UCF Knights march toward St. Petersburg Bowl

The Knights are headed to the St. Petersburg Bowl after beating East Carolina in dramatic fashion Thursday night. They successfully defended their conference title for the first time in school history, earning their fifth bowl game in six years.

And it all turned on one play.

With 10 seconds left in their game against East Carolina on Dec. 4, the dream of a conference title repeat on the gridiron was seemingly over for the UCF Knights.

They had just been forced to punt away what looked like their last chance at a win, giving the ball back to the Pirates with less than two minutes left to play. All East Carolina needed was to run out the clock.

When it became apparent that the Pirates, within UCF’s red zone and well within field goal range, were going to give the ball back to the Knights with 10 seconds left, things got interesting.

After a quick strike to receiver Josh Reese, UCF quarterback Justin Holman was staring at an end zone half a field away with time for just one more play. He dropped back and watched his receivers disappear into the distance. Then he let fly a soaring 51-yard Hail Mary pass that landed in receiver Breshad Perriman’s hands just a step away from the goal line.

The touchdown catch left UCF with 32-30 win, an American Athletic Conference championship and with East Carolina wondering what happened after a 21-point fourth-quarter comeback came apart.

East Carolina had come back from a listless first three quarters of the game, scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the final frame to lead 30-26 with just 10 seconds left.

Holman, who had dominated in the first half, had played like the inverse of East Carolina QB Shane Carden in the final quarter, leading the Knights to only one first down in the entire quarter before the final possession. Carden would score two touchdowns in the span of about three minutes to start the quarter, then scored the go-ahead TD with only a 2:17 left in the game.

The Knights' offense couldn't find a response, failing to gain any ground against the East Carolina defense, which seemingly had been powerless to stop them in the first half of the game. In the fourth quarter the ECU defense emerged energized, preventing the Knights from crossing half field, and causing a devastating turnover that would all but seal the game for the Pirates.

The Knights defense also suffered a horrific late collapse. After allowing -1 yard rushing in the first half of the game, they seemingly were letting ECU grab first downs at will in the final 15 minutes.

Meanwhile the Pirates, momentum in hand, emerged from a 26-9 deficit at the start of the quarter in what seemed like a historic comeback.

But with a Hail Mary catch for the ages, it all changed for the better for the moribund Knights. The Knights had been playing for a share of the American Athletic Conference championship, which they secured with the win.

They also helped reverse a trend against the Pirates. Before Thursday's win, the Knights had only beaten them once on the road in seven tries.

On four receptions, Perriman would gain 139 of the 274 passing yards Holman would connect with in the game.

The Knights are now 9-3 overall, with a 7-1 record in the conference. They’re set to play NC State (7-5) at the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl at 8 p.m. on Dec. 26.