Written by Zach Bartkus
TAMPA, FLA. – This year the War on I-4 took place at Raymond James Stadium which holds home to the USF Bulls. UCF would look to make it two straight wins after last year’s thrilling matchup at Spectrum Stadium. This year’s matchup wasn’t quite the same as USF (7-4, 3-4 AAC) didn’t have quite the same explosiveness on offense as they did 364 days ago when they played the Knights last.
Offensively the first two drives stalled out, USF would get one first down off of a Chris Oladokun run and then go three-and-out. UCF’s first drive would come to an end after 9 plays and 40 yards. USF’s next drive would come to a close after UCF’s Richie Grant came across the field and intercepted Oladokun’s pass intended for Yafeo Davis. UCF gave the ball right back on the third play of their drive as McKenzie Milton would throw an interception also.
The scoring would start at the very end of the first quarter as Milton hit Gabriel Davis first for 38 yards down the sideline then for 14 yards back to Davis to put the Knights on the board. UCF would work the lead up to 17-0 in the second quarter but would lose starting quarterback McKenzie Milton. Milton had a QB draw to the right, but the play didn’t end in the result that anybody wanted. Milton would have to be carted off the field after taking a hit to his knee area. He was taken immediately to a local hospital.
Darriel Mack Jr. took the helm for the Knights. This would be his second time playing a significant amount this season. His last time out was against East Carolina where he went 12-10 for 69 yards. This time out he would go 5-14 for 81 yards. The Knights relied heavily on the run game as Adrian Killins ran for 65 yards, Taj McGowan ran for 72 yards and a touchdown and Greg McCrae ran for a huge total of 181 yards alongside 3 touchdowns.
The final score of 38-10 would push UCF’s winning streak to 24 straight games, as it would also extend the Knights’ record of games where they score 30+ points to 24 straight games.
As for McKenzie Milton, he was carted off the field with an air cast around his right leg. Early reports have said that he dislocated his knee which cut off blood circulation. The doctors on the field did pop his knee back into place, according to these reports, he is at the hospital but no confirmation on surgery.
The Knights now head into the American Athletic Conference Championship game at Spectrum Stadium. The game will be a rematch of last year’s championship game as Memphis travels down to Orlando to face the Knights. Kickoff will be at 3:30 PM ET on ABC.
