A win with warts
Giving them something to talk about: UCF’s shaky win will set tongues wagging Milton returns to help Knights extend streak to 21, but defense springs a leak
This will give Kirk Herbstreit, Paul Finebaum and the boys at ESPN even more to talk about now.
UCF’s 52-40 victory over Temple on Thursday night will rightfully be picked apart by the many critics who point to Temple’s nearly 700 yards of total offense, but at least they will still be discussing and debating the unbeaten Knights.
Just like they were during ESPN’s prime-time one-hour special on the release of the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night when the panel felt the need to veer off and talk about UCF and its No. 12 ranking four times.
They talked about UCF as much as they talked about Alabama. It got to a point where Herbstreit, Rece Davis and the fellas wouldn’t shut up about UCF!
After Thursday night’s victory with Temple in a game where the two teams combined for more than 1,300 yards of offense, we can debate if the Knights have a legitimate shot of getting in the four-team playoff or whether they should be ranked higher or lower than No. 12 in the CFP rankings, but there is no debating this: UCF is part of the conversation. A big part of the conversation.
But the biggest question going into Thursday night’s primetime ESPN game concerned how coach Josh Heupel’s Knights COMMENTARY UCF 52, TEMPLE 40
The crowd roared its approval as McKenzie Milton raced out onto the Spectrum Stadium field to start the game for UCF Thursday night against Temple.
For nearly two weeks, Milton’s status remained a mystery, with the school staying tight-lipped about the injury that prevented the Heisman hopeful from playing in the Knights’ 37-10 win over East Carolina on Oct. 20. UCF coach Josh Heupel said Milton would be a “game-time decision” against the Owls.
There was no sign of lingering injury during the second possession of the game as Milton directed a four-play, 86-yard drive. He went 3-of-3 passing for 82 yards, capping the drive with a pretty 19-yard pass over the shoulder of Dredrick Snelson for a score.
No. 12 UCF (8-0, 5-0 AAC) went on to win a wild one, knocking off a pesky Temple (5-4, 4-1 AAC) team 52-40 to extend the nation’s longest win streak to 21 games.
"We're a battle-tested team from this year to last year,” Milton told ESPN after the win. “... Whenever we face adversity, we respond. And that's the sign of a great team.”
Turns out, it wasn’t Milton everyone should have been concerned about, but rather the UCF defense.
Temple gashed the Knights for 34 points and 445 yards — in the first half alone — as quarterback Anthony Russo tossed three touchdown passes and rushed for another to power the Owls to a 34-28 halftime lead.
But UCF came out of the intermission and drove 34 yards before Greg McRae would broke off a