SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 9, 2013
No. 21 Central Florida 19, Houston 14: Freshman William Stanback logged nine carries for a career-high 74 yards and two touchdowns as the host Knights held on to beat the Cougars and seize hold of the American Athletic Conference.
Storm Johnson paced the rushing attack with 127 yards on 28 carries for Central Florida (7-1, 4-0 AAC). Blake Bortles completed 17-of-24 passes for 210 yards and an interception while Jeff Godfrey was his favorite target, catching five passes for 67 yards.
John O'Korn threw for one touchdown and ran for another for Houston (7-2, 4-1). He completed 24-of-46 passes for 231 yards with two interceptions and carried the ball 13 times for 56 yards, while Deontay Greenberry caught a game-high eight balls for 94 yards.
Shawn Moffitt connected on 45- and 40-yard field goals as the Knights took a 6-0 lead with 2:12 left in the second quarter. O'Korn scampered in for a 24-yard score with 7:59 left in the third quarter before Stanback answered with a 15-yard touchdown run 5:34 later.
Stanback pushed the Knights' lead to 19-7 when he scored from 38 yards out with 10:23 to play, but Bortles two-point conversion pass fell incomplete. O'Korn found Wayne Beadle for a 12-yard scoring strike with 4:04 left, but Houston's potential game-winning drive stalled at the Central Florida 7-yard line when O'Korn couldn't connect with Kent Brooks on a fourth-down pass with 14 seconds remaining.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Central Florida is the only remaining undefeated team in AAC conference play. ... Stanback, whose previous career high was 65 yards, has five touchdowns in the last four games. ... Knights WR Breshad Perriman added five catches for 60 yards.