UCF Football: Knights make easy work of Temple Owls in Week 12

Avoiding a trap game, UCF football took down AAC foe Temple in Week 12 and made it look relatively easy.

No. 15 UCF went on the road to take on AAC foe Temple. Central Florida is the only undefeated team in the conference and was looking to stay on the winning side of things. If UCF can keep winning, it has a good chance to be in a New Year’s Six bowl.

Early in the first half, Temple tried to stay close with UCF keeping it tied at 10 early in the second quarter, but after that the Knights took stride and never looking back going on a 35-9 run for the rest of the game, winning 45-19.

Now sitting at 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the AAC East, the Knights have an important game next week against in-state foe South Florida if they win they will be a lock for the conference championship against Memphis.

Quarterback McKenzie Milton had another big game, torching the Owls’ defense for five (four passing, one rushing) touchdowns during their Week 12 matchup. Milton went 16-for-23 passing for 208 yards and ran for 23 yards on six carries. Wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith had a nice game himself with a stat line of four catches, 89 yards and one touchdown. If you have watched UCF this year, you know this young man is a baller.

The UCF defense held Temple under 400 total yards on the Owls’ home field. The unit had one sack, three tackles for loss and four interceptions. Senior linebacker Chequan Burkett had seven tackles and one passed defensed to help this unit dominate Week 12.

Temple moved to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in the AAC East.

Next: NFL Mock Draft 2018: First round after Week 11 edition

The biggest matchup in the AAC will be next week with UCF and USF facing off 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC Friday, Nov. 24. Everything will be on the line for both teams, maybe even New Year’s Six Bowl hopes.