ORLANDO, Fla. -- Losing as a 13.5-point road underdog doesn't exactly drive one to wring hands.

More subtle setbacks -- problems that appeared to have been deciphered -- again reared Saturday afternoon, leading to real frustration. Penalties in particular squelched any opportunity at momentum during Marshall University's football 47-13 loss to Central Florida.

Make no mistake, UCF was the superior team on this day, but Thundering Herd miscues helped the record crowd of 46,103 rock the Bright House Networks Stadium house (seriously, the press box moved when fans bounded up and down in unison).

Holding calls led to long distance on second and third downs. Both a tailback and wide receiver were flagged for false starts and a late personal foul negated Courtney Edmonson's kickoff return into Golden Knights territory.

"We definitely shot ourselves in the foot a lot," said tight end Cody Slate, who led Thundering Herd receivers with nine receptions for 91 yards. "It's hard to overcome the holds. You start going the wrong way on offense."

UCF jumped to a 20-0 lead and won the total offense yardage battle by a 472-337 margin. Bottom line, armed with an early advantage and repeated high percentage third down situations, UCF's defense was allowed to tee off on quarterback Bernard Morris.

Marshall's senior quarterback scrambled effectively, but still was sacked six times.

"We got into must-pass mode and when you throw the ball 30-plus times, you to expect to get sacked some," Morris said.

With penalties limiting playcalling, the Herd offense converted just four of 15 third down opportunities.

"When you play good teams on the road, you have to play almost a perfect game," Morris said.

Overall, Marshall was flagged eight times for 75 yards. Those numbers are magnified when your opponent doesn't commit a penalty in a 60-minute game. Playing before a raucous Homecoming crowd, UCF didn't draw a single piece of yellow laundry. The Golden Knights ran 74 offensive plays, including 52 rushes.

"I don't think I've ever been part of a game in my 20 years where one team had all of the penalties and the other team had none, zero, none," Marshall coach Mark Snyder said. "Credit UCF. That's great coaching. I've never been a part of a game like that, never.

"I don't know if I've ever even heard of one. But again you have to credit UCF for not having any penalties."

SMALL FINDS LATE KINK: Topping Marshall's few highlights in Orlando was Chubb Small's 45-yard touchdown run.

The junior tailback spotted a crease, found the middle wide open and sprinted to his team's lone end zone trek. Small's touchdown run comprised more than half of Marshall's 88 rushing yards.

"We found a kink in their defense," said Small, who has three TDs this season. "Their defensive front had been challenging our offensive front throughout the whole game and finally we overpowered them.

Anthony Hanshew covers Marshall football for The Herald-Dispatch. He can be reached at 526-2766. His e-mail address is hanshew@herald-dispatch.com.