TULSA, Okla. — David Johnson threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, ran for two more scores and brought No. 19 Tulsa's high-powered offense to life in the second half to overpower UCF 49-19 Sunday night in the Golden Hurricane's first game in the Top 25 in 17 years.

Damaris Johnson made up for a critical early fumble by returning the second-half kickoff 70 yards to set up a go-ahead touchdown. Johnson zoomed in from 10 yards out to give Tulsa (8-0, 5-0 Conference USA) a 21-19 lead, and he kept the nation's top-ranked offense in gear from there on out.

UCF held Tulsa to a season-low 436 yards, nearly 200 below their 625-yard average, but had only 187 yards of its own.

Courtney Tennial scored on a 1-yard dive to complete a drive that was extended by Trae Johnson's leaping 29-yard catch on fourth-and-13 and again when David Johnson fumbled and then got the ball back after defensive back Johnell Neal coughed it right back up.

The country's top-rated quarterback added a 2-yard touchdown run and a 15-yard TD toss to a diving Trae Johnson as the Golden Hurricane kept pulling away.

The win helped make up for last season's pair of losses to the Knights (2-5, 1-2), including one in the Conference USA championship game, and moved Tulsa to 8-0 for only the sixth time in school history.

Getting the only college game on an NFL-free Sunday night, Tulsa pulled out all the stops by honoring NFL Hall of Famer Steve Largent and future college Hall of Fame coach John Cooper in front of a sellout crowd.

Largent helped lead the Golden Hurricane onto the field and then had his No. 83 jersey retired at halftime, and Cooper waved to the crowd after getting a plaque during a second-quarter break. Cooper, who went on to become Ohio State's coach after his time at Tulsa, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December.

For a brief time in the second quarter, it appeared Tulsa might give the game away as the Knights put up 19 straight points without having to rely much on the nation's worst offense.

Daren Daly hit a 54-yard field goal after Michael Such's punt got held up in the wind and went only 14 yards, and it only got worse from there. Damaris Johnson fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and receiver Brian Watters recovered and then caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Rob Calabrese three plays later for a 17-14 UCF lead.

A penalty on the kickoff pushed the Golden Hurricane back for the start of their next drive, and David Johnson had to track down a bad snap on second down and knock it out of the end zone for a safety that made it 19-14 at halftime.

Once Tulsa got back on top, Calabrese became the target of the Golden Hurricane defense. Tanner Antle, James Lockett and Roy Roberts each contributed to Tulsa's total of nine sacks on the same second-half drive and the Knights wound up with only 38 yards after halftime.

Watters had seven catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns for UCF, and freshman Brynn Harvey ran 24 times for 91 yards in his first career start.