Upon Further Review: Senior Day & Navy’s Upset of UCF
For the second straight year, underdog Navy defeated UCF Saturday, this time by 17-14 despite the Knights changing quarterbacks.
This represented a sour end to the careers of the last reminiscing players from the 2017 championship squad, such as Sam Jackson and Anthony Montalvo.
“As a senior, this is your last one here, you wanna go out with a bang,” Montalvo said in a postgame press conference.
He also said that players, especially Jackson, were very emotional about things went down on Senior Knight.
“[Jackson] came up and said he loved us,” Montalvo said. “You could tell by the crack on his voice that he was emotional.”
Senior Isaiah Bowser said the game meant a lot to guys such as Jackson and Montalvo. The latter said that even though he is leaving, he is excited to see what the youngsters do in the Big 12 starting next year.
On the field, UCF was never ahead in the scoreboard. Navy put up the first points on the board with a quarterback sneak by Xavier Airline. On a 11-play, 75-yard drive, the Midshipmen scored their first touchdown on an opening drive all year.
UCF responded with big plays but failed to reach the end zone. Freshman kicker Colton Boomer was responsible for the Knights’ first six points of the day with two field goals.
The Midshipmen controlled most of the first half as they entered halftime leading 14-6. They had 19:14 of possession compared to the 10:46 for the Knights. Additionally, Navy successfully went 5-9 on third downs, while UCF went 2-6.
With the deficit on the board, head coach Gus Malzahn opted to go with Mikey Keene for the second half, and the change quickly made a big impact. Starter John Rhys Plumlee completed 11-18 passes for 107 yards and a pick in the first half.
Malzahn said Plumlee’s shoulder has been bothering him since last week. The Hail Mary attempt that fell short and resulted in the interception was the indicator that a change was needed.
On five plays in less than two minutes, the Knights scored their first touchdown of the day on a 28-yard pass to Javon Baker, followed by a two-point pass from Plumlee to Baker once again.
Keene went a perfect 3-3 for 79 yards and the score on his first drive of the game.
“He gave us a really good lift coming right at halftime right there,” Malzahn said.
Unfortunately, a fumble in the next drive resulted in a field goal for the Midshipmen, something the Knights never recovered.
Malzahn said UCF had trouble protecting Keene for the remainder of the game. Striker John Marshall was the highlight of Navy’s defense, setting a new school record with four sacks in a single game. He also added 10 total tackles with four being solo.
For the game, Navy had 39:36 of possession time as opposed to UCF’s 20:24. Notably, the Midshipmen had 248 total yards of offense, all on the ground.
Now, UCF needs to win the War on I-4 against South Florida to stay in contention for a shot to play in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.
“It was a tough loss,” Malzahn said. “We’re gonna deal with it for the next 24 hours. We’re gonna show up tomorrow, put it behind us, and do everything we can to win the conference championship.”
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