UCF Football: Knights clinch AAC and await postseason fate

UCF football and Memphis are the best of the AAC but it was the unflappable Knights that overcame every challenge to win the conference championship.

On Championship Saturday, the Memphis Tigers and UCF Knights faced off in a fight for the American Athletic Conference Championship. However, the conference championship was actually not the primary focus of this game for either team.

Memphis was in Orlando to end the 24-game win streak that the Knights have built over the past two seasons. The Tigers were defeated, at home, earlier in the year by UCF in a rainy game, 31-30. So, this rematch conveniently came in the conference championship.

The UCF Knights were playing for even more. They were playing for a College Football Playoff spot. They were playing for their second consecutive perfect season. And they were playing for their star quarterback, McKenzie Milton, who was unable to play due to a terrible knee injury suffered in their last regular season game.

Memphis got off to an early start and led, 24-7 at the end of the first quarter. But UCF slowly crept back into the game. With just over 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Knights went ahead for the first time all game, leading 42-41. On the following possession, the Tigers were forced to kick a 45-yard field goal. But Memphis kicker, Riley Patterson, missed just wide right. In response, UCF took the ball down the field and scored, to go up 49-41 with 6:37 left to play.

They never looked back. Memphis punted with just five minutes left in the game and the Knights went down and scored, again. The UCF Knights won the AAC for the second consecutive year, 56-41. Now, the Knights await their College Football Playoff fate.

Let’s see what else we learned from this game. First, the highlight of the Memphis Tigers: Darrell Henderson Jr.