The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • C3

Orlando Sentinel: PRODUCT: OS DESK: SPT DATE: 10-30-2005 EDITION: FLA ZONE: FLA PAGE: C3.0 DEADLINE: 23.21 OP: ahuff COMPOSETIME: 22.29 CMYK Orlando Sentinel SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2005 C3 UCF 30, EAST CAROLINA 20 KNIGHTMARE. NO MORE THE BUZZ UCF improves to 4-1 in C-USA ML r' mMMMWmU Hl E. Carolina grad Dowdy roots for UCF's stadium Possibly the most passionate but bipartisan fan at Saturday's game was the man for whom East Carolina's stadium is co-named. Orlando's Ron Dowdy, a key businessman in the International Drive scene, has an accounting degree from East Carolina and contributed $1 million to help expand Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Dowdy wore a purple sweater and sat in his ECU club suites Saturday, but clearly he is enthused about UCF's plan to build a football stadium on campus.

Sources at the UCF Foundation confirmed Dowdy pledged $2.5 million toward the $50 million stadium, which the Knights hope to build in 2007. "I've pledged the money," Dowdy said Saturday, declining to reveal the size of his potential gift. "I'm ready to sign that document right now." The hitch: Dowdy has an agreement with UCF Athletic Director Steve Orsini that the booster's pledge will become official as soon as the Knights find somebody to eclipse it. "What we're going to do on campus is not about putting my name on another stadium," Dowdy said. "We're going to do what needs to be done." To the house RB Jason Peters added to his big-play total Saturday with a 67-yard touchdown run, the longest scoring run at UCF since Daunte Culpepper's 75-yard run against Kent State in 1 997.

"There was a hole, and there wasn't anybody there after I got through the hole," said Peters, who gained 1 1 3 yards, his second 1 00-yard game in a row. "But I ran out of gas at the end." Cedric Gagne-Marcoux and OG Kyle Smith created the seam, and OT Patrick Brown sustained a key block. "I sealed off the linebacker and felt something graze my rear end," Gagne-Marcoux said. "I didn't know what it was. Then I heard the crowd go Younger all the time As expected, UCF made a change at free safety.

The Knights gave redshirt freshman Augustus Ashley his first start, the 1 3th freshman or redshirt freshman to start this year. Ashley was inserted for last week's starter, Renford Parkes, and he snared his first career interception. The Knights have tried Sha'reff Rashad, Travonti Johnson and Anthony Willis in that slot this year. "He did OK," secondary coach Miles Al-dridge said of Ashley. "He's still young." Etc.

Former Boone Ryan Dougherty kicked four times for a 41 -yard average for East Carolina Daytona Beach's Travis Williams lost his punt return job in the first quarter for the Pirates after making two mistakes on UCF's first punt. He tried to catch the ball inside his 5-yard-line a no-no and the he fumbled it, setting up UCF's first score UCF finished 4-1 in October, its best mark in that month since going 4-0 in 1998 The Knights' offense continues to struggle with penalties. The first half showed three holding penalties, a false start and two delays. (One of the delays was intentional.) ALAN SCHMADTKE ByALANSCHMADTKE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER GREENVILLE, N.C. This is a team too young to know the answer to the question, "How big?" UCF's Golden Knights may not put Saturday into perspective until Thanksgiving weekend when Conference USA's divisional races are played out in time for the league's first championship game.

Ignorance is bliss. So is winning on the road for the first time. UCF won its first C-USA road game Saturday, stunning stubborn East Carolina 30-20 with a heavy dollop of second-half grit and two fourth-period touchdown passes at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. And no matter what else happens in the Knights' first season in C-USA, 2005 is an undeniable success. UCF, 0-for-2004, was picked to contend with East Carolina for the Eastern Division cellar.

After Saturday, after spitting up yet another two-touchdown lead and then rallying from behind in the fourth period, there will be no cellar-dwelling for the Knights (5-3, 4-1 in C-USA East). "This might be the biggest win in six or seven years. I don't know," junior defensive end Chris Welsh said. "We won some pretty good games in the MAC." UCF never took a division lead into November in the MAC. It never stared realistically at a bowl berth.

It never had (nor really wanted) a chance to post a season's best turnaround in Division I-A. From 0-11 and 17 losses in a row to something special. Almost every week the Knights' line between the winning or losing is a thin one, but give them their due. "This gets us one step closer to what we're looking for," fifth-year senior Frisner Nelson said amid a locker room full of giddy teammates. "We're really, really happy, obviously.

We just want to keep this going." Make no mistake, the Knights aren't world-beaters, and often they inflict as much damage to themselves as to the other side. On Saturday they took six turnovers from ECU (3-5, 2-3 C-USA East) but needed Steven Moffett to revive himself and rescue them in the fourth quarter. Moffett completed only 10 passes, but the final two were the most meaningful, touchdown strikes of 38 and 31 yards to Mike Walker. "The whole game they were keeping everything in front of them," said Walker, who caught seven passes for 1 10 yards. "After a while, their safeties kept creeping in.

I told Steve, 'Just throw it up and let me and Brandon Marshall go get it. Just throw it Walker first split Daytona Beach's Travis Williams and Zach Baker. Then he got behind safety Pierre Parker. Until those plays, UCF seemed destined to present the Pirates a gift before 34,410 gathered for homecoming. It allowed a one-dimensional ECU offense to run for 272 yards, pass for 270 and hold a 20-17 lead with 10 minutes to play.

Battered James Pinkney became the 11th quarterback in ECU history to throw for at least 2,000 yards in a season, but he locked onto Aundrae Allison too long late, allowing Joe Burnett to read his eyes and set up UCF's game-clinching score. "I guess it's never pretty with us, but we're making things happen," UCF Coach George O'Leary said. "Those are ways you can win games. We're doing enough good things to win games." Alan Schmadtke can be reached at aschmadtkeorlandosentinel.com. STAN GILLILANDTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS UCF's Steven Moffett heaves a pass against East Carolina while Kevin Smith blocks in the first half on Saturday.

Moffett struggled at times but finished 10 of 25 for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. 2 plays pivotal to game 15 26 48-249 41-272 181 270 1st downs Rush-Yds Passing Return Yds C-A Int. Punts Fumbles Pen-Yds Time 51 10-25 0 8-336 2-0 10-76 30:34 6 24-46 3 4-164 3-3 8-57 29:26 FIRST QUARTER UCF Peters 1 run (Prater kick), 5:37. Drive: 1 yard, 2 plays, :41. Key play: Francis recovers T.

Williams punt muff at East Car- olina'sl. SECOND QUARTER UCF FG Prater 26, 10:52. Drive: 33 yards, 6 plays, 1:52. Key play: Carrington interception of Pinkney pass at East Carolina's 41 ECU FG Lee 33, 7:44. Drive: 64 yards, 9 plays, 3:08.

Key plays: Lindsay 32 run to UCF's 12. UCF Peters 67 run (Prater kick), 6:13. Drive: 76 yards, 3 plays, 1:31. Key play: Branham recovers fumble, preventing a turnover THIRD QUARTER ECU Fractious 26 run (Lee kick), 5:03. Drive: 80 yards, 12 plays, 3:52.

Key play: Crowell 10 pass from Pinkney on third-and-5. ECU FG Lee 28, :09. Drive: 58 yards, 10 plays, 2:53. Key play: UCF 5-yard penalty for simulat- UCF INDIVIDUALS RUSHING ing snap count on fourth- and-1. FOURTH QUARTER ECU Fractious 7 run (Lee kick), 12:14.

Drive: 67 yards, 5 plays, 2:18. Key play: Fractious 49 run to UCF's 18. UCF Walker 38 pass from Moffett (Prater kick), 9:12. Drive: 80 yards, 9 plays, 3:02. Key plays: Moffett 4-for-6 for 70 yards, including 8 pass to Marshall on third-and-6.

UCF Walker 31 pass from Moffett (kick failed), 4:00. Drive: 31 yards, 2 plays, :12. Key play: Burnett interception of Pinkney pass. A 34,410. ECU INDIVIDUALS RUSHING STAN GILLILANDTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS Returning an intercepted pass, UCF's Augustus Ashley grinds out a few yards as East Carolina's Audrae Allison pursues in the first half.

UCF and East Carolina both struggled to mount much of an attack. ByALANSCHMADTKE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER GREENVILLE, N.C. There were 175 chances for something big to happen 160 pitting offense against defense and 15 more on special teams when the ball didn't get kicked to the end zone. Two that meant the most two that UCF will appreciate as it matures, thanks to Saturday's victory are buried amid long runs, touchdown passes and turnovers. Glenroy Watkins hit a quarterback out of bounds.

And Brandon Marshall won a wrestling match for the football to earn a first down. The first thrust on-the-ropes East Carolina back into the game. The second gave the Golden Knights their tipping point. Marshall's catch, pulled away from cornerback Kasey Ross for a first down, threw calm into his arrhythmic quarterback. Steven Moffett, with only five completions in the first 45 minutes, suddenly found himself.

He completed four of his next five passes, his best streak on Saturday, and two throws went for touchdowns. "It was a strange game," said Moffett, 10-for-25 for 181 yards passing, a season-low for completions. "We had them beat, then our backs were against the wall. Then we took it back." Added receiver Mike Walk- RECAP Steven Moffett struggled through most of Saturday but threw two scoring passes to Mike Walker in the fourth quarter, earning UCF its first road win in Conference USA, 30-20 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Moffett's strikes of 38 and 31 yards enabled the Golden Knights (5-3, 4-1 C-USA East) to rally from a 20-1 7 deficit after blowing a 17-3 lead.

The turning point After going three-and-out on three of four possessions after half-time, UCF's offense got going after Moffett completed an 8-yard pass to Brandon Marshall on third-and-6 from UCF's 24. The Knights then drove 67 more yards to grab a 24-20 lead, one they wouldn't lose. Unsung heroes DEs Paul Carrington and Randy Dozierand LB Jordan Richards hounded and pounded Pinkney, who will wake up sore and bruised this morning. Richards, SS Jason Venson and FS Augustus Ashley had a team-high nine tackles. Key injuries There were no serious injuries.

Looking ahead After serving as a homecoming opponent its past two road trips, UCF has its own homecoming Saturday against Houston at the Florida Citrus Bowl. Final word "I wish we'd make it easier on ourselves, but we're not there yet. At least we can talk about it after a win." UCF Coach George O'Leary. ALAN SCHMADTKE Player Atl Yds Avg Peters 14 113 8.1 Smith 22 91 4.1 Wilcox 1 26 26.0 Moffett 8 30 3.8 Team 3 5 1.7 PASSING Player Moffett 10 25 0 181 Player Atl Yds Avg Walker 7 110 15.7 Marshall 3 71 23.7 DEFENSIVE STATISTICS UT TT Int. Sck Player Player All Yds Avg Fractious 10 107 10.7 Lindsay 11 73 6.6 Johnson 9 56 6.2 Baker 1 44 44.0 Pinkney 9 2 0.2 Good 1 10 10.0 PASSING Player A I Yd Pinkney 24 46 3 270 RECEIVING Player All Yds Avg Allison 9 90 1 0.0 Henry 6 79 13.2 Crowell 2 18 9.0 Johnson 2 5 2.5 Good 1 31 31.0 Howard 1 15 15.0 Levesque 1 13 13.0 Hewett 1 11 11.0 Harmon 1 8 8.0 DEFENSIVE STATISTICS Player UT TT Int.

Sck Baker 5 9 0 0 Setzer 4 6 0 0 Stephens 3 6 0 0 Hodges 4 5 0 0 Moore 4 5 0 1 MacDngh 2 5 0 0 Hunt 2 5 0 1 Parker 3 4 0 0 Chilsom 2 4 0 0 Robinson 14 0 0 Wiggins 14 0 0 Ross 3 3 0 0 1 tackle: Koonce, Jean, 8 9 7 9 7 9 0 1 0 0 1 0 "Sometimes we're our own worst enemy," defensive coordinator Lance Thompson said. Marshall came to the rescue immediately after East Carolina seized the lead. Staring at another three-play drive and punting from inside its 25 Moffett threw 9 yards to Marshall in almost exactly the same spot where Watkins committed his offense. First down. And all downhill for the Knights.

"We felt like we had it," ECU Coach Skip Holtz said, "and then we gave it back." "He threw it perfectly. He threw outside so only I could get it," Marshall said. "He couldn't put it nowhere else. I'm glad it got us going." Alan Schmadtke can be reached at aschmadtkeorlandosentinel.com. er: "Just like last time, we made plays late.

When we needed the breaks, we made the breaks." Made them after giving them. Midway through the third quarter, UCF led 17-3 and had East Carolina third-and-10 from its 35-yard line. Pirates quarterback James Pinkney scrambled away from trouble for four yards Drive over. But no. Watkins cracked Pinkney right in front of ECU'S bench.

The personal foul gave ECU a first down at UCF's 46. Six plays later, the Pirates sliced their deficit to 1 7-1 0. Five minutes later, it was 17- 13. And three minutes after that the Pirates led 20-17. UCF ran six offensive plays after Watkins' penalty.

7 8 0 0 7 7 Richards Venson Ashley Neal Burnett Nelson Welsh Sandy Gabourel Okammor Watkins Cook Johnson Reid Dozier 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 tackle: Malatesta, Francis, Carrington, Walker 1 Bell, Lindsay, Dosh, Cotton, McCoy, Hicks The Bottom Line: Before the season began, UCF was predicted to finish in the C-USA cellar. Guess not..