The Mustangs once again played a solid half of football, but it wasn’t enough to get a win.

SMU held a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, but was only able to score one more touchdown in the game and lost to UCF 31-17. The Mustangs’ defense gave up 14 points in the third quarter and that was all the Knights needed to put the win away.

Senior Andrew McKinney started his first game, and scored his first touchdown on a one-yard run in the first quarter. But the SMU running game still left much to be desired gaining only 25 yards on the ground.

Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed 29 of 45 passes for 351 yards and a 94-yard touchdown pass to Aldrick Robinson, but also threw three interceptions. Mitchell has now thrown more interceptions than touchdowns this season, throwing 15 interceptions and only 13 touchdowns in six games.

A costly interception in the third quarter led to UCF taking a two touchdown lead they would hold on to the rest of the game.

Robinson finished the game with 210 receiving yards, second most in SMU history, and a touchdown. His 94-yard reception was the second longest passing play in SMU history as well.

Thomas Morstead is the eighth leading punter in the nation, averaging 45 yards a punt on 29 punts. On Saturday, Morstead punted the ball seven times, averaging 45.7 yards a kick and had a long of 62 yards, pinning UCF inside the 20-yard line once.

The Mustangs will return home next week to face Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane lead the country in total offense ,averaging 596 yards a game and scoring offense with 56.4 points a game.

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. at Ford Stadium.