UCF stuns No. 2 BYU 39-31 in double overtime thriller

ORLANDO — There was madness in the Bounce House Saturday as UCF rallied to a 39-31 upset victory over No. 2 BYU.

Coming off an emotional win over Notre Dame last week, BYU fell victim to the upset. Neither team could pull away in a wild ending, which favored the underdog UCF in the scenario.

The last minute of regulation was filled with twists and turns of emotion before the tension spilled over into overtime.

With a chance to win the game with a game-winning drive, UCF quarterback Keyone Jenkins looked to be sacked before he let go of the ball. It was ruled a fumble on the field before replay review overturned the call.

However, a personal foul call on Keanu Tanuvasa for shoving a Knights player in the head while he was on the ground gave the Knights 15 yards and a first down to set up a potential 46-yard game-winning field goal attempt.

Faletau Satuala jumped over the line and blocked the field goal attempt, but UCF's kicker recovered the ball. The refs ruled the Knights to keep possession; but after review and deliberation, a 10-second runoff was assessed due to kicker Will Stone's helmet coming off.

BYU started with the ball in overtime, where Bachmeier threw a touchdown strike on third down to Legend Glakser for the lead. But on UCF's first play of overtime, Jenkins avoided a sack and found Josh Derry wide open in the end zone to even the score.

The Cougars' inability to tackle haunted them throughout the game, and not only on the missed sack. Knights players slipped out of tackles multiple times and fought for extra yards constantly. The inability to tackle was a big factor as to why BYU surrendered the most points they've allowed in a game all season.

"Lack of technique but also great skill in space," BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. "Going against UCF they had some great skill and space and made us miss and it caused a lot of issues for us."

Undisciplined play also plagued the Cougars, especially at the end of the game. On top of the penalty on Tanuvasa that gave UCF life, a roughing the kicker penalty on Kendall Wall took 3 points off the board and gave the Knights a first down.

Just like they have done all game, UCF took advantage as Jenkins found the Utah native, Grayson Brousseau, for a touchdown. Jenkins made another great throw on the run to hit Tyren Hornes for the 2-point conversion.

Needing a stop to secure their first-ever victory over a top-five team, the Knights were able to hold strong with a goal-line stand and knock off BYU.

"UCF put us on our heels and put us in some uncomfortable positions," Sitake said. "I want to give them a lot of credit for what they've done and they deserved the win. They were more fundamentally sound, didn't make a whole lot of mistakes."

With UCF starting quarterback Alonza Burnett III still sidelined with a hamstring injury, Jenkins made his fifth start of the season. Jenkins was great for the Knights and went 25-of-41 for 293 yards, three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown.

Jenkins' favorite target was Hornes, who hauled in six catches for 137 yards. His biggest play came in the third quarter when UCF faced a third-and-17 and the momentum on the Cougars' side after a touchdown on their opening drive of the second half.

Hornes turned nothing into something as he took a wide receiver screen 56 yards to set up a 1-yard rushing touchdown from Jenkins.

Bear Bachmeier's connection with Kyler Kasper continued to grow on Saturday, where Kasper hauled in six receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown. Bachmeier finished the game with 257 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception and added 37 yards and a score on the ground.

BYU's defense was not up to par by any means on Saturday but Justin Kirkland was one of the few bright spots on that unit. Kirkland recorded four tackles, including a sack and pass deflection but his biggest play came on a 4th-and-goal play for UCF.

After the Knights had burned up over seven minutes of clock and were driving down the Cougars' throat late in the fourth, UCF head coach Scott Frost decided to keep his offense on the field to go for it on fourth down from the one-yard line.

While helping anchor BYU's defensive line, Kirkland and the Cougars got great push to stuff Jenkins and force a turnover on downs.

Outside of Kirkland, it was a relatively uncharacteristic performance from BYU's defense, especially how the offense did everything they could until that final turnover on downs to find a way to win the game.

Sitake said postgame that this loss is humbling for the team and that it's on everyone to improve on this performance and turn it around going forward.

"I've got to figure out a way to get these guys going," Sitake said. This is humbling for them so this a good moment for us to get to work. We are going to have to just pick ourselves up and go to work and accept the fact that we were bested today and find a way to be better next week."

Following Texas Tech's loss to Cincinatti Saturday and outcome of the Utah-Houston game still to be determined, the Cougars still have all their goals ahead of them following this setback. BYU will have a Halloween matchup with Arizona State set for 1:30 p.m. MDT Saturday.

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