With the American Athletic Conference Championship and a New Year’s Six Bowl on the line, the UCF Knights came back from 17 points down to defeat the Memphis Tigers 56-41 and extended their nation’s best active winning streak to 25 games to lock up a second consecutive undefeated regular season. Let’s have some knee-jerk reactions.

Second verse, same as the first

How do you have an encore for an undefeated season?

Do it again.

In 2017, UCF ran the tables and had an undefeated season, culminating in an NCAA-recognized national championship. The Knights lost their entire coaching staff and the stage was set for a letdown somewhere. On both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, there was good talent lost to the NFL. UCF hired Josh Heupel, a rookie head coach, like Scott Frost before him, with an affinity for a fast spread offense.

The odds were stacked against a repeat. Led by quarterback McKenzie Milton, the Knights continued their winning ways. While trailing in multiple games at the half, the second-half adjustments made by Heupel and defensive coordinator Randy Shannon turned the tide in their favor each time. In fact, there was only one game, the prior meeting between UCF and Memphis, that ended with the Knights winning by single digits.

So where do you go from here?

That’s a tough question and the answer depends on who you ask. One would think that winning 25 games in a row would reward a team with a shot at the College Football Playoffs, but college football on the FBS level is the only place in sports that have anything related to a playoff or tournament where an undefeated season does not guarantee anything.

So while the Knights faithful would like a spot in the CFP, the more likely scenario is a matching in one of the New Year’s Six bowls with the Fiesta Bowl being the most likely destination. UCF is 2-0 in NY6 bowls, including a Fiesta Bowl win to cap the 2013 season.

We’ve seen this game before, haven’t we?

The way this game played out might seem awfully familiar. Earlier this season, UCF played at Memphis in a messy game where the Tigers built out a 16-point lead only for McKenzie Milton to lead the team back to a slim one-point win. This time, it was 17 points and there was no McKenzie Milton.

The loss of a starting quarterback could derail a team, but losing Milton galvanized the Knights. They embraced the Hawaiian philosophy of ohana, creating the #10hana movement. For those unfamiliar, ohana means family. To Hawaiians, ohana means no one is left behind. The fans, school, and the team all adopted ohana and pushed forward together.

UCF got ran up and down the field in the first half, giving up 38 points and 402 yards of offense. The Knights were down 38 to 21 heading back into the locker room. The momentum was in favor of the Tigers. The second half brought out a completely different UCF defense. They played faster, more explosive, and maintained their assignments. UCF’s offense fed off this energy as the loud capacity crowd was brought back into it. The Knights outscored the Tigers 35 to 3 in the second half to pull away and seal the deal.

It’s Darriel Mack Jr’s show now

With McKenzie Milton out, the reins of the offense officially moved over to Darriel Mack Jr. Mack, who started against East Carolina and had relief duty against South Florida after the Milton injury, had pedestrian numbers coming in. The game plan for UCF was to run the ball to set up the pass. The Tigers anticipated this and focused their defense heavily against the run. Mack ran the ball often, not gaining much, but he gained yards near the end zone, rushing for four touchdowns. He ended up running the ball 18 times for only 59 yards. He had scoring runs of 4, 2, 2, and 5 yards. The problem was the fumbles. Mack had three first-half fumbles. Two were lost and led to 10 points for the Tigers. The third fumble was at the goal line and luckily, Michael Colubiale recovered it for a Knights touchdown. Being taught to carry the ball closer to the body is a coachable thing. What you can’t teach are size and power and Mack has plenty of both. UCF ended up having another lost fumble by Otis Anderson in the first half that led to a Memphis touchdown.

Mack’s arm in the short and medium range wasn’t bad, but his deep passes took a bit of time to develop some accuracy. He had no problem hitting receivers on comeback routes as it gives him and his receivers the greatest time window for throwing the ball. As the game went on, his passing kept improving, which is encouraging. A big key coming into this game was how Mack would handle the passing aspect of the game and he rose to the occasion. With Memphis keying in on the running game, another sub-100-yard outing was not going to cut it. Relishing the moment and channeling his good friend Milton, Mack finished 19-of-27 for 348 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. Mack’s overall development is a work in progress as he gains more experience and the offense shifts over to tailor to his strengths. Mack most certainly looked much more comfortable throwing the ball than in any previous appearance. Being only a redshirt freshman, UCF should feel very good as it is expected to be the Darriel Mack Jr show next season.

Mack received the MVP award for his performance. He received my vote.

Darrell Henderson owns the UCF defense…for a half

This was ugly. It was no secret that Memphis is a run-heavy team with the three-headed monster of Darrell Henderson, Patrick Taylor, and Tony Pollard. Henderson tore the UCF defense apart, gaining 207 yards and 3 touchdowns on 10 carries in the first half. Add another 94 yards from Taylor, which was mostly gained from a 70-yard touchdown early on. The Tigers ran for 336 yards in the first half, blowing the game open early before the Knights clawed their way back in. Henderson also had a short passing touchdown as well.

To fully appreciate what Henderson can do, you have to watch him. He has the power of Marshawn Lynch, even carrying defensive lineman Joey Connors on an 8-yard run. He also has great cutting skills, which were on display on his second touchdown run. His on-field vision was on point, recognizing that UCF was sending their defensive ends in and not providing outside containment. He was able to bounce outside for multiple big plays.

Like many times this season, the UCF defense made some adjustments and came back with a new energy that completely stifled Henderson, limiting him to only three second-half yards. . . That’s it. Memphis only ran for 65 yards in the second half to finish with 401 yards. With Memphis’ best player neutered, the Tigers struggled to put drives together and it left the Memphis defense on the field for too many plays. UCF ran 90 plays versus Memphis only running 75.

Random Tidbits

*UCF now has a 25-game winning streak. This streak is the 25th longest of all-time and the 4th longest streak in the 21st century behind Miami(34), Florida State(29), and Alabama(26).

*UCF completes the first back-to-back undefeated season since the 1994-95 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The last team to have back-to-back undefeated seasons without a consensus national championship was Penn State in 1968-69.

*UCF has a 15-game home winning streak.

*UCF has scored at least 30 points in 25 straight games. This sets the new AP record, which dates back to 1936.

*UCF has won 12 games in a single season for the third time(2013, 2017, 2018)

*UCF has defeated Memphis 13 straight times, dating back to 2005.

*Darriel Mack had his first career passing touchdown.

*Darriel Mack had 4 rushing touchdowns in a single game. This ties the school record. The last time a player had 4 rushing touchdowns in a single game was Kevin Smith against Tulsa in the Conference USA Championship Game in 2007.

*Greg McCrae is the first running back since Storm Johnson in 2013 to rush for 1,000 yards on the season.

*McCrae’s 206 yards rushing is the first 200-yard game since Latavius Murray in 2011.

*With the late interception by Richie Grant, UCF now has a takeaway in 31 straight games.

*No UCF opponent has scored more than 7 points in the third quarter this season. Memphis only scored 3.

*The 17-point comeback is the third-largest comeback in school history

*Game attendance 45,167

I’ve been writing off and on since 2003, where I first wrote for Southern College Sports. After a hiatus, I returned in 2012 with The Sports Chronicles, a predecessor of NGSC Sports. After a brief stint with WBLZ in 2017, I returned to NGSC Sports before joining Blue HQ Media in 2018. Also, from 2015 to 2017, I helped run Off the Cuff, a sports program and blog with STLR Media. I have done radio and podcasts dating back to 2006 with The Student of the Game, an NFL podcast. In 2012, I cohosted TSC Saturday Night on the Sports Chronicles and The OT With Andrew G on WTMY in Sarasota, FL. I later moved the OT to NGSC Sports until 2014 where I started The College Cram, also on NGSC Sports. After a brief hiatus, I returned to radio in 2015 with both Off the Cuff on STLR and The Mad Scientist Sports Lab on The Inscriber.