3 takeaways: Colton Boomer, UCF snap Boise State's 21-game win streak in home openers

On an afternoon where just about everything went wrong for UCF, Colton Boomer was perfect — and poised in the clutch.

The sophomore booted four field goals, twice resetting his career-long and splitting the uprights from 40 yards as time expired to give the Knights an 18-16 win at Boise State. UCF (2-0) snapped the Broncos' 21-game winning streak in home openers despite a dreadful day in the red zone and losing a five-point lead with 1:49 left in regulation.

"I wouldn't say I dream of it. It's just my job," Boomer said of the moment.

UCF Week 1 win: John Rhys Plumlee accounts for 4 touchdowns, Knights hammer Kent State 56-6

"It wasn't anything crazy, it was just another kick. But it definitely helps — the louder (opposing fans) cheer, the better I do. So, keep coming."

Knights coach Gus Malzahn added: "He's one of the best kickers in college football. I truly believe that, even last year when he was a freshman. It doesn't get any tougher than that — on the road, 55 (yards), 50 (yards) and then the 40-yarder, he drilled it to ice the game and win it at the end."

UCF outgained Boise State 530-384 and averaged 8.2 yards per play, but its offense repeatedly squandered scoring chances with untimely mistakes. John Rhys Plumlee threw two deflected interceptions, but engineered the winning nine-play, 58-yard drive despite taking a brutal hit to the head on a scramble from Broncos safety Alexander Teubner.

"It's hard to win like that, if you have that many ups and downs and the place was rocking," Malzahn said. "That is the type of win that will help us as a team later on in the season. We can build from that, we can grow from that."

Boise State, which played without starting running back George Holani, also lost quarterback Taylen Green in the third quarter. He hobbled off with an apparent leg injury, replaced by Maddux Madsen for parts of the Broncos' final three drives.

Ashton Jeanty dominated in Holani's absence, accounting for 212 scrimmage yards on 29 touches. He hauled in a 38-yard touchdown toss from Green at the 4:20 mark of the first.

Here are three takeaways from an entertaining, emotional first road trip for the Knights.

UCF's red zone offense came up virtually empty for 3 quarters

The opening three plays foreshadowed a frustrating, nailbiting offensive day.

First, the good: Plumlee launched a 49-yard bomb to Kobe Hudson out of the gate, and Demarkcus Bowman followed suit with an 11-yard run to set UCF up at Boise's 15.

And, then the bad: Plumlee went back to the team's touchdown receptions leader from a year ago, but his throw bounced off Hudson's hands and into the arms of Teubner for a crushing interception.

UCF ran six plays inside the red zone in the first half. Those snaps resulted in the Teubner pick, a 1-yard run, a 4-yard run, a stuffed 4th-and-1 conversion attempt with Jordan McDonald out of the Wildcat formation, a 10-yard sack on an attempted RJ Harvey double pass and Boomer's second field goal of the evening — a comparatively modest 33-yard knuckleball.

The pinnacle of pain, though, occurred on the Knights' opening drive of the second half. They marched 75 yards on seven hard-nosed runs, highlighted by a 31-yard sprint from Johnny Richardson. On 2nd-and-7 from Boise's 13, UCF chose to mix it up, and got exactly what it wanted — Plumlee rolling right, finding an uncovered and unmarked Javon Baker around the 5-yard line.

What appeared to be a simple walk-in touchdown morphed into a jawdropping interception. Baker bobbled the ball twice into the end zone where Jaylen Clark snatched a stunning turnover.

"Me and Javon, we're going to work harder and make sure the next time the ball touches our hands we're going to catch it," said Hudson, who finished with five receptions and 134 yards. "All those picks he threw today were because of us. We were in position to make a play, and we just didn't make it."

Harvey finally guided the Knights in for a touchdown, breaking the plane on a 5-yard Wildcat keeper to give his team a 15-10 lead with 7:55 left.

Maddux Madsen comes in cold off the bench, throws late go-ahead TD

Green, the Mountain West Conference's Freshman of the Year in 2022, was hobbled throughout the first half. The dual-threat sophomore quarterback checked out in pain after a third-quarter scramble along the sidelines.

In stepped Maddux Madsen for his third career appearance. The redshirt freshman from American Fork, Utah, was sacked twice — once apiece by Tre'mon Morris-Brash and Malachi Lawrence — to end his first drive.

Madsen settled in after the Broncos lost the lead, finding Stefan Cobbs for a key third-down conversion into Knights territory on third-and-6 and bootlegging for a 3-yard run on 4th-and-2 at UCF's 28. Three plays later, Madsen caught the Knights blitzing from the back end and hit Cobbs across the middle for a 28-yard touchdown as he slipped free from UCF cornerback Brandon Adams' grip.

"We were aggressive and wanted to win the game," Malzahn said. "We went (Cover) Zero, and (Madsen) made a really good play."

The Knights held Boise State scoreless on six of its prior seven drives, with Jonah Dalmas' 56-yard field goal the lone exception.

Will John Rhys Plumlee be available for Villanova, Big 12 play?

Earlier in the week, UCF offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw stressed the need for Plumlee to avoid taking hard hits while running in the open field.

Plumlee gained a team-high 73 rushing yards on 11 carries, in addition to completing 16 of 24 passes for 272 yards. But his last keeper might prove costly.

Seemingly wanting to avoid going out of bounds to preserve clock for Boise State, and late to surrender and slide near the right sideline, Plumlee absorbed the full force of Teubner's thumping blow to the helmet. He stayed in the game, handing twice to Richardson before Boomer trotted out for the winning kick.

"He got hit big-time hard," Malzahn said. "That blows my mind. I don't know what targeting is anymore if that's not. That was wow. I don't know."

During the Knights' final timeout, several members of UCF's training staff evaluated Plumlee along the sidelines. Injuries were commonplace for Plumlee during the latter half of the 2022 season; he sustained a concussion against Cincinnati in late October, a shoulder injury in November against Navy and a hamstring pull in the win over South Florida.

UCF concludes non-conference play at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday with a home game against Villanova. Should Plumlee be unavailable, redshirt sophomore Timmy McClain could make his first start for the Knights.

McClain made nine starts for South Florida during the 2021 season, throwing for 1,888 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF football: Colton Boomer kicks Knights past Boise, Plumlee injured