UCF Tight End Steps Up During Oklahoma State Game

The UCF Knights were familiar with heartbreaking home losses this season, and heading into halftime against Oklahoma State, it was looking like that again.

"Saying it wasn't a great first half is probably an understatement," coach Scott Frost said after the game.

Then, tight end Dylan Wade struck.

On UCF's first play of scrimmage in the second half, quarterback Tayven Jackson found Wade for an 83-yard touchdown pass, the longest passing play of the season and longest reception of Wade's career, to get the Knights on the board.

"You know, that's two games at home where we needed a spark, and we were on fumes, and he made a huge play for us," Frost said of Wade.

It was not the only key play Wade ended up making that night. He also caught a second touchdown reception from two yards out to tie the game up at 14 apiece, followed by a 50-yard catch to start the Knights' final drive that ended with their game-winning field goal.

All told, of the five times Jackson targeted Wade on Saturday, he caught the ball four times for 145 yards and two touchdowns, the first time this season a Knights receiver recorded over 100 yards in a game.

"I'm pretty sure [Jackson] probably sees a playmaker in me," Wade said after the game. "Nothing crazy, just he take note of what he got. That's all it is."

Wade now stands as the Knights' leading receiver this season with 492 receiving yards, despite having 10 fewer receptions than the team's receptions leader, Duane Thomas Jr.

"He's an athletic tight end, and he reads the defense well, and he plays in space, and he plays the grass," Jackson said of Wade. "He's not a receiver that will run the route like our install picture tells him to, but he'll just run the space, and I feel like I have a connection with him, and I know what he's going to do, and he gets the job done."

With one game left in the Knights' regular season, Wade sits 38 yards ahead of Thomas Jr. for the team's leading receiver. Should this season finish with Wade still on top, it would mark the first time a tight end has led the team in receiving yards since UCF entered Division l in 1996.

"He's a big part of this," Frost said. "He's become one of our best weapons, and he certainly can keep improving, and I know he knows that, but the plays he made out there really gave us seven and set us up for the winning one, and that was a key part of the game."

That final game of the Knights' regular season kicks off at 1 p.m. in Provo, Utah, against No. 11 BYU.

Catch up on more UCF news below:

UCF Kicker Gets Game-Winner On His Senior Knight

UCF Flips Four-Star Quarterback Away From James Madison, Fending Off Missouri

Three Key Takeaways From UCF's Close Senior Knight Win Over Oklahoma State