Trailing 30-26 after giving up a 26-9 lead, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ somehow had one last chance. With no time on the clock, sophomore quarterback  launched a spiral toward the sky and the goal line. Miraculously, junior wide receiver  came down with it at the 1-yard line and went into the end zone untouched. It set off a celebration unlike anything ever seen in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ history.

ECU (8-4, 5-3 AAC) took over on downs with less than two minutes remaining and tried to run out the clock. But they left 10 seconds on the clock for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ (9-3, 7-1).

Holman found wide receiver  with a 14-yard sideline route to the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 49-yard line, with time for one last play to set up the Hail Mary.

“That was a great last play,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary said, smiling. “That’s the second conference championship in a row, that’s the first time in school history. That’s great for the players and I’m happy so happy for them.”

“(Reese) set us up with a great catch on the play before,” Perriman said. “Justin threw the ball. I knew he was coming to our side. It was a perfect ball. I was blessed enough to come down with the catch.”

Holman said despite the circumstances, the Knights never lost faith.

“I just put it up in the air and let my wide receivers make a play,” he said. “That’s a blessing from above. We never lost faith. The guys on my sideline never lost faith, never gave up. There was no pouting, no heads down, no puppy-dog eyes. We went out there and executed. We practice that situation and we went out there and did it.”

Faith was a common theme amongst many of the Knights after the game.

“We play every game to 0:00, that’s what Coach O’Leary teaches us,” said defensive lineman , who tallied a team-high eight tackles, including 2.5 behind the line of scrimmage and 1.5 sacks. “It was 10 seconds left. Your head got down. I still kept faith.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ had momentum for the first three quarters, taking a 26-9 lead into the final 15 minutes.

“I thought we played well for the first half. The third quarter, we played well early, then we started missing some tackles on defense and giving up some plays we shouldn’t give up,” O’Leary said. “Offensively, you can’t go three-and-out against these guys. I thought protection broke down a little bit in that fourth quarter.”

East Carolina grabbed the momentum early in a big way during the fourth quarter. A pair of Shane Carden touchdown passes in a span of less than three minutes pulled the Pirates back within three points, 26-23.

Carden then hooked up with Justin Hardy on a 13-yard scoring strike with 2:17 remaining to give ECU a 30-26 advantage and set up the final, heart-stopping series of events.

The Knights owned the second quarter. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ outscored the Pirates 17-3 in the second stanza. The Knights took advantage of a  interception to break a 6-6 tie. Four plays later,  punched it in to put the Knights on top 13-6.  PAT accounted for his 298th career point, giving him the Knights’ career scoring record.

Three minutes later, Moffitt added a 30-yard field goal to give the Knights a 10-point edge. Following a  sack, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ regained possession at its own 30-yard line. A pair of Justin Holman-to-Breshad Perriman hookups – 45 and 23 yards – allowed Stanback to punch it in a second time. That score put the Knights on top 23-6.

Shane Carden led ECU on a nine-play 55-yard drive that ended with a 37-yard field goal on the last play of the first half. But Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ owned a two-touchdown advantage at the intermission, 23-9. The Knights padded their lead to 26-9 in the third quarter on a 31-yard Moffitt field goal.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ kicked a pair of field goals, sandwiched around an ECU touchdown in the first quarter. Defensive lineman blocked the ECU PAT, leaving the score knotted at 6-6 after one quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Justin Holman led his team to a season-best night of 506 yards of total offense, completing 16-of-27 pass attempts for 291 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense held Tulsa to 201 yards and 3-of-12 on third down conversions.

“I thought the defense went out and played well and made some keys we had to make, and offensively we came up with some big plays passing-wise, which opened up the running game,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary said. “I think the coverage teams were good on special teams and (it was an) overall good game. Time of possession was big in our favor, which led to good field position in a lot of situations.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense helped its offense put its first points on the board when corner Jordan Ozerities intercepted the ball near the end of the first quarter. A facemask penalty put Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ inside the 10-yard line, but the Hurricane defense forced the Knights to call upon Rodrigo Quirarte for a 27-yard field goal with 40 seconds remaining in the quarter.

After Tulsa went three-and-out on its first possession of the second quarter, Breshad Perriman spared the Knights the same fate when he brought down a 48-yard completion to set up his team in the red zone.

Holman kept the drive alive again on third down when he stretched out for the sticks to pick up a first down at the 5-yard line. He then connected with J.J. Worton, who juked two defenders and lunged over the goal line for his 20th career touchdown. With 11:08 to go in the half, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ led 10-0.

It didn’t take long for Holman to get the crowd out of their seats again. He completed his longest pass of the season, a 77-yarder to Josh Reese – a career-best for the wide receiver – for a 17-0 lead with 7:57 to go.

The Golden Hurricane capitalized off an uncharacteristic muffed punt from Worton that Matt Linscott recovered at the 27-yard line. Keevan Lucas was the Golden Hurricane’s go-to guy. He followed up his 19-yard rush with an acrobatic 8-yard touchdown reception. Originally, his one-handed catch was ruled incomplete, but the call was overturned after review. Tulsa got on the board before the break, but it was the Golden Hurricane’s lone score of the evening.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ added to its advantage midway through the third quarter, thanks to Holman’s composure. On the run, Holman completed a 30-yard pass on the run to Justin Tukes. He then launched a perfect spiral to Perriman, who was streaking toward the left corner of the end zone. The 25-yard touchdown gave Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 24-7 lead with 9:27 to go in the third.

Dontravious Wilson dominated the Knights’ next scoring drive, churning out seven carries for 50 of the 72 yards required to reach the end zone, including his first-career rushing touchdown. It was 31-7 just before the end of the third quarter.

A pass intended for Connor Floyd ended up in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ defensive back D.J. Killings’ hands for the defense’s second pick of the night. The defense handled business again on Tulsa’s next drive when Brandon Alexander intercepted a pass in the end zone with 8:31 remaining.

“We had some picks, and we had to have some key plays and got some takeaways,” O’Leary said. “It was a good game and a very solid game by the defense. They tackled well, and offensively I thought we had a pretty good run/pass combination.”

The Golden Hurricane managed to get the ball back after quarterback Nick Patti threw an interception, but the defense forced three-and-out once more, allowing Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s offense to ride out the clock for the win.

The Knights are with Cincinnati and Memphis at 4-1.

“Nothing changes. The mentality’s still the same. We’re going to go out and we’re going to bust our butts every game,” Worton said. “It’s a one-game playoff. To get to the goal that we want, is to win every one of them. We’ll look out for the next person that comes up.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ will meet SMU in the final home game of the season Nov. 22 at noon.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ manhandled Temple in a 34-14 victory that featured an output of a season-high 466 yards of total offense, improving to 3-0 in conference play to remain atop The American standings, along with East Carolina.

“I thought offensively and defensively we put together the best game so far this year working as a team,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary said. “I thought they were very productive on defense and the offense was productive at making plays when they had to. It was a good win against a good football team. We have to continue to get better. This past week at practice made a big difference with the offense, putting them in pads and making sure they understood what football is about as far as the contact aspect of it. They took the challenge and brought it to the game today.”

After a week’s worth of recaps of his iconic catch from last year’s game at Temple, it was only fitting for J.J. Worton to score the first touchdown of the evening. On third-and-long, he caught a pass from quarterback Justin Holman, steadied himself and worked his way to the right sideline to take it 25 yards into the end zone.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense set up another scoring opportunity not long after when defensive back Jacoby Glenn stripped Temple wide receiver Jalen Fitzpatrick of the ball. Defensive back Brandon Alexander recovered the fumble to put the Knights in the red zone. Shawn Moffitt eventually converted a 23-yard field goal, and with 8:31 remaining in the first quarter, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ had already claimed a 10-0 lead.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ had running back William Stanback to thank for its final scoring drive of the quarter. He accounted for 23 yards off six carries during an 11-play, 58-yard march down the field. He followed it through to the end zone, when he hit a wall of Temple defenders in the backfield but continued to rumble his way in for the 1-yard touchdown and give Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 17-0 lead.

Temple responded in the opening minutes of the second quarter when a double-reverse pass to quarterback P.J. Walker kept the Owls’ drive alive on third-and-eight, setting them up on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s 5-yard line. Walker hit Romond Deloatch with a 3-yard pass for Temple’s first touchdown, 17-7.

The Knights refused to let the Owls shift the momentum. Breshad Perriman came through, not once but twice, for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ on its next drive, first hauling in a 19-yard reception on third-and-14. Holman then found the receiver streaking down field for a 54-yard touchdown, much to the delight of the crammed student section waiting for him in the south end zone. With 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Knights claimed a 24-7 edge.

Temple’s special teams helped close the gap when Samuel Benjamin blocked a punt for the second time this year, scooped it up and returned it for a touchdown, 24-14.

Although another punt was blocked and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ nearly lost possession on an interception that was overturned, the Knights snapped out of their lull just before the halftime break. Miles Pace re-ignited some fire when he sacked P.J. Walker on third-and-11 for a much-needed stop that gave Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ the ball back with 2:34 remaining – just enough time to tack on a few more points.

“Coach pushes us every day. Even if we’re tired, we have to keep going. It’s a bend, but don’t break defense,” Pace said. “We’re just strong. Strong up front, strong at linebackers, everyone plays their gaps, everyone fits and we just stop them in the red zone.”

Holman led the team through a hurry-up offense by utilizing his arsenal of receivers. Josh Reese, gain of 16. Rannell Hall, gain of 11. Hall again, gain of 19 into the red zone. Reese, gain of 11, first and goal. With the clock winding down, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ settled for another field goal from Moffitt, this time a 19-yarder for a 27-14 lead.

Much of the third quarter was played in the middle of the field until 14 seconds remaining when Stanback broke into the end zone on a 2-yard rush that punctuated a 9-play, 52-yard drive and piled on to the lead, 34-14.

The defense shined in a goal-line stand midway through the fourth quarter that saw Glenn intercept Walker’s pass on fourth down in the right corner of the end zone that ended any hope of a comeback for Temple.

“This win was very important, just because of the fact that our defense played a phenomenal game and our offense played a phenomenal game,” Alexander said. “The coaches still saw some little mistakes, but for the most part everyone had a collective game and did a great job out there. It was just a wonderful feeling that we actually can play like that. From the first quarter to the fourth quarter everything just took care of itself and everyone took care of their jobs.”

It was the first time in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ history that the Knights’ swept a league’s weekly awards.

One day after securing the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week award, Plummer was also honored by the American Athletic Conference with its Defensive Player of the Week accolade. It marks the third time in the Orange Park native’s career to receive a weekly award from The American, having boasted two weekly honors a year ago.

Plummer racked up 17 tackles, including 4.5 behind the line of scrimmage against BYU Thursday night. He also forced and recovered a key fumble in the fourth quarter, broke up a pass and tallied a sack. Plummer also received accolades from other outlets as well.

Terrance Plummer’s Weekly Honors for the BYU Game

Plummer starter the game with a tackle on each of BYU’s first three drives, which helped the Cougars go 3-and-out on all three possessions. With BYU holding a 24-17 lead and driving inside the red zone to begin the fourth quarter, Plummer halted the momentum by ripping the ball loose from Algernon Brown and quickly pouncing on the loose ball. On BYU’s next drive, Plummer registered a sack of five yards to force a 3-and-out, setting up Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s game-tying score at 24-24.

Plummer leads the Knights with 53 tackles and 7.5 tackles in 2014. Eight more tackles and he will crack Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s all-time top 10 as he sits with 288 dating back to his true freshman season in 2011.

Holman was 30-of-51 passing for 326 yards and two touchdowns in Thursday’s win over the Cougars. He also rushed for 26 yards and a score. Holman had a hand in three of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s four TDs vs. BYU, rushing for the first score of the game and passing for the game-tying and game-winning touchdowns.

Holman’s 30 completions were the most for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ since Steven Moffett had 30 against Akron in 2004. He was the first Knight signal-caller to heave more than 50 passes since Ryan Schneider tossed 52 against FAU back in 2003. Holman was 5-of-5 on the opening drive of the game, completed his first eight aerials and compiled career-best marks for completions, attempts and passing yards.

Worton returned five punts vs. BYU for an average of more than 15 yards per return. His punt return acumen consistently helped the Knights earn solid field position and his 77 yards off punt returns were a career-best. Two of Worton’s returns set up Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ scores, including a 29-yard return to the BYU 37-yard line that led to the game-tying touchdown just two plays later. He also served as the holder on each of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s PATs and field goals.

Worton is ranked No. 13 in the nation in punt return average and has helped put the Knights at No. 30 in the nation in the team category for punt returns. He ranks No. 3 all-time at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in both career punt returns (67) and career punt return yardage (715).

They needed a game-changer.

His 58-yard kickoff return gave new life to the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ offense. It sent the black-clad fans into a frenzy. It was the bass of a rally cry that proved to be exactly what the Knights needed to fuel a 31-24 comeback overtime victory on Thursday night in front of a audience.

“It got the momentum going for the offense, and just the team in general. We were able to punch it in after that,” Hall said. “I felt it from the crowd on my way to the sideline. I saw everybody jumping up. I knew we had the momentum back on our side.”

Following Hall’s return, everything started clicking back into place. Running back William Stanback found the end zone on a 2-yard run for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s first touchdown since the end of the first quarter. Linebacker Terrance Plummer forced and recovered a fumble that put a halt to a BYU scoring threat in the red zone. Wide receiver Josh Reese somehow caught a spectacular 37-yard touchdown reception while falling to the ground with a defender draped all over him.

Quarterback Justin Holman connected with Stanback for the go-ahead touchdown in the extra period. The Knights’ defense came up with a goal-line stop to seal what was just the in program history.

“That was a heck of a ball game,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary said. “I thought the resiliency of the team was outstanding. When you go down 17-10, 24-10, and you come back, it shows that you have some perseverance with your team.”

Holman played admirably, completing 30-of-51 attempts for 326 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for a score. But it was Plummer who stole the show. The senior linebacker, whose uncle passed away a day prior, was the heartbeat of the team with 17 tackles, 1 sack, 4.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and the subsequent recovery.

“Last year, my closest friend died in a homicide. My uncle died yesterday. I was crying and I told my mom, `What am I going to do?'” Plummer said. “She said, `You have to play your heart out for your uncle and for your friend.’ I just went out there. I have brothers behind me, but I didn’t tell them that because I didn’t want them to worry about me. At the same time, I loved my uncle and I loved my friend, so I just wanted to go out there and play.”

Holman started 5-for-5 on the Knights’ opening drive, including a string of passes to Breshad Perriman, J.J. Worton and Jordan Akins that moved the chains on each completion.

Facing fourth-and-one on the five-yard line, Holman took it upon himself to deliver the first touchdown as he catapulted into the end zone after defensive back Jordan Johnson attempted a low tackle.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense forced the Cougars to go 3-and-out, and Worton’s 32-yard punt return set up the Knights in BYU territory. Holman extended his hot start to 8-of-8, helping advance his team to the 25-yard line. Kicker Shawn Moffitt then matched his season-long field goal. The 42-yarder padded the Knights’ advantage to 10-0 with 4:37 remaining in the first quarter.

The Cougars finally cracked into the red zone with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense ensured that they wouldn’t stay there for long. On first-and-10, quarterback Christian Stewart aired it out to the front-left pylon and Jacoby Glenn stretched out to snag his third interception of the season – a career-high – for a touchback.

BYU did manage to get on the scoreboard before the end of the half, marching the ball downfield on a 10-play drive that ate up 41 yards. Plummer prevented the Cougars from picking up a first down on third-and-3 with a tackle for loss. BYU called upon Trevor Samson to convert a 32-yard field goal with 5:12 to go, making it 10-3.

Stanback resuscitated Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s offense, which had stalled in the second quarter with four-consecutive three-and-out drives. His 14-yard reception gave Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a first down, and Hall put the Knights into scoring position at the 23-yard line with his 16-yard catch.

But BYU came up with a big stop thanks to Sione Takitaki’s sack and fumble recovery to close out the half which left Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ with a 10-3 edge at the break.

The Cougars opened up the half with Colby Pearson’s 4-yard game-tying touchdown catch on third-and-goal, halting the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ defense’s streak of keeping opponents out of the end zone for nine-consecutive quarters.

BYU put Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ on its heels by capitalizing on a misfortunate fumble on a punt return. Scott Arellano’s 27-yard punt hit a Knight’s leg, allowing Algernon Brown to recover the ball, which set up his team on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s 25-yard line. Paul Lasike rushed 10 yards on BYU’s first play before Stewart connected with Devin Mahina for a touchdown, 17-10.

Things snowballed for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ as Holman’s first pass of the next drive was intercepted by Skye Povey. He picked up 15 yards before he was brought down and a personal foul penalty bumped up the Cougars to the 14-yard line. Once again, Stewart found Mahina for a touchdown and just like that, the Cougars held a 24-10 lead.

Enter Hall. His 58-yard return carried Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ to BYU’s 37-yard line. Facing fourth-and-one, Holman inched his way to the 10-yard line to make it first-and-goal. He found Justin Tukes for an 8-yard reception and Stanback punched it in, 24-17, with 5:37 remaining.

The Cougars rolled into the red zone on 13 plays into the beginning of the fourth quarter, when Plummer forced a fumble and recovered the ball. Although the Knights came up short in converting the turnover to points, the stop allowed them to eventually tie the game with 10:17 remaining thanks to Reese’s steady hands. On a free play, with BYU jumping offside, Holman threw it deep to Reese, who made a spectacular catch to tie things up, 24-24.

Moffitt missed a potential game-winning 50-yard field goal that was blocked with four seconds on the clock, forcing overtime.

BYU won the coin toss for the extra period and elected to play defense first. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ headed toward the south end zone and its rowdy student section.

“The crowd was outstanding tonight. There is a reason we were down in the student end,” O’Leary said. “You have a choice. They won the toss, so we got to pick the end. We pointed to the student end right away. There is a noise factor down there that helps. I thought it was just a great football night.”

Holman made some magic happen as he bounced around for a 6-yard rush while picking up a facemask penalty that fast-tracked his team to the 8-yard line. Time and again, the Knights relied on Stanback as their target, and with his four-yard touchdown reception, he helped grab a 31-24 lead that forced BYU to match on its possession.

Stewart managed to pick up a first down with his completion to Mahina at the 13-yard line. But the Cougars could not tie it. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense held strong inside the 5-yard line for the dramatic win.

Last year, Alexander preserved a five-point win with a fourth-down pass breakup in the end zone at Bright House Networks Stadium. Thursday night at John TDECU Stadium, he forced a fumble through the end zone at the 1-yard line as Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. was leaping and reaching for the end zone. That play also preserved a five-point win, 17-12.

“The quarterback broke and I just knew his intent was not to pass, it was to run,” Alexander said. “So, he just dove. When he dove, I dove. Everything happens for a reason. I just laid on the ground real quick. I saw everybody freeze … and then I just saw Clayton come out of nowhere, jacking me up, saying `Good job! Good job!’ Everybody was just celebrating. It was a wonderful feeling.”

Alexander finished the game with a team-high nine tackles, one interception and the game-saving forced fumble.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary was happy to get out of Houston with a victory in the .

“Any win’s a good win,” O’Leary said. “It’s a good first conference game.”

Offensively, a quick flurry of 10 points to open the second half ended up being just enough for the Knights.

Quarterback Justin Holman found wide receiver Breshad Perriman for a 52-yard touchdown strike to make it 14-6. Alexander picked Houston QB John O’Korn on the ensuing possession, which led to a 42-yard Shawn Moffitt field goal and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ led 17-6 midway through the third period.

Meanwhile, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ defense bent, but did not break the entire game. The defense put together a goal-line stand, stuffing four straight plays from the 2-yard line in the first quarter. Time and again, they pushed Houston away from the end zone, forcing the Cougars to kick four field goals.

“Houston’s a good offense,” O’Leary said. “I thought, except for a couple series, the back end played very well today and tackled well.”

Kyle Bullard hit a 52-yard field goal with just over 11 minutes remaining, trimming the Cougars’ deficit to eight, 17-9. A Jaryl Mamea sack, his third of the game, pushed Houston back when they were threatening the end zone with 5 minutes left. After the sack, Bullard hit his fourth field goal of the game with 4:46 remaining. This one was from 49 yards out and left Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ with a 17-12 edge.

Trailing 3-0, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ grabbed the lead after a second-quarter turnover. Clayton Geathers set his offense up at the 25-yard line after stepping in front of a O’Korn pass for his first interception of the season. Five plays later, Justin Holman found Jackie Williams for a 5-yard touchdown pass and the Knights led 7-3 with 9:27 remaining in the first half. It was Williams’ first score as a Knight. Bullard added a 42-yard field goal for Houston with less than two minutes before intermission to cut the lead to 7-6.

Bullard opened the scoring as Houston took advantage of a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ turnover. After the Knights lost a fumble, the defense forced a 39-yard field goal from the Cougars kicker five minutes into the first quarter. The Knights dodged a bullet late in the first quarter with a goal-line stand, stopping four straight plays from inside the 2-yard line.

The defensive line did just that, accounting for six sacks by night’s end. That defensive pressure, coupled with a season-high 351 total offensive yards, allowed the Knights to blow by , 41-7, for their first win of the year.

“The first win of the season is always a big win, especially at home,” O’Leary said. “We are disappointed in the first couple of games, but today I thought was a good team victory. I thought the kids executed fairly well. There are still corrections to be made, but overall I thought they gave good effort. Against a team that is 2-0 and 13th in the nation in the FCS, so I’m happy for the kids.”

Four different Knights accounted for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s five touchdowns and Breshad Perriman, Cedric Thompson and J.J. Worton each recorded their first touchdowns of 2014. Sophomore running back William Stanback led the offensive charge with a game- and career-high 104 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense was just as solid, limiting the Wildcats to 3-of-13 in third down conversions and three quarters of scoreless play. Bethune-Cookman managed just 173 yards of offense.

“These last few games I think we’ve been giving up touchdowns on the first drive and letting people drive the ball down. We wanted to make a statement. Go out there and set the tone early,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ senior linebacker Terrance Plummer said. “When the offense gets the ball, they drive it down. When the defense goes out there, we stop them, three and out, and give it back to our offense. We’re spending too much time on the field. Today, we tried to get off and get the offense the ball.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ struck first with senior kicker Rodrigo Quirarte’s first career field goal, a 37-yarder with 5:26 remaining in the first quarter.

B-CU responded on its next possession when Anthony Jordan punched in his first-career rushing touchdown that capped an eight-play, 76-yard drive for a 7-3 lead with 1:40 to go in the first quarter. But it was the last time the Wildcats would get near the end zone.

The Knights didn’t stay down for long, thanks to Worton. The receiver juked his way 12 yards on a punt return to set up Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ at its own 49-yard line. Four plays later, he broke free down the right sideline off a pass from sophomore quarterback Justin Holman for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s first touchdown and a 10-7 lead with 11:57 remaining in the first half.

B-CU rocketed into Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ territory on Darien Baker’s 48-yard return and a horse collar penalty, but the Knights’ defense dug in and forced Haden Hoggarth to attempt a 44-yard field goal. He came up short with 10:14 to go in the second.

The Knights then saw some fireworks when Holman let it fly for a 61-yard scoring strike that found Perriman for a 17-7 lead.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ tacked on one more score before the halftime break as Quirarte came through with another 37-yard field goal to give Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 20-7 advantage. To complement its offensive counterparts, the defense closed out the half when Thomas Niles sacked Williams on third and 10.

Stanback set the tone as Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s workhorse early in the second half on a four-play, 39-yard drive that was punctuated with his 9-yard touchdown run for a 27-7 lead.

The Knights’ defense forced a three-and-out for the Wildcats, allowing the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ offense to add once again to its ever-increasing edge. Running back Cedric Thompson recorded his first touchdown in two years with a 1-yard rush to make it 34-7.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ got one more look at the end zone before wrapping up the night. The Knights ate up 88 yards on 13 plays, including four-straight rushes by Stanback for his second touchdown of the night to treat the crowd to a 41-7 win.

The 44,510 in attendance was the largest crowd for a home opener since the stadium’s first game in 2007 vs. (45,622).

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ heads to Houston for its first conference game of the year Oct. 2 for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Cougars on ESPN.

“It’s a good win, but now we get into the conference season,” O’Leary said. “The one goal we have on the team is to win the conference championship each and every year.”

Visit Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Athletics for more.

“It was a good college game,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary said. “I’m disappointed in the outcome.”

A Penn State comeback was necessary after a spirited comeback from the Knights. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ trailed 20-10 at the end of the third quarter. But sophomore quarterback Justin Holman sparked the Knights. Holman had already led one touchdown drive late in the third quarter after coming off the bench. With 11:31 remaining, he found wide receiver Josh Reese on a slant at the goal line on a 3rd-and-goal play, pulling Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ within three, 20-17.

After Penn State extended its lead to 23-17 with a Ficken field goal, Holman went back to work. With 3:30 remaining, the Knights took over at their own 25-yard line. After a pair of passes to J.J. Worton and Breshad Perriman to put Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ at the Penn State 43, three straight misfires led to a 4th-and-10 situation. Holman then found a leaping Reese, who made a falling-backward, fingertip catch at the Penn State 6-yard line. Holman took care of the final six yards on a quarterback draw on the very next play.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ held its first lead, 24-23, with 1:13 remaining.

“I thought Justin went in and did a very good job,” O’Leary said. “He was really the sparkplug for the offense, making plays.”

But Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg then engineered a drive of his own. The Nittany Lion signal-caller converted a 4th-and-3 with an 8-yard scramble. Three consecutive passes moved Penn State to the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 19 with three seconds left, setting up Ficken’s game-winning field goal.

“I was disappointed in the way the defense played, too many big plays given up in key situations,” O’Leary said. “You expect a defense that (has experience), down the stretch, when you have a chance to put the game away, you’ve got to stop them. Give credit to Penn State. They made plays when they had to make them.”

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ offense had trouble in the first half, managing just three points and 35 total yards. Meanwhile, the Knights bent but didn’t break in the first half, allowing just 10 points on 221 yards.

The Knights trailed 10-3 at the intermission. Ficken hit one of his three field goals midway through the third period to put Penn State up 13-3. But Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ answered when Holman found J.J. Worton across the middle for 18 yards and later connected with Perriman on long toss down to the Penn State 1-yard line. A QB sneak pulled Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ within three, 13-10. Penn State pushed its lead to 20-10 when Eugene Lewis got behind the defense for a 79-yard touchdown pass, setting up the exciting fourth quarter.