Four teams scored over 40 points in week six of the season, These teams include UCF, SMU, Tulsa, and Louisiana-Monroe. AP Photo/John Minchillo
Huge offensive performances were the common theme among all the games from this past weekend. Four teams scored over 40 points in week six. SMU moved to 6-0 on the season after winning in triple overtime against Tulsa. Memphis proved to be too much for Louisiana-Monroe to handle as they moved to 5-0. Cincinnati pulled off one of the more surprising upsets of the weekend with a win over UCF.
Cincinnati: 27 UCF: 24
This past weekend, Cincinnati showed they are no pushover with an impressive win over a talented UCF team. UCF is a good team with a good offense, so the fact that Cincinnati was able to hold them to only 24 points is an amazing feat. This game started off slow with the Knights ahead 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. Both offenses began to heat up in the second quarter, but UCF still had the lead going into halftime. The Bearcats defense stepped up big time in the third quarter, not allowing the Knights to score again until late in the fourth quarter. Down 20-16, UCF needed to stop the Bearcats from scoring again. Instead, Cincinnati scored a touchdown five seconds into the fourth quarter. This proved too much for UCF to overcome, allowing Cincinnati to come away with the win.
Cincinnati’s offense had a stellar performance, gaining a total of 341 yards. The offense did an amazing job of not turning the ball over, only turning it over once. The Bearcats ground game gained a total of 192 yards and was led by running back Michael Warren who ran the ball 23 times for 133 yards. Quarterback Desmond Ridder had an okay game, rushing for 41 yards and passing for 149 yards. He completed 17 of his 31 pass attempts, and he threw two touchdowns and one interception.
The Knights offense had a mixed performance. While the Knights offense gained a total of 423 yards of offense, they turned the ball over four times. Teams that turn the ball over four times in a game typically don’t win. Running back Greg McCrae ran for 71 yards and scored one touchdown on 17 rushing attempts. Quarterback Dillion Gabriel had a rough game, throwing for 297 yards and one touchdown, while also throwing three interceptions. Gabriel Davis had an impressive performance, finishing the game with 13 receptions for 170 yards.
Cincinnati will take on Houston next. UCF does not have a game this weekend.
No. 24 SMU: 43 Tulsa: 37
SMU showed once again they are undefeated for a reason by winning the most exciting game of the weekend. It is very rare to see a game go into a third overtime in college football. Tulsa started the game off red hot and seemingly could do nothing wrong in the first half. It appeared the Golden Hurricanes were well on there way to upsetting SMU, as they went into halftime with a 23-9 lead. Tulsa added another touchdown in the third quarter while preventing SMU from scoring as well. At the start of the fourth quarter, it would have taken a miracle for SMU to come back from a 30-9 deficit. The Mustangs offense finally came to life, scoring 21 points to even the score at 30-30, while the defense shut down the Golden Hurricanes’ offense. SMU finally won the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass in third overtime.
SMU managed to put up impressive numbers on offense, but the stats do not tell the full story. For three quarters, the Mustangs were only able to score nine points. SMU was very fortunate that their offense finally got into gear when it mattered most. Running back Xavier Jones had an amazing performance, running the ball 26 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Shane Buechele completed 23 of 40 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target of the night was wide receiver James Proche, who had 11 receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
Tulsa started strong on offense, but they were not able to have the same success later in the game. Quarterback Zach Smith had an okay performance, throwing for 346 yards and four touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions. Wide receiver Keylon Stokes had five receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
Next up for Tulsa is a matchup Navy. SMU does not have a game next weekend.
Memphis: 52 Louisiana-Monroe: 33
Memphis moved to 5-0 for the season with a blowout win over Louisiana-Monroe. Memphis won the game easily thanks to a strong offensive performance, evidenced by the fact that Memphis never trailed in this game.
The Tigers gained 535 yards of total offense thanks to a balanced offensive attack. Running back Kenneth Gainwell had a monster day, running the ball 14 times for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Brady White also turned in a good performance, throwing for 249 yards and two touchdowns.
The Warhawks found a lot of success with their running game thanks to quarterback Caleb Evans, who ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Evans also threw for 286 yards, two touchdowns and threw one interception.
Memphis will take on Temple next.
Joshua Gorman is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at joshua.gorman@uconn.edu. He tweets @joshuagorman15.
