The UCF Knights (Citronauts) snap their five-game losing streak with a crushing 56-12 win over the Arizona Wildcats in the 2024 Space Game. The Citronauts improve to 4-5 with three games to go. It’s knee-jerk reaction time.
Knee-Jerk Reactions: UCF Dominates Space Game over Arizona 56-12
Space Game Shenanigans
This was the Mission VIII Space Game for UCF. For this game, the Knights rebrand into the Citronauts in homage to the school’s NASA-rated roots. Coming into the game, the Knights were 7-0 and their average margin of victory was 28.8 points a game. Long story short, UCF routinely would win by a large margin during the Space Game. The closest game was in 2018 when UCF won by 12 points against Temple and the largest blowout was in 2022 when UCF won by 57 points, also against Temple. Last year, against 15th-ranked Oklahoma State, the Citronauts destroyed the Cowboys 45-3.
This year was no different. The Citronauts blew the game open, scoring the first 28 points, and ending the half with a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown. The blowout continued in the second half as Arizona never threatened UCF’s lead. Add this 44-point win to the pile. Space Game!
Coaching Changes Was Worth the Rizk
On Monday, head coach Gus Malzahn dropped the bombshell news that defensive coordinator Ted Roof had been relieved of his duties and replaced with 2023 defensive coordinator Addison Williams. He also announced that he would relinquish play-calling to offensive coordinator Tim Harris. Malzahn had one more surprise with Dylan Rizk being the fourth quarterback to start a game for UCF. Last week against BYU, Rizk came in during garbage time and looked sharp with his throws. His play was rewarded with the state this week and Rizk delivered.
Rizk took advantage of the Space Game Shenanigans and played extremely well, going 20/25 for 294 yards with a trio of touchdowns. He did well spreading the ball around as seven different receivers recorded at least one catch. Ohio transfer Jacoby Jones had his second consecutive strong day as the only Citronaut to break 100 yards receiving while adding a touchdown. Rizk’s passing game paired well with running back RJ Harvey, who did RJ Harvey things. Harvey ran for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Surprisingly, his longest run was only 23 yards. The team managed to gain 602 yards on offense with 308 on the ground.
Keeping McMillan in Check
One of the keys of the game was keeping future first-round wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan from having too many big plays. The Citronauts did a good job doing this. Before the game, McMillan caught around 47% of Noah Fifita’s passing yards. Mission accomplished. McMillan’s 84 receiving yards was less than 33% of Fifita’s 256 yards passing. The two connected on a highlight one-handed catch for a touchdown in the third quarter. It took some time for Fifita to find other targets to step up. Chris Hunter ended up leading the team in receiving with 102 yards with 85 of it coming in the second half.
Even bigger than keeping McMillan in check was making the Arizona offense one-dimensional. The running game, which wasn’t overly strong to begin with, was completely shut down. The stat sheet will say that the Wildcats only rushed for five yards, which is amazing. When adjusted for the four sacks the Citronauts had, the total is 34 yards on 21 carries.
The defense looked much improved with Williams running the show. The team went back to work on some of their fundamentals, including pursuit angles and tackle techniques. As Malzahn said during his post-game press conference, replacing Roof with Williams was an unfortunate, but necessary move.
Now What?
With three games remaining and a 4-5 record, the Citronauts can still make a bowl game. UCF will travel next week to Arizona State, then West Virginia, and finish with a Black Friday home game against Utah. UCF is now 2-4 in the Big 12. The conference championship is out of reach, but UCF still has a lot to play for. Rizk has a game under his belt as a starting quarterback and it’s no secret he’s the guy from now on, the offense will need to continue to fine-tune his game. As a redshirt freshman, there is a lot of room for growth.
Uniform Review
The 2024 Space Game, like every game since the second, comes with a unique uniform design. The Citronauts have a black helmet with a white block UCF and Canaveral blue trim. The tops start with black and as you near the bottom of the jersey, it has gray speckles to represent moon dust. The shoulders are very similar to the 2018 edition with key constellations. If you’re only seeing the top half of the uniform, you might mistake the two. The pants are a moon-surface gray.
The predicted score was 31-17 UCF. It ended up being way more one-sided. Throughout the history of the Space Game, UCF has done very well and against a struggling team like Arizona, the opportunity was there to make a statement. They did just that last year against Oklahoma State before salvaging the season. The Citronauts revert to the Knights and go on the road next week against Arizona State.
Stat Leaders
Passing:
UCF: Dylan Rizk: 20/25 for 294 yards, 3 TD, 0 Int
UA: Noah Fifita: 24/33 for 256 yards, 2 TD, 0 Int
Rushing:
UCF: R.J. Harvey: 22 carries for 184 yards, 3 TD
UA: Kendrick Reescano: 8 carries for 20 yards, 0 TD
Receiving:
UCF: Jacoby Jones: 5 catches for 106 yards, 1 TD
UA: Chris Hunter: 7 catches for 102 yards, 0 TD
Game Notes:
- UCF leads the series 1-0.
- UCF is now 8-0 in Space Games.
- RJ Harvey now has 3,416 career rushing yards. He passes Alex Haynes for second all-time at UCF.
- RJ Harvey had his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season. That ties him in sixth with Mark Giacone for the highest single-season mark at UCF.
- RJ Harvey now has 14 100-yard rushing games. He passes Marquette Smith for fourth all-time at UCF.
- RJ Harvey now has 16 rushing touchdowns on the season. That ties Isaiah Bowser and himself for the second-highest single-season mark at UCF.
- RJ Harvey now has 37 career rushing touchdowns. That ties him with Latavius Murray for third all-time at UCF.
- Kobe Hudson has caught a pass in 32 consecutive games. He ties Tyson Hinshaw for fifth all-time at UCF.
- Sorry it’s not my best, but I was distracted by Malzahn saying that every game should be a Space Game.
