Bruce Miller takes Case Keenum to the ground as Darius Nall closes in. (Photo by Scott McCall)

What a Saturday afternoon it was for UCF football fans.

By holding on for a 37-32 win against No. 12 Houston the Knights got their first win over a Top-25 team. They became bowl eligible for the third time by improving to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in Conference USA. And they kept a fan base from completely jumping ship on a season full of uneasy surf.

Darius Nall chases down Case Keenum in UCF's big win. (Photo by Scott McCall)

Head coach George O’Leary opted to talk more about the upside of getting another conference win afterwards instead of what college football fans across the nation were likely fixated on – the fall from grace for the ranked Cougars and highly-touted quarterback Case Keenum.

The win gives the Knights an outside chance to snag a spot in the C-USA Championship Game as they sit in a second-place tie in the East Division with UAB and Southern Miss, each just a game behind East Carolina.

Problem is that the Knights have lost to both ECU and Southern Miss with only two games remaining on the schedule. The good news is the Knights play host to Tulane (3-7, 1-5) on Saturday at 2 p.m. and then travel to UAB (5-5, 4-2) on Nov. 28 for the season finale at 1:30 p.m. Both UAB and Southern Miss must go to East Carolina over the next two weeks with the Golden Eagles first hosting Tulsa this weekend.

Until things get settled and the divisions are decided for the championship game on Dec. 5, UCF mid-as-well soak up this accomplishment for as long as they can.

Brynn Harvey gets through the Houston defense for a 41-yard touchdown. (Photo by Scott McCall)

Wearing an alternative black jersey with white helmets and white pants, the Knights broke an 0-22 streak against ranked opponents despite falling behind 10-0 at the end of the first quarter and going down 17-3 midway through the second quarter.

Little did the crowd of 34,437 know that history would be made. UCF hogged the ball for nearly the entire second quarter and cut into the Houston lead when Jonathan Davis scored on a 4-yard run with just over a minute to go in the half.

Brynn Harvey pointed to that moment as the change in momentum for the team. He then got in on the action with two touchdown runs of his own in the third quarter to help UCF take the lead 23-17 after three quarters. The home team never trailed again.

Justin Boddie (23), Michael Greco (2) and Kemal Ishmael (18) get defensive. (Photo by Scott McCall)

–– The game plan worked to perfection ––

UCF mixed up a successful blend of run and pass which drained the clock and kept the high-powered Houston offense, featuring Heisman-hopeful Keenum, off the field for much of the day to the tune of 39.5 minutes for UCF and 20.5 minutes for the Cougars.

“That’s probably the best avenue to beat them,” said O’Leary after the game.

Brett Hodges (Photo by Scott McCall)

And that’s what shook things up in favor of the Knights in the second quarter, where Houston had control of the ball for just a minute and a half in all.

Quietly leading the UCF attack was quarterback Brett Hodges (who O’Leary called “a warrior out there”) and Harvey out of the backfield. At one point the senior signal caller completed 12 straight passes before finishing 21-for-25 for 241 yards with a highlight-worthy touchdown pass to Quincy McDuffie and one interception.

Quincy McDuffie holds on for a touchdown. (Photo by Scott McCall)

Harvey rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries.

While the offense controlled the clock by converting 7 of 15 attempts on third down, converted its only attempt on fourth down, and scored on all four chances in the red zone, the UCF defensive eagerly awaited their opportunity to contribute.

And did they ever. Bruce Miller and Jarvis Geathers each sacked Keenum, Derrick Hallman and Michael Greco both forced fumbles and Justin Boddie picked off a Keenum pass in the win.

Then O’Leary said all the right things in terms of winning a conference game and becoming bowl eligible. But there must be something more to be said about a win of this magnitude.

“Sometimes you use that to catapult your program and catapult your school,” he said. “It was a well-fought win.”

Maybe he’ll show a little more excitement if UCF notches another first in program history by winning whatever bowl game they get a bid to later on this year.

Just maybe.