ORLANDO, Fla. — Fans came wearing black and gold leis and rainbow leis, sporting No. 10 jerseys, holding McKenzie Milton signs. Players wore their own tributes for their injured quarterback: a lei under a jersey, No. 10 written on arms and towels.
UCF vowed to play its AAC championship game against Memphis for Milton. The fight and determination was obvious most especially in the second half, when UCF rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to beat Memphis 56-41 to post its 25th straight win, clinch the American championship and secure a spot in its second straight New Year’s Six game.
Darriel Mack Jr., replacing Milton at quarterback, played an inspired game in the second half, with five touchdowns (four rushing, one passing) to help UCF erase a 38-21 halftime deficit. He finished the game with six total touchdowns, throwing for 348 yards and rushing for another 59.
All week, UCF coach Josh Heupel and players told the world Mack would be just fine, pointing to his game experience versus East Carolina and USF, after Milton went down with a devastating knee injury. But Mack had not started a game this meaningful, with so much on the line: UCF had to win in order to make it back to a New Year’s Six game.
Milton, involved in the game plan all week as he called into the quarterback meetings on FaceTime, watched with his father at home while his mother, Teresa, attended the game to cheer on his teammates.
As she entered the stadium before the game, wearing multiple leis of her own, she thanked everyone who offered their prayers, believing they helped Milton recover enough to get home in time to watch the game. Just outside the stadium, the statue of former coach George O’Leary also wore leis, along with every security guard, police officer and support staff member working the game.
But without Milton, the game started off similarly to the first meeting between the teams in October. Darrell Henderson had 208 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the first half, averaging 10.6 yards before first contact per rush on his 10 carries, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Knights’ defense — which appeared to turn a corner over the past two weeks — had no answers, not only for the traditional Memphis run game but for the Wildcat formation that the Tigers used frequently and confidently to score multiple touchdowns. Memphis ended up with 336 yards rushing in the first half to take the double-digit lead at the break.
But UCF has faced multiple halftime deficits this season, and grown its reputation as a third-quarter team for a reason. In the regular season, UCF outscored opponents 108-30 in the quarter.
The comeback started on the first possession of the third quarter, when Mack threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Otis Anderson. Then later in the quarter, Mack ran for a 4-yard touchdown, adding three more rushing scores.
But it was the UCF defense that came up big, too, in the second half — the way it did against Memphis in October. Defensive coordinator Randy Shannon made adjustments then as he did now, holding Henderson to 3 yards in the second half and Memphis to 15 rushing yards as a team.
UCF and Memphis have developed quite a rivalry over the past 14 months. This was their fourth meeting over that span, and the previous three went down to the wire in heart-stopping fashion. In this very championship game a year ago, Memphis rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie the game at the end of regulation, before UCF won in double overtime — propelling the Knights into the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl against Auburn.
After UCF clinched the win, receiver Dredrick Snelson ran onto the field holding just one thing: a No. 10 jersey.