Wimbush, Gabriel shine, No. 17 UCF trounces Florida A&M 62-0

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Brandon Wimbush was impressive. Dillon Gabriel may have been just as good.

Together the redshirt senior transfer, true freshman and even third-stringer Quadry Jones could make UCF's quarterback situation interesting this fall after combining to throw for 356 yards and six touchdowns in a 62-0, season-opening rout of Florida A&M on Thursday night.

"I thought all of them did a ton of positive things," coach Josh Heupel said.

"It doesn't matter who's in there," running back Adrian Killins offered. "They're all capable of leading this team where we want to go."

Wimbush, the former Notre Dame star who won the starting job this summer, threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Gabriel sparkled, too, after finishing second in the competition for the position that opened because of an injury sidelining two-time American Athletic Conference offensive player of the year McKenzie Milton.

"It felt great," Wimbush said after the two-time defending AAC champions amassed 694 yards total offense and won for the 26th time in 27 games.

"We have to keep building ... keep getting better," Wimbush added. "I think that's important for a young and developing team."

Wimbush, who tossed TD passes of 37 and 12 yards to Gabriel Davis, was 13-2 as a starter over the past two years at Notre Dame. He lost his job there to Ian Book despite helping the Fighting Irish begin last season with three consecutive wins.

Gabriel, meanwhile, arrived at UCF from the same high school where Milton played in Hawaii. He performed well enough in fall camp that Heupel felt he deserved some playing time in the opener, and the freshman showed why by going 9 of 13 for 127 yards with TD passes to Otis Anderson, Tre Nixon and Alex Harris.

"I think it's spectacular what he did," Wimbush said, adding Gabriel "did a heck of a job of staying poised" for a freshman in his first college game.

Jones, a redshirt freshman, was 2 of 2 for 61 yards and one TD in the fourth quarter.

The Knights improved to 26-1 since the start of 2017, with the lone loss coming against LSU in last season's Fiesta Bowl. The setback ended a school- and American Athletic Conference-record 25-game winning streak.

TOTAL DOMINATION

The Knights ran 65 plays to FAMU's 32, outgaining the Rattlers 462 yards to 25 -- in the first half. Punter Chris Faddoul arguably was FAMU's most effective player, averaging 49.9 yards on 10 punts before halftime. Of course, all of the news on that front wasn't good. Anderson fielded six of those kicks, returning one of them 79 yards to set up Greg McCrae's 25-yard TD run in the second quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY

It was business as usual for UCF, which has scored at least 30 points in 27 consecutive games, the longest such streak for a FBS team since 1936. Wimbush looked comfortable running the offense, making plays with his feet and arm. In the first quarter alone, he ran the ball five times for 42 yards, with each of the runs resulting in a first down.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Opening the season against FAMU won't do anything silence critics of the overall strength of UCF's schedule. The Knights, however, will be tested before beginning conference play in late September, with No. 25 Stanford visiting Orlando in two weeks and UCF traveling to Pittsburgh on Sept. 21.

UP NEXT

Florida A&M: The Rattlers have two weeks to prepare for their Sept. 14 home opener against Fort Valley State.

UCF: At Florida Atlantic on Sept. 7.

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