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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI -- Shaq Washington didn't want to postpone the moment. With his family on hand and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats due to hit the road next week at Houston, he wanted to make sure he broke the record Saturday.
So did head coach Tommy Tuberville.
"It's a better moment when you're at home," Tuberville said.
The moment arrived with about three minutes left in the third quarter when Washington caught a short pass from quarterback Gunner Kiel and turned it into a 20-yard gain to break the UC record for career receptions. It was the 205th catch of his career, giving him one more than Mardy Gilyard, Dominick Goodman and LaDaris Vann, who had shared the record before Washington came along.
"I tried not to focus on it a lot but at the same time there were a lot of people talking about it," said Washington, who had planned to transfer from UC after his freshman year before Tuberville came along as Butch Jones' replacement. "Once I got close to it, a lot of the receivers started getting in coach's ear that we've got to get him the record at home. I really appreciate it. It means a lot because I kind of started at the bottom and now I'm kind of finishing at the top."
Washington, a 5-foot-9, 179-pound senior wide receiver from Maple Heights, Ohio, finished with eight catches for 72 yards with two touchdowns in UC's 52-7 victory over Central Florida before 30,131 fans, the smallest crowd of the season at Nippert Stadium.
UC has won two straight games for the first time this season and improved to 5-3 overall, 2-2 in the American Athletic Conference. UCF fell to 0-9, 0-5.
The Knights played their first game since head coach George O'Leary resigned last Sunday after UCF was beaten, 59-10, by Houston the day before. Quarterbacks coach Danny Barrett, who played quarterback at UC from 1979 to 1982, took over as interim head coach but the results remained the same.
"I told the guys we're better than what we are showing," Barrett said. "It's about hard work. It's about wanting to be out there, wanting to represent UCF in the right way. It's about having some Knight pride. That's the bottom line. And that is how you move forward."
While Washington savored his career achievement, Kiel was perfect in his second straight start, completing all 15 of his passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns without an interception. According to ESPN Stats Info, it was the most completions without an incompletion in the last 20 years.
"I didn't know it until after the game," Kiel said. "I got a lot of good plays from my wide receivers and the offensive line gave me a lot of time to get rid of the ball. Finally being back and playing again and getting into a rhythm is a great feeling. Things are rolling right now. We've just got to keep pushing."
As well as Kiel played, Tuberville said the week-to-week competition for the starting job will continue after redshirt freshman Hayden Moore also took a turn at quarterback and completed 11 of 15 passes for 154 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
But it doesn't seem likely that Kiel could lose his job after Saturday's performance.
"It's hard to argue with a guy that went 15 for 15," Tuberville said. "That's hard to do."
The Bearcats jumped on the beleaguered Knights right from the start. Kiel needed only two plays to produce UC's first touchdown, a 16-yard pass to Chris Moore. UCF then drove deep into UC territory only to have Matthew Wright miss a 34-yard field goal, the ball bouncing off the right upright and falling harmlessly to the ground. When Johnny Holton caught a 59-yard touchdown pass from Kiel, it was 14-0 with 4:50 left in the first quarter.
The Bearcats led 35-0 at halftime and 49-0 after three quarters. They gained 726 yards, 489 through the air, and averaged a whopping 9.8 yards per play. Johnny Holton caught three passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns, and Chris Moore caught three passes for 108 yards and one touchdown. Walk-on running back Chad Banschbach led the Bearcats in rushing with 75 yards on 18 carries. UC did not attempt a punt.
The Bearcats were unable to close the deal on a shutout, however, when UCF scored on a 1-yard run by C.J. Jones with 12:23 left in the fourth quarter. Still, the UC defense played well, allowing only 313 yards, and continues to make progress after a slow start to the season.
"We started rotating guys in a lot so we kept our legs fresh," said sophomore safety Carter Jacobs. "We just played together and it really turned out well for us. Everyone's growing together, which is really good."
Tuberville played everyone available on the roster and gave his starters plenty of rest, so they should be in good shape to face unbeaten and 18th-ranked Houston next week.
"On both sides of the ball we're playing better than we have all year," Tuberville said. "We're a better football team but we're going to have to prove it next week because we're going to play one of the better teams we play all year on the road."
Tuberville made a point to offer some words of consolation to the UCF players.
"It's just unfortunate the situation those kids were put in today," he said. "I hate for that to happen to any kids. You fire a coach in the middle of the season and you see what you get. And you don't hurt anybody but those kids out on the field. Danny's got his hands full the next three games. Those kids played hard but you could just tell they weren't focused."
Bill Koch covered UC Athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com in January, 2015 as featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter @bkoch.