Written by Zach Bartkus
Orlando, FL. – In 2017, the UCF Knights and Memphis Tigers faced off against each other at Spectrum Stadium in an exciting American Athletic Conference Championship game, that ended with a 62-55 victory for UCF. The 2018 AAC Championship Game was a rematch between these two teams that ended with a similar result. UCF defeated Memphis by a score of 56-41.
For the Knights, this game would have a little bit more meaning than just winning the AAC Championship. Last week, as the Knights were playing the USF Bulls, starting quarterback McKenzie Milton severely injured his right knee. That injury ended Milton’s season and may even limit him heading into next season. The loss was a massive gut punch to UCF and their fanbase as Milton was a huge part of the teams’ offensive success and their undefeated record.
UCF made their love for the injured quarterback apparent by handing out over 40,000 Hawaiian leis to fans, players and stadium staffers prior to the game. The UCF players also wore “10HANA” on the backside of their helmets and the “808” area code for where Milton grew up in Hawaii. UCF quarterback Darriel Mack Jr., who stepped in for the injured Milton spoke about what this game meant to the team.
“Well I feel like coming as a team playing for our guy – he made major plays all year and helped his win a lot of games,” said Mack. “Going out there and finishing and winning it for him, it was very big for not only me, but the team. It may not have been said as much but everybody knew, and everybody could hear that we were going out there to win for 10.”
The first half of the game started in a way that no one could have predicted. Memphis jumped out to an early 14-point lead with just 3:05 into the game. On their first drive, Memphis running back Darrell Henderson burst down the field for a 62-yard touchdown and an early 7-0. On UCF’s first offensive possession and Mack’s first start after Milton’s injury, Mack fumbled four plays into the drive and Memphis recovered the loose ball. Memphis promptly took advantage of the mistake as Henderson ran for a 12-yard touchdown out of the wildcat formation. This increased Memphis’s lead to 14 points.
On UCF’s second possession, things seemed to click and ran much smoother than their first drive. It was so smooth that they didn’t even have to face a third down situation. It took Mack and the rest of the offense 2:07 to march down the field and put points on the board with a 14-yard touchdown run from running back Greg McCrae.
The game truly seemed to open up even further as Memphis running back Patrick Taylor entered the game and he took that opportunity and ran with it. He ran 70-yards with it, all the way to the end zone for another Memphis touchdown. On UCF’s following drive, Memphis defensive lineman O’Bryan Goodson of Memphis strip-sacked Mack and the Tigers recovered the ball. They would take advantage this mistake by Mack fumble with a 36-yard field goal from kicker Riley Patterson. This field goal brought the score to 24-7, with Memphis leading.
Through the second quarter, both teams would trade scores up until UCF running back Otis Anderson Jr. would muff a Memphis punt. The Tigers would regain possession of the ball on their 31-yard line and quickly scored. On the scoring play, Henderson lined up in the wildcat once again, but he rolled out to the right and threw a touchdown pass to tight end, Sean Dykes. This brought the score 38-21 in favor of Memphis going into halftime.
McCrae spoke after the game on how this team fights through adversity and continues to win. “I think we’ve faced adversity a lot this year and not even just this year,” said McCrae. This is just a great group of guys around in the locker room and when it comes down to it, we all play for each other. The camaraderie this team has built over the last 11 months has shown and was evident in the back half of this game.”
As UCF has shown this season, they are a second-half team and it showed in this game. The Knights defense held Henderson to just six yards rushing in the second half, compared to the 208 yards they allowed in the first half. They also held Memphis to just three points in the second half. UCF head coach Josh Heupel spoke on how big of an impact the defense’s second-half performance had on the game.
“Structurally there weren’t a ton of changes,” said Heupel. “Some subtle adjustments by Coach Shannon and the staff but as much as anything we started to feed in blocks playing with great technique and playing gap sound.”
While the defense did their part in shutting down the Memphis offense, Mack and the UCF offense also turned things around and scored 35 points in the second half to take the lead and win the game. By the end of the game, UCF produced 698 yards of total offense. The second half dominance proved to be enough for the Knights to extend their 24-game winning streak to 25 and make one last argument to be in the College Football Playoff. Heupel spoke after the game on how well Mack came in and performed tonight.
“I think he had great comfort in the game plan, was confident in reading the defense from the other side of it, played with poise all night long when it didn’t go well early,” said Heupel. A couple of turnovers early, but I was able to see that there was no cause for concern.”
Mack finished the game with 348 yards passing, two touchdown passes, 72 yards rushing and four rushing touchdowns. McCrae also broke 1,000 yards rushing on the season tonight with his 24-carry, 206-yard rushing performance. It marks the first time that a Knights player has done that since running back Storm Johnson back in 2013.
The Knights are now back-to-back AAC champions after defeating the Memphis Tigers. They now await the CFP rankings that will be released on Sunday to determine if they will have a spot in the four-team playoff.
