UCF'S BLACK FRIDAY: MILTON INJURES LEG
Star quarterback’s gruesome injury leaves Knights ‘heartbroken,’ casts a pall over blowout victory vs. USF
ITAMPA t truly was a Black Friday. A dark, depressing day for UCF football amid a dominant, dynamic performance. A huge win. A monumental loss. A joyous victory. A horrific injury. Never has a 38-10 blowout victory over arch-rival USF seemed so sad and surreal.
Never has finishing with back-to-back perfect regular seasons seemed so glum and gloomy.
Never has extending a national-best 24-game winning streak seemed so somber and sorrowful.
The UCF Knights won the game Friday, but they lost their heart and soul when quarterback McKenzie Milton went down with a gruesome injury to his right leg early in the second quarter. It wasn’t just that Milton was injured; it was the extent of the injury that brought a hush over the stadium as both teams and both fan bases seemed to be saying a collective prayer that Milton would some-
how, someway be OK.
“A traumatic injury,” said UCF coach Josh Heupel without confirming reports that Milton underwent surgery Friday at Tampa General Hospital.
“I was heartbroken,” UCF center Jordan Johnson said. “I dropped down to my knees.”
It happened on a routine running play when Milton sprinted to his right, trying to convert a third down — a play he’s run dozens of times since becoming the magician-like starting quarterback at UCF. This time, though, the magic disappeared, showing once again that there are no routine plays in a violent collision sport like football.
Milton’s leg bent in a way legs are not meant to bend. It was one of those grisly injuries — like former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann and NBA/Olympic basketball star Paul George — that makes you grit your teeth and turn your head because you cannot bear to watch. Credit ESPN for not replaying the injury during the game because of its graphic nature.
Milton, a junior Heisman Trophy candidate, remained on the ground for nearly 10 minutes as athletic trainers and doctors put an immobilizer on his right leg. UCF players and coaches formed a circle around their fallen leader, and USF players, too, came over to show their support as well.
Heupel did his best to comfort Milton while he
laid on the turf and told his quarterback, “I love you.” Heupel said Milton responded with, “I love you, too.”
On social media, the college football world reacted to the injury with heartfelt concern and sympathy.
“Sickened to see the injury just suffered by McKenzie Milton,” tweeted Rece Davis, the host of ESPN’s College GameDay. “Keeping him in my thoughts. Praying doctors take the very best care of him.”
Tweeted Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, a boyhood friend of Milton’s from Hawaii: “Prayers go out to my brother.”
UCF backup quarterback Darriel Mack Jr. gave Milton an emotional hug before he was carted off and rushed to the hospital. The two teammates have often talked about the day Mack would be the starting quarterback, but nobody thought it would be this soon.
“I hated that it had to happen like this,” Mack said. “McKenzie and I shared a moment when he was on the cart … I told him God is looking over him and everything is going to be OK. … He told me to go get it [the victory].”
And that’s exactly what Mack did. In football, as the old saying goes, it’s “next man up” whenever a player goes down with an injury. That means it’s now up to Mack to finish off another perfect season in next week’s conferencechampionship game against Memphis and then, potentially, a major New Year’s Six bowl game against a Power 5 opponent.
This is a monumental task for Mack, who has but one career start (a win against East Carolina earlier this season) to his credit. The Knights, ranked No. 9, were already a long shot to get a slot in the College Football Playoff semifinals, but now they are an even more distant long shot. It’s no secret that significant injuries to key players can have a major impact on how teams are ranked. UCF fans can only hope
that the playoff committee takes the same approach as Garry Smits, an Associated Press voter who writes for the Florida Times-Union.
“I will never penalize a team for the future ramifications of a key injury,” Smits said. “How do we know how well or poorly that next man up will play? If the NFL's championship was dictated by polls and committees, New England might have been written off in 2001 when Drew Bledsoe went out for most of the season and a secondyear backup named Tom Brady led them to the Super Bowl victory against the heavily favored Rams.”
Then again, with Milton laid up in the hospital, the playoff debate doesn’t seem quite so important now, does it? Who would have ever thought that a victory over USF would come with so many conflicting emotions?
The Knights came into USF’s home and made it their own with more than half the stadium filled with UCF fans. They turned Raymond James Stadium into Spectrum Stadium West.
I remember 11 years ago being in this same stadium when USF destroyed UCF 64-12. The Bulls were lightyears ahead of the Knights then, but now the opposite is true. UCF’s program is skyrocketing while USF, after suffering its fifth straight loss Saturday, is free-falling. What a happy day. What a sad day. Chants of “U-C-F! UC-F!” reverberated throughout the stadium.
UCF players and coaches celebrated and took an impromptu team picture at midfield.
One player was missing from the photo.
Mack held up Milton’s jersey.
“From now on,” UCF’s new starting quarterback said, “we’re all playing for McKenzie.”
“I hated that it had to happen like this. McKenzie and I shared a moment when he was on the cart. … I told him God is looking over him and everything is going to be OK. … He told me to go get it [the victory].” Darriel Mack Jr., UCF’s backup quarterback