Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
UCF tops Memphis to keep streak alive
ORLANDO, Fla. — Darriel Mack shrugged off two early turnovers to rush for three second-half touchdowns and rally No. 8 Central Florida to a 56-41 victory over Memphis (8-5) in the American Athletic Conference championship game Saturday.
With the red-shirt freshman filling in for injured quarterback McKenzie Milton, the Knights (12-0) won their second consecutive league title and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 games.
Mack also threw for 348 yards and two TDs without an interceptions to keep UCF, the only FBS team to finish undefeated a year ago, in the conversation about who’s deserving of consideration for berths in the College Football Playoff.
Greg McCrae rushed for 206 yards and one TD for the Knights, who beat the Tigers 62-55 in the 2017 AAC title game and rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to win 31-30 at Memphis during the regular season.
This time, UCF trailed 3821 at halftime before scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions in the second half.
CONFERENCE USA ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM 27, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 25
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Spencer Brown ran for 156 yards and a touchdown, Nick Vogel put Alabama-Birmingham ahead with a field goal with 3:23 remaining and the Blazers, who reinstated their program last season after a two-year hiatus, beat Middle Tennessee in the Conference USA championship game.
The Blue Raiders, who beat UAB in Murfreesboro 27-3 last weekend in a regular-season finale, were set to get a final chance with 1:21 to play but were flagged for having 12 men on the field as the Blazers prepared to punt, and UAB took a knee twice to run out the clock.
The victory gave UAB (10-3) its first 10-win season and its first Conference USA championship. The program was shut down after the 2014 season before being reinstated and taking two years off.
Brown’s 30-yard run from the 50 was the key play in setting up Vogel’s winning kick. Brown went 1,000 yards rushing for the second year in a row.
SUN BELT APPALACHIAN STATE 30, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 19
BOONE, N.C. — Zac Thomas had two long touchdown runs, Darrynton Evans
set up another score with a 97-yard kickoff return and Appalachian State defeated Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference championship game.
The victory earns the Mountaineers (10-2) the conference’s automatic berth in the New Orleans bowl on Dec. 15 against a team from Conference USA.
ULL took a 3-0 lead when Kyle Pfau’s 37-yard field capped a nineplay, 55-yard game-opening drive. The lead lasted 17 seconds. Evans took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards before being tackled at the 1-yard line and Marcus Williams Jr. ran it in one play later for a 7-3 lead.
Pfau’s second field goal — from 45 yards out — pulled the Ragin’ Cajuns within 7-6, but Thomas ripped off a 25-yard TD run to end a nine-play, 75yard drive and the Mountaineers (10-2) took a 14-6 lead into halftime.
Chandler Staton kicked a 42-yard field goal on the Appalachian State’s first possession of the second half for a 17-6 lead, but the Ragin’ Cajuns (7-6) answered with 10 consecutive points — Andre Nunez’s 8-yard TD run and Pfau’s 23-yard field goal — to pull within 17-16.
SWAC ALCORN STATE 37, SOUTHERN 28
LORMAN, Miss. — De’Shawn Waller ran 16 times for 177 yards and three touchdowns and Alcorn State beat Southern in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.
The Braves won their third SWAC title in five years and advanced to the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Ga., to face Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion North Carolina A&T on Dec. 15.
Noah Johnson passed for 135 yards and ran for 147 yards and two scores for Alcorn State (9-3).
Alcorn State trailed by a point going into the fourth quarter and took the lead for good at 30-28 on Corey McCullough’s 41-yard field goal with 11:31 left in the game.
After stopping the Jaguars (7-4) on downs at the Braves 32, Alcorn State drove to the end zone in nine plays, capping the scoring on Waller’s 14yard TD run up the middle of the defense.