead. UCF ran 27 plays in the quarter, had 247 yards total offense, no turnovers and no penalties.
SMU, on the other hand, had two turnovers and 28 yards of offense in the first period. Mustangs quarterback Matt Davis threw an interception on his team's first offensive play.
SMU had another one-play drive later in the quarter when running back K.C. Nlemichi fumbled a handoff and UCF's Miles Pace fell on it at the SMU 20.
The one positive in the quarter was a 64-yard kickoff return by Deion Sanders Jr., that set SMU up at the UCF 30-yard line. Davis did the rest, rushing four straight times for 30 yards, eventually scoring from five yards out.
The momentum change didn't last long. UCF's Michael Easton returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Rodrigo Quirarte kicked a 31 yard field goal just before halftime to make it 37-7 at the half.
UCF tacked on a 1-yard touchdown plunge by backup quarterback Nick Patti and three field goals by Shawn Moffitt in the second half.
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