UCF Knights @ Kansas Jayhawks
Piening scores late touchdown as UCF stuns Kansas 33-32
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- — Caden Piening reeled in a 6-yard reception with three seconds left on the clock to lift UCF over Kansas 33-32 on Saturday.
A 10-play, 73-yard drive took the Knights to the 6-yard line in just under one minute of clock, and Alonza Barnett III found Piening at the left pylon for the score. After a replay review, the call on the field was upheld, ending a 12-game road losing streak for UCF.
“There was no doubt on the sideline that we weren’t going to go out and win that game,” Piening told reporters.
The Knights (5-4, 3-3 Big 12) built up a 19-point lead early in the third quarter, but Kansas chipped away and eventually took the lead at the 1:06 mark after 25 unanswered points.
Barnett III, who started and played his first full game since returning from a hamstring injury, completed 18 of his 31 attempts for 251 yards, including 65 yards on the final drive.
“We were in a couple third downs, a couple of second and longs, but I could look in everybody’s eyes and they believed,” Barnett III said.
The pass to Piening was just their second connection of the day. The redshirt freshman now has three touchdowns in eight games.
Prior to the final drive, Kansas (3-6, 1-5 Big 12) pieced together a pair of lengthy touchdown drives to take the lead, scoring on a 30-yard run by quarterback Isaiah Marshall and a 2-yard run by Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman. The Jayhawks also knocked in a 34-yard field goal before their final touchdown drive.
“All of a sudden, they got rolling and we couldn’t get a stop,” UCF coach Scott Frost said. “There were so many plays that we had a chance to finish the game in a less dramatic way, and we didn’t.”
Kansas punted on its first possession, but got the ball right back on UCF’s first play from scrimmage with an interception and return to the 3-yard line. Marshall punched it in from 1 yard out to give the Jayhawks an early lead.
UCF marched down the field on the next possession and reached the Kansas 19-yard line, but settled for a field goal.
A risky call on fourth-and-1 paid off in the second quarter when Duane Thomas Jr. gave the Knights the lead with a 10-yard rush. They added another field goal on an 11-play drive to take a 12-7 lead into the locker room, holding the Jayhawks to just 61 yards of total offense in the half.
UCF burst out of the locker room with a pair of commanding touchdown drives, capping the first with a 1-yard run by Taevion Swint and the second with a 44-yard grab by Josh Derry, who finished with a game-high 143 receiving yards.
The Knights were not called for a single penalty on Saturday. They entered Lawrence ranked 36th among Division I programs for the fewest penalty yards per game with 50 flags for 385 yards through eight games.
Both teams were perfect in the red zone, with UCF scoring on five trips and Kansas converting on four.
Senior linebacker Curtis Tackett finished with a team-high 11 tackles for UCF. It was the second time this season he’s recorded 10 or more. He also had two quarterback hurries.
UCF: hosts Arizona State next Saturday.
Kansas: faces West Virginia in Morgantown next Saturday.
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