College Football: Group of Five Week 6 power rankings

Saturday’s game between UCF and Memphis wasn’t supposed to shake out like that. The Tigers came to Orlando undefeated, with a statement win over UCLA on their resume and dreams of winning the American Athletic Conference. Mike Norvell’s team was forced to temper their expectations after an embarrassing mismatch yielded a 40-13 Knights blowout.

McKenzie Milton led a high-powered UCF offense to the decisive win at home. The Knights quarterback was 19-of-31 passing for 253 yards and three touchdowns, adding another 88 yards rushing the ball. UCF finished with 350 rushing yards as a team, led by Adrian Killins Jr. and his nine carries for 115 yards and a touchdowns.

More importantly for Scott Frost‘s squad, the defense came up huge against a Memphis team known for putting points on the scoreboard. Riley Ferguson threw for 321 yards, but he also tossed three costly interceptions and coughed up a fumble. The Tigers were held to 75 rushing yards as a team, pushed around by their interdivisional foes all day long.

UCF had already served notice of their New Year’s Six intentions with their Week 4 toppling of Maryland on the road. Now they set their sights on getting through the conference schedule to set up a winner-take-all rivalry game with South Florida on Black Friday at the end of the regular season. The Knights were the last winner of the old Big East, and they are back on track to return to a major bowl as long as they keep winning.