Tayven Jackson threw a pair of touchdowns to Chris Domercant in the opening quarter on fourth down, as UCF rolled to a 45-13 victory over visiting West Virginia Saturday afternoon in Orlando, Fla.
Jackson returned after sitting out last week’s loss with a shoulder injury sustained two weeks ago against Kansas and completed 23 of 34 passes for 277 yards while throwing to 11 different receivers. He returned after Cam Fancher started against Cincinnati last week and was ruled out Saturday with an injury.
Domercant entered the game with nine receptions for 88 yards in his first season with the Knights after transferring from Chattanooga. He finished with five receptions for 89 yards and helped UCF set the early tone for a dominating win with a 40-yard TD on fourth-and-four with 11:33 remaining and a 34-yard score nearly seven minutes later on fourth-and-five
Jaden Nixon rushed for a pair of TDs in the third quarter. For the game, Nixon gained 116 yards on seven carries, while Myles Montgomery added 88 yards on 14 carries to help the Knights (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) gain 255 yards on the ground. Montgomery also set up UCF’s first TD by gaining 39 yards on the initial play of the game.
Davi Belfort replaced Jackson in the fourth quarter and had a 10-yard TD run as UCF totaled a season-high 578 yards.
West Virginia (2-5, 0-4) lost its fourth straight and is off to its first 0-4 start in Big 12 play since the 2015 season.
Scotty Fox Jr. started the game and was sacked four times before Khalil Wilkins replaced him. Wilkins was injured in the second half and his six-yard run early in the second accounted for West Virginia’s first score. Fox returned after Wilkins was injured.
Fox was 6-for-17 for 47 yards, while Wilkins finished 5-of-10. The Mountaineers had 79 passing yards in its first loss in five all-time meetings with Central Florida.
After settling for a 14-7 lead by halftime, UCF dominated the opening minutes of the third. The Knights went 92 yards on their first drive of the third and Nixon’s first TD put them up 21-7.
Following Keli Lawson’s fumble recovery and 32-yard TD with 10:40 left, Nixon rushed up the middle for his second TD and a 35-7 lead with 2:12 left.
