Central Florida 17, Houston 12: Justin Holman threw a pair of touchdowns and the Knights forced a fumble with 24 seconds left to hold off the Cougars in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Houston quarterback Greg Ward had the ball knocked out of his hands as he dove toward the pylon and it rolled out of the end zone for a touchback as Central Florida (2-2, 1-0 AAC) won its fifth straight conference opener. Holman completed 6-of-18 passes for 101 yards while Breshad Perriman and Jackie Williams each scored a touchdown for the Knights.

Kyle Bullard booted four field goals for Houston (2-3, 0-1). Ward came off the bench to go 10-of-17 for 116 yards after replacing John O’Korn, who went 12-of-26 with a pair of interceptions for the Cougars.

Efrem Oliphant’s fumble recovery helped set up the first of Bullard’s two field goals in the opening half to give Houston a 3-0 lead. Clayton Geathers’ interception at the Houston 25 led to Holman’s 6-yard slant to Williams for a score 5:33 into the second quarter and the Knights held a 7-6 edge at halftime.

Perriman slipped away from a defender for 52-yard scoring strike early in the third and Brandon Alexander's interception on the next series set up Shawn Moffitt’s 42-yard field goal. Bullard made field goals from 51 and 49 yards in the fourth and Cougars drove 61 yards on the final drive before the fumble.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Central Florida WR J.J. Worton became the 10th player in school history to go over 2,000 receiving yards (2,005) after grabbing one pass for nine yards. … O’Korn became the 11th Houston quarterback to record 4,000 yards passing and has 4,061 overall while Cougars’ WR Demarcus Ayers caught seven passes for 90 yards. … Houston has forced at least one turnover in 28 consecutive games, the second longest streak behind Louisiana-Monroe (30).