The Library Media — Sports · Sports Desk
Sun Devils Leave Orlando Bowl-Eligible After 26-13 Win Over UCF
By Hollis Brandt
Photo: elisfkc from Orlando, FL, United States / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Arizona State did not need to be pretty. It needed to be steady, and on a night that began two hours late, steadiness was enough to beat UCF 26-13 at Acrisure Bounce House.
The Sun Devils took a 16-7 halftime lead, answered every UCF push with a kick or a run, and closed the game with the ball, the clock and the postseason in their control.
The first quarter offered neither side a point. The game settled into a field-position fight, and Arizona State won the second quarter outright, 16-0, behind a touchdown and three field goals. The Sun Devils never trailed again.
That 16-point burst began with Marquis Gillis, who scored on a 1-yard touchdown run at the start of the second quarter. The drive to that first touchdown included a twist: quarterback Jake Fette caught a 28-yard pass from receiver Derek Eusebio, a play that moved Arizona State into position to take the lead.
From there, kicker Carson Smith took over the scoring. Smith made field goals of 51, 41 and 28 yards in the second quarter, turning drives that stalled into points and stretching a one-score game into a two-score lead.
By halftime, Arizona State led 16-7. UCF’s points in the first half came on Landen Chambers’ 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Smith’s accuracy became the game’s defining feature. He made all four field-goal attempts — from 51, 41, 28 and 37 yards — and both extra points, scoring 14 points in the win.
Fette finished 21-of-36 passing for 196 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He did not throw a touchdown pass, but he did not turn the ball over, either, and his 28-yard reception on the drive to Arizona State’s first touchdown showed how the Sun Devils found ways to move the ball without forcing the issue.
Reed Harris caught seven passes for 80 yards, giving Fette a reliable target as Arizona State worked the middle of the field and kept the chains moving.
The running game gave the Sun Devils their closing punch. Cardae Mack carried 23 times for 107 yards and one touchdown, an 8-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that pushed Arizona State’s lead to 23-7 and put the game firmly in the Sun Devils’ hands.
Smith’s fourth field goal, from 37 yards, stretched the lead to 26-7, and Arizona State had done enough to absorb UCF’s late push.
UCF quarterback Alonza Barnett III completed 21-of-30 passes for 257 yards and one touchdown, a 40-yard touchdown pass to Tyren Hornes late in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 26-13.
Hornes caught five passes for 59 yards and the touchdown, while Josh Derry caught seven passes for 137 yards, the biggest receiving total of the night for either team. Derry’s yardage kept UCF in the game, but it did not produce enough points to match Arizona State’s steady scoring.
Chambers finished with seven carries for 54 yards, adding his second-quarter touchdown to a night in which UCF moved the ball in spurts but could not sustain drives the way Arizona State did.
The final numbers told the story of control. Arizona State outgained UCF 394 yards to 311 and held the ball for 35:14, a possession edge that kept UCF’s offense on the sideline and let the Sun Devils dictate the pace.
The win moved Arizona State to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12, and made the Sun Devils bowl-eligible for a third straight season. UCF fell to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12.
Kickoff was delayed two hours after Arizona State’s flight was delayed by Friday’s FAA ground stop, a late start that made the Sun Devils’ patience all the more notable. They waited, then won the second quarter, then won the game.
Hollis Brandt
College Football, The Library Media
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