Central Florida Knights vs East Carolina Pirates Box Score on Dec 04, 2014

UCF 32, East Carolina 30: Justin Holman’s 51-yard Hail Mary to Breshad Perriman as time expired capped a wild fourth quarter as the visiting Knights stunned the Pirates to claim a share of the American Athletic Conference title.

Shane Carden tossed all three of his touchdowns in the fourth quarter as East Carolina overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit, but was unable to run out the clock after getting the ball back with a four-point lead and 1:47 remaining. Carden took a sack on fourth down and Holman threw 14 yards to Josh Reese to get UCF to its own 49-yard line with five seconds remaining before Perriman got behind three defenders to haul in the game-winner.

William Stanback ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns, Holman threw for 274 yards and Perriman made four catches for 139 yards as the Knights (9-3, 7-1 AAC) finished in a tie with Memphis for the league crown while Cincinnati can join them with a victory over Houston on Saturday. Shane Carden was 36-of-48 for 397 yards and Justin Hardy had 12 receptions for 140 yards and a touchdown for the Pirates (8-4, 5-3).

UCF held a commanding 26-9 advantage following Shawn Moffitt’s fourth field goal midway through the third quarter, but he missed a 36-yarder at the end of the next drive and East Carolina began to chip away as Cam Worthy hauled in a 15-yard TD from Carden with 13:16 to go. The Knights went three-and-out on their next possession and the Pirates needed less than three minutes to close within 26-23 on a 14-yard toss to a wide-open Marquez Grayson.

East Carolina was unable to capitalize on its third fumble recovery of the season on the ensuing possession, but forced another three-and-out the next time UCF touched the ball and Hardy made a leaping grab in the end zone with 2:17 to complete the comeback. The Knights turned it over on downs after Holman threw incomplete on fourth-and-20, but the Pirates could only run 1:37 off the clock to set up the dramatic finish.

GAME NOTEBOOK: UCF, which won the AAC outright last season, has won consecutive conference championships for the first time in school history. … The Pirates outscored the Knights 21-6 in the fourth quarter Thursday, extending their advantage for the season to 151-63. … Perriman became the 11th Knight to reach 2,000 receiving yards (2,105) in his career.