Scrote's Revenge Loss #5: Houston 30 UCF 27.
Space. It's got a Force. It's got a Jam. It's got a Ghost. David Bowie's been in it. Women have said they needed it to Jim dozens if not hundreds of times. And apparently it's also got a Game.
The Space Game is a big deal at the Orlando metropolitan areas #1 commuter school and home of our dearly departed Coach Scrote and if you're coming to play the Citronauts, UCF's temporary mascot, for their Space Game you better come in hopped up on rocket fuel and cocaine because UCF is a sparkling 8-0 in Space Games. Here are all the Citronauts clobberings of their opposition since the Space Game started
Oct. 14, 2017 — UCF 63, East Carolina 21
Nov. 1, 2018 — UCF 52, Temple 40
Nov. 2, 2019 — UCF 44, Houston 29
Oct. 24, 2020 — UCF 51, Tulane 34
Oct. 22, 2021 — UCF 24, Memphis 7
Oct. 13, 2022 — UCF 70, Temple 13
Nov. 11, 2023 — UCF 45, Oklahoma State 3
Nov. 2, 2024 — UCF 56, Arizona 12
And kids apparently Vegas takes it seriously too because Coach Scrote's boys came in a 1.5 point favorites over a 7-2 Houston team led by Willie Fritz. Needless to say you aren't beating the Citronauts in Orlando on Space Game night. No chance. No chance in hell.
And the Space Game did not disappoint, it was a throwback to classic Big 12 football but like the Big 12 North in the years we were waiting for someone to put the conference out of its misery. UCF got off to an ELECTRIC start with 3 three and outs on their first 4 drives, but a field goal and strong defensive performance got the Knights in front 3-0 heading into the mid 2nd quarter. Coach Scrote's boys caught a break when Houston muffed a punt inside deep in their own territory and the Nauts recovered. A lengthy review ensued after the recovery which has been known as Towel Gate II as the officials needed to check if the ball was dead having contacted a UCF players towel before Houston touched it, but the call was upheld and the Myles Montgomery, a Husker portal target, punched in a TD a few plays later. 10-0 Nauts.
The Scrote Rocket ran into some debris in the atmosphere (I'm trying my best here) after that giving up a long TD pass to make it 10-7 and then throwing a pick 6 to put Houston up 14-10. But the Nauts then channeled their inner Space Ghost went Coast 2 Coast immediately after for 7 and added a pick 6 of their own to head into the half up 24-14.
We documented in our award winning Scrote's Revenge Stat #2 that the most dangerous place to be against Coach Scrote is trailing at halftime because he makes adjustments with the surgical precision necessary to put a rocket into space. Unfortunately for the Nauts on this day that rocket was The Challenger as they produced a whooping 52 yards and 3 points on their first 5 drives of the second half and the Cougs scored 13 to take a 30-27 lead late into the game.
Now folks, I know we only have a handful of crusty old fucks on this board who were alive in 1969 when NASA in all her glory put men on the moon with the computing power of a graphing calculator and I'm sure they remember people sobbing at seeing something that they didn't think was possible. And last night in Orlando Scrote channeled his inner Apollo 11 by doing the unthinkable and subbing in freshman Davi Belfort, son of UFC legend Vitor Belfort, who had thrown only 2 career passes with 2:23 left in the game to engineer a game winning drive. As the song goes, Davi is a scramble-y boi from Rio who fumbled on his first drop back, but he scampered the Nauts into field goal range. Now I know what you're all thinking UCF's kicker is nails (Husker portal target) and the freshman got UCF into range to tie the game and win it in overtime, but Scrote decided to BLAST OFF and take a shot down field. Sadly, Davi's only pass attempt (3rd on the year) got picked and the Nauts suffered their first ever Space Game loss despite 4 Houston turnovers.
Scrote's Revenge Stat #5: Football is grueling slog regardless of whether you play in the least entertaining conference in America, the Big Ten, or one where actual fun is had. It's a grind and you want to sustain drives to keep your defense fresh for when they need to get late game stops to seal wins.
Last night, Scrote's Nauts went 3 and out 6 times which contributed to Houstons 10 minute advantage in time of possession. And I know what you're all thinking. Holy shit that's a lot of 3 and outs, but did you know that would be tied for 3rd in the most Scrote produced at Nebraska?
2018 Michigan 8
2019 Northwestern 7 (win)
2019 Cockeye 6
2018 Ohio State 6
Scrote produced 126 3 plays and out drives at Nebraska (either 3 and punt or turnover on 3rd) for an average of 2.7 a game. He only had 2 games his entire tenure without one and had multiple in 31 of 47 games he coached in Lincoln.
2018: 1, 2, 8, 2, 1, 5, 2, 2,6,4, 2, 2.
2019: 4, 4, 1, 3, 4, 7, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 6
2020: 4, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1
2021: 2, 0, 1, 1, 4, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2, 4
2022: 4, 3, 3
But don't be too depressed, I didn't even count the drives that produced a turnover in fewer than 3 plays!
Bonus stat: he's at 24 3 and outs in 9 games back in Orlando