Pittsburgh 12-7 UCF (Sep 12, 2026) Final Score

Team pages: UCF · Pittsburgh

UCF1-17

Pittsburgh2-012Final

Sat, Sep 12 · Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pa. · Crowd 45,926

Pittsburgh beat UCF 12-7.

We had Pittsburgh favored. It won.

Next: UCF beat Georgia State 44-30, Sat Sep 19

Next: Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 27-13, Thu Sep 17

Top comment in the game thread

That missed pick 6 is going to haunt us

Q2 7:24 · r/CFB game thread · Sat, Sep 12

How it swung

The turning point: Barnett 19-yd TD pass to Charles (Q4, 2:51). Pittsburgh went from 98% to 82% to win. Fans right then: “This would be absolute sicko if this game had a UCF comeback in the downpour, limited camera angles, to win it 14-12” r/CFB game thread

Before kickoff, our ratings gave Pittsburgh a 76% chance, and the closing betting line (Pittsburgh was a 7.5-point favorite) put it at 73%.

SafetyQ2 7:24

Last play we havePittsburgh 12-7 UCFPlay-by-play ends earlyMove across the chart, or tap a numbered swing, to see any play.At the airport: 0.3 in of rain

The play that swung it

1Q2 4:19Watson 1-yd runPittsburgh 78% → 88% (+10)

The play that swung it

1Q2 4:19Watson 1-yd runUCF 22% → 12% (−10)

What fans said, play by play

The line in bold above each quote is written by our model from the thread’s comments and the play-by-play.

Q2 7:24Quoted at the top of the page.He got hit while he was throwing though?r/CFB game thread
Q3 0:45UCF fans lament Barnett's incomplete passes and porous offensive lineI hate how UCF has become a high school football team. No hope in sightr/CFB game threadUCF’s O line is… porousr/CFB game thread
Q4 4:43Fans mock the broadcast's poor camera angles and lighting issuesThis would be absolute sicko if this game had a UCF comeback in the downpour, limited camera angles, to win it 14-12r/CFB game threadwtf is this ghetto ass camera angle?r/CFB game thread
Q4 1:31UCF fans mock the offense after Jenkins is sacked for a turnover on downsBeat the spread and know the truth about the offense.r/CFB game threadI think that play entirely sums up how UCF's offense played this game.r/CFB game thread

Pittsburgh’s chance to win after every play.

How to read this chart

Starts from the pregame line (Pittsburgh -7.5), at 72% for Pittsburgh (the play-by-play feed's kickoff number, moved to match the line; our model's and the betting line's own numbers are in “The betting line, and the fans”). Dots are the biggest swings; ticks under the chart are scores. Outlined diamonds mark rare plays. Under the scores, r/CFB comments per minute from fans with a Pittsburgh or UCF flair (245 and 544); both sides share one scale, regulation only.

The blue strip under the chart is the weather at the airport. 0.4 in of rain by radar over the stadium; the airport 8.1 miles away recorded 0.3 in; another 0.2 in fell before the late kickoff, heaviest in the first quarter. Measured at Pittsburgh/alleghen airport, 8.1 miles away. Full conditions below.Kickoff came 1 hour 6 minutes late. Thunder was reported at Pittsburgh/alleghen airport (8.1 miles away) from 3:31 p.m. to 4:28 p.m., around the delay.

Watch the plays

The bar and the arrow show Pittsburgh’s chance to win after each play; the logo is the team the play helped.

Every drive

Pittsburgh scored on 2 of its 12 drives; UCF on 1 of its 12.

Pittsburgh’s drives are teal, UCF’s amber. A line runs from where a drive started to where it ended; a filled dot means it scored.

From UCF’s side

UCF’s best moment: Barnett 19-yd TD pass to Charles (Q4 2:51). It lifted UCF’s win chance by 16 points.

How UCF fans took it: “Beat the spread and know the truth about the offense.” r/CFB game thread

“That Bethune Cookman game really fooled me”

A UCF fan

When fans got loud

Busy

It came down to the finish, and so did the noise.

Jump to the loudest stretch

The jump was busy; the crowd was steady.

Two crowds, one game

The words each side’s fans used far more than the other side, from the game thread.

Pittsburgh fans

narduzzi“Defense is designed to stop the run and it’s doing its job. There’s like two teams that have ever run on Narduzzi in decades at this point.”

Both sets of fans kept coming back to: run, half, back, now.

What it cost

Pittsburgh’s chance to make the playoff fell from 4% to 3%.

Make the playoff

UCF · lost1% → 1%

Pittsburgh · won4% → ▼3%

Win the conference

UCF · lost1% → 1%

Pittsburgh · won3% → ▼2%

Before the game (September 11, 2026) → after this result, in our model.

Box score

Pittsburgh 12, UCF 7

UCF covered +7.5 by 2.5. The total, 19, stayed under 55.5.

Team totals	UCF	Pittsburgh
Total yards	206	315
Passing	20 of 31, 186 yds	18 of 29, 212 yds
Rushing	22 for 20 yds	43 for 103 yds
First downs	9	15
Third down	4 of 13	5 of 18
Fourth down	0 of 3	2 of 3
Turnovers	0	0
Penalties	9 for 50 yds	8 for 64 yds
Time of possession	23:48	36:12

UCF leaders

Passing Alonza Barnett 20 of 31, 186 yds, 1 TD
Rushing Alonza Barnett 13 for 13 yds; Duke Watson 6 for 10 yds
Receiving Ric'Darious Farmer 4 for 52 yds; Waden Charles 4 for 41 yds, 1 TD

Pittsburgh leaders

Passing Mason Heintschel 18 of 29, 212 yds
Rushing Damon Ferguson Jr. 20 for 59 yds, 1 TD; La'Vell Wright 13 for 35 yds
Receiving Cataurus Hicks 3 for 64 yds; La'Vell Wright 2 for 28 yds

Kickoff came 1 hour 6 minutes late

70° at kickoff · 0.4 in of rain by radar over the stadium; the airport 8.1 miles away recorded 0.3 in; another 0.2 in fell before the late kickoff

Thunder was reported at Pittsburgh/alleghen airport (8.1 miles away) from 3:31 p.m. to 4:28 p.m., around the delay.

In the game thread, fans talked about the rain.

September game-day temperatures at Acrisure Stadium

Drag along the chart, or step through the game.

Fourth quarter, 2:51 left7:32 p.m.

UCF 7, Pittsburgh 12 · Pittsburgh 82% to win

70°

Barnett 19-yd TD pass to Charles

Measured at Pittsburgh/alleghen airport, 8.1 miles away, and Pittsburgh International airport, 12 miles away. The paler thunder bar is thunder reported in the vicinity of an airport. Rain is NOAA's radar-and-gauge estimate at the stadium and wind is an airport reading; neither is measured on the field. Game times come from the play-by-play, good to a minute or two. Source: National Weather Service, through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet; rain radar from NOAA MRMS, through Iowa State University. Field direction from OpenStreetMap contributors.

Before kickoff

Recent games, the series and the betting line below are as they stood going in; the season profile is the season so far.

Recent games

Last three games · 2025 season

UCF · 5-7

Rated 103rd in our preseason ratings, 103rd now.

1-2 in its last three — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.

L 21-41 @ BYUTop 25 #24 of 667

lost by 20 as a 17.5-point underdog

W 17-14 vs Oklahoma State #159 of 667

won by 3 as a 12.5-point favorite

L 9-48 @ Texas TechTop 25 #9 of 667

lost by 39 as a 24.5-point underdog

L 27-30 vs HoustonTop 25 #64 of 667

lost by 3 as a 1.5-point favorite

L 3-30 @ Baylor #30 of 667

lost by 27 as a 3.5-point underdog

W 45-13 vs West Virginia #97 of 667

won by 32 as a 6.5-point favorite

L 11-20 @ CincinnatiTop 25 #44 of 667

lost by 9 as a 10.5-point underdog

L 20-27 vs Kansas #32 of 667

lost by 7 as a 3.5-point underdog

L 20-34 @ Kansas StateTop 25 #56 of 667

lost by 14 as a 5.5-point underdog

W 34-9 vs North Carolina #70 of 667

won by 25 as a 7.5-point favorite

W 68-7 vs North Carolina A&T #254 of 667

won by 61 as a 37-point favorite

W 17-10 vs Jacksonville State #90 of 667

won by 7 as a 20.5-point favorite

Last three games · 2025 season

Pittsburgh · 8-5

Rated 47th in our preseason ratings, 45th now.

1-2 in its last three, including a 14-point win over Georgia Tech as a 2.5-point underdog.

L 17-23 @ East Carolina #52 of 667

lost by 6 as a 13.5-point favorite

L 7-38 vs MiamiTop 25 #7 of 667

lost by 31 as a 6.5-point underdog

W 42-28 @ Georgia TechTop 25 #53 of 667

won by 14 as a 2.5-point underdog

L 15-37 vs Notre DameTop 25 #3 of 667

lost by 22 as a 12.5-point underdog

W 35-20 @ Stanford #128 of 667

won by 15 as a 13.5-point favorite

W 53-34 vs NC State #46 of 667

won by 19 as a 5.5-point favorite

W 30-13 @ Syracuse #71 of 667

won by 17 as an 8.5-point favorite

W 34-31 @ Florida StateTop 25 #30 of 667

won by 3 as an 11.5-point underdog

W 48-7 vs Boston College #81 of 667

won by 41 as a 6.5-point favorite

L 27-34 vs LouisvilleTop 25 #32 of 667

lost by 7 as a 3.5-point underdog

L 24-31 @ West Virginia #56 of 667

lost by 7 as a 6.5-point favorite

W 45-17 vs Central Michigan #159 of 667

won by 28 as a 21.5-point favorite

W 61-9 vs Duquesne #146 of 667

won by 52 as a 39.5-point favorite

Week by week

Pittsburgh

Wk 1Wvs Miami (OH)59-14

UCF

Wk 1Wvs Bethune-Cookman73-6

Matchups

Biggest mismatch: UCF’s explosive plays against Pittsburgh, 74 points

Each row ranks the two sides among all teams. The longer the line, the bigger the mismatch.

UCF’s explosive plays against Pittsburgh’s defense
UCF offense, 79th percentile · Pittsburgh defense, 5th
UCF’s success rate against Pittsburgh’s defense
UCF offense, 36th percentile · Pittsburgh defense, 98th
UCF’s rushing EPA against Pittsburgh’s defense
UCF offense, 39th percentile · Pittsburgh defense, 100th

Season profile, all the rows

Season profile

UCFPittsburgh

EPA/play, offense

EPA/play, defense

Success rate, offense

Success rate, defense

Explosive-play rate, offense

Explosive-play rate, defense

Rush EPA, offense

Rush EPA, defense

Pass EPA, offense

Pass EPA, defense

The series

Pittsburgh leads the series 2-1

3 meetings since 2006 · Pittsburgh won the last meeting

2019Pittsburgh 35-34
2018UCF 45-14
2006Pittsburgh 52-7

Each line is Pittsburgh’s chance to win through that meeting. Older meetings have no play by play, so no line.

Line, fans and home field

The betting line, and the fans

Pittsburgh fans are feeling it less than most fanbases this week (20th among FBS fanbases), and the other side is no happier.

Pittsburgh favored by 7.5 · Total 55.5

The market

The spread moved 1 point toward UCF.

The total rose 4 points.

The books’ cut: 4.3%, the margin built into the odds

Weather at kickoff

Warm, with rain. Feels like 74° at kickoff.

UCF at Pittsburgh · Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026 · Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh

74°feels like at kickoff
0.19 inrain at kickoff
61weather score, Rough
Roughestof the day's 7 kickoff times

At kickoff, Sept. 12, 2026.

Weather score: 0 to 100, higher is better, for the first 3 hours and 20 minutes of the game. Ideal is 100, Comfortable 90 to 99, Mixed 75 to 89, Rough 50 to 74, Harsh under 50.

Later kickoff times scored higher that Saturday

Games in this time zone used 7 kickoff times that day, local time (kickoffs within 30 minutes of each other count as one). This game, ringed, was the roughest of the day's seven kickoff times. At Acrisure Stadium that day, a 7 pm or 7:30 pm kickoff would have scored 87, against 61 at 3:30 pm.

The roughest kickoff time is the lowest of the day's times. It can still be Mixed or Comfortable.

noon: 65, Rough
1 pm: 68, Rough
2 pm: 69, Rough
3:30 pm: 61, Rough (this game)
6 pm: 76, Mixed
7 pm: 87, Mixed
7:30 pm: 87, Mixed

Weather score at each kickoff time.

Tap a dot to read that kickoff time.

At kickoff, Sept. 12, 2026. Wind is not drawn here; gusts are in each score.

Home field

Pittsburgh is worth +2.4 points (±3.8) more at home than on the road since 2018 — bottom third of FBS, 20th percentile.

62% at home, 51% on the road against FBS opponents (31-19 home, 22-21 away).

Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads +1.3 at home vs. away over 101 games — inside the ±6.0 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.

The visitors travel about 821 miles to get here.

Last meeting in our History pages

Pittsburgh 35, UCF 34Sep 21, 2019

Pittsburgh beats UCF 12-7