FORT WORTH, Texas — UCF’s 21-point, second-half comeback Saturday night against TCU sent shockwaves within the Big 12 Conference and the greater college football landscape — to everyone aside from those standing, and eventually celebrating, on the Knights‘ sideline.
“I know the type of team we have, and I know the bond that we share,” said quarterback KJ Jefferson, who threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns. “We knew we were going to face adversity. We knew they were going to do something good. We just had to keep our composure.
“We came in the locker room (at halftime), all the captains and the leaders stepped up on the team and said we hurt ourselves in the first half. We just had to come out the second half, play UCF-brand football and clean up the mistakes. … We executed at a high level in the second half.”
The Knights (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) matched the largest rally in team history, a feat accomplished on three previous occasions. UCF dug itself out of a 21-point hole in Gus Malzahn‘s debut against Boise State in 2021, in a pivotal road win over No. 8 Louisville in 2013 and for the first time at the expense of Illinois State way back in 1984.
Of those three prior comebacks, only the Louisville game featured a three-touchdown deficit in the third quarter.
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