Photo courtesy of Aryah Britt

Knights dominated the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 73-6 on Thursday

UCF football made an absolute statement in front of the home crowd Thursday night against Bethune-Cookman, winning 73-6.

The Knights set a program record Thursday with a 67-point win, the biggest margin of victory in program history since Halloween of 1987.

The Knights came flying out of the gate as junior running back Duke Watson took it to the house 64 yards on his first touch as a Knight.

Along with his lone touchdown, Watson finished the night with 110 yards on seven carries, averaging 15.7 yards per carry.

Watson, who missed most of last season with an ankle injury at Louisville, feels that a game like this has reminded people who Duke Watson is.

“I’m definitely waiting until next week and conference play to really show people,” Watson said postgame. “But this was a great start.”

Just moments later, an overthrown ball is picked off by fifth-year defensive back Jayden Williams, who took it 47 yards to the house for his first career pick-six.

Back in spring, Williams referred to his last season as ‘taken away’ from him after dealing with injuries and not seeing much game time.

However, in the postgame press conference, Williams said the opportunity was manifested, and the one thing on his mind was scoring.

“It felt great, it really did,” Williams said. “It was really something I prayed about, and it manifested itself into the world.”

In the final minutes of the first quarter, a five-yard scamper by redshirt senior quarterback Alonza Barnett III had him dancing in the end zone for his first touchdown as a Knight.

Barnet later found redshirt sophomore receiver Jonathan Bibbs over the middle for a 23-yard touchdown for his first passing touchdown as a Knight.

Redshirt senior kicker Will Stone was the name many fans were anticipating watching in this matchup; he drilled his first career field goal of 34 yards.

With a little more than four minutes left in the second quarter, a forced fumble by redshirt junior edge rusher Aymeric Koumba was quickly scooped up by redshirt senior defensive tackle Horace Lockett.

All offseason, defensive coordinator Alex Grinch emphasized the importance of more turnovers for his defense.

The turnover set up a drive that ended with a two-yard rushing touchdown by redshirt junior running back Landen Chambers.

UCF went into the half with a 38-0 lead following complementary football on both sides.

In his college debut, freshman running back Taevion Swint secured his first touchdown following a breakaway 27-yard sprint.

The following drive, Barnett’s night was finished. He ended his Knights debut with 158 passing yards, 11/18 on passing attempts, one touchdown, and an interception.

While assessing his performance, Barnett reflected on some of the mistakes he made but felt confident he could clean them up and get better.

“Some good, some bad, some ugly, some things I wish I had back,” Barnett said. “At the end of the day, you have to wipe it and recognize you won’t go perfect but chase that perfection every day.”

Senior quarterback Keyone Jenkins came out onto the field to lead the offense and handed the ball off to Chambers, who found the end zone for the second time after a 27-yard rush.

After the defense stood tall once again, a punt returned by freshman receiver Chase Hinshaw put the Knights in an ideal starting position. The drive ended with a Jenkins throw to redshirt sophomore receiver Caleb Rollerson in the end zone.

Sophomore running back Agyeman Addae got a piece of the Knights’ rushing attack and took a 39-yard rush to the house to further the Knights’ lead.

Opening the fourth quarter, true freshman quarterback Rocco Marriott snuck his way into the end zone to make the score 73-0, after Stone’s PAT. The score also tied the most points in program history, marking another milestone for the Knights.

With the Knights just two seconds away from the largest shutout in UCF history, Bethune-Cookman’s Joel Morris found Kobe Stewart in the back of the end zone.

Head coach Scott Frost spoke on the team’s performance in the postgame press conference and said that while he was satisfied with the football played, it was what was expected out of this group.

“I told the team after the game, ‘we can’t go patting ourselves on the back for this’,” Frost said. “This is just what we were supposed to do, and we got a big test next week.”

The Knights will hit the road for a tougher matchup against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Sep. 12; kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Acrisure Stadium.