Tayven Jackson returns from injury to power UCF past West Virginia 45-13

ORLANDO Fla AP UCF quarterback Tayven Jackson returned from injury to throw two fourth-down touchdown passes to freshman receiver Chris Domercant as the Knights snapped a three-game losing streak with a - domination over West Virginia on Saturday Jackson missed last week s battle against No Cincinnati after injuring his shoulder against Kansas two weeks ago UCF - - Big was without its starter from last week Cam Fancher out with broken ribs Jackson threw for yards and two touchdowns on -for- passing Domercant caught five passes for yards to lead UCF s receiving group I felt like I just stay steady and try to put one forward ahead Domercant noted I feel good I feel like we are trending in the right direction West Virginia - - struggled to find its offense The Mountaineers only scored off the Knights turnovers the first on fourth down in Mountaineers territory in the second quarter and the other after a fourth-quarter interception was returned to the Kahlil Wilkins led the Mountaineers in rushing with yards on carries including a -yard touchdown run Diore Hubbard scored the other touchdown UCF outgained West Virginia - We stunk in every phase and every way West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez noted We didn t do anything well looked slow out of position missed tackles didn t block Poorly coached poorly executed poorly played poorly everything Despite that UCF led only - at the half But the Knights broke the event open with points in the third quarter Jaden Nixon scored twice capping a nine-play -yard drive with a -yard touchdown run and then scoring an -yard touchdown run Nixon finished with yards on seven carries with his two scores The Knights defense got on the board between Nixon s touchdowns with a strip-sack forced by Nyjalik Kelly that Keli Lawson returned yards for a touchdown We were overdue Lawson commented Our objective is to get a turnover every event To come up short the last three games and see the outcome it s a direct correlation It was really central to get that one QB shuffle West Virginia started freshman Scotty Fox Jr after starters Nicco Marchiol Khalil Wilkins and Jaylen Henderson all suffered injuries this season Fox became the first freshman to start at quarterback for the Mountaineers since Fred Wyant in Fox finished for for yards and was sacked five times He and Wilkins split quarterback for the competition Fancher update UCF coach Scott Frost announced of Fancher Cam I can t tell you how much respect I have for him He has a couple of broken ribs we didn t know about it until midweek he practiced with it he finished the Cincinnati meeting with it So it says a lot about how tough he is October blues UCF set several firsts with the win over West Virginia the first time since joining the Big that the Knights threw for yards But the biggest first was putting another losing streak to bed The Knights snapped a six-game Big losing streak and a nine-game October losing streak The takeaway West Virginia The Mountaineers continue to seek balance in their backfield after injuries decimated the quarterbacks and running backs UCF The Knights snapped a three-game losing streak and avoided the drive-killing mistakes that cost them in their last three outings Up next West Virginia is home next Saturday against TCU UCF plays at Baylor on Nov Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top throughout the season Sign up here and here AP News mobile app AP college football https apnews com hub ap-top- -college-football-poll and https apnews com hub college-football Source