Tigers prepare for familiar UCF
Memphis coach Mike Norvell couldn’t recall whether two teams have met four times in two seasons.
Playing a team twice in one year is more common in this era of conference championships, but Memphis (8-4, 5-3 AAC) and No. 7 Central Florida (11-0, 8-0) will meet for the fourth time in two years in the AAC Championship game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday (ABC) in Orlando.
Deja vu? UCF coach Josh Heupel isn’t buying it. Although the teams played a thrilling game in October, he doesn’t believe it will be a factor in how the Knights prepare this time.
“Every game is going to unfold differently, so we have to prepare in a great way and get ready to face a really good football team,” Heupel said during the AAC coaches teleconference Monday.
Memphis, however, will enter Saturday
The teams met in the 2017 AAC Championship, won by Central Florida 62-55 with confidence knowing that since it lost 40-13 at UCF last season, the Tigers have been the one team to put the biggest scare in UCF during the Knights’ 24-game winning streak.
Memphis rallied from a fourth quarter deficit against UCF in last year’s AAC
Championship game before losing 6255 in double overtime. The Tigers also led by 13 at halftime against UCF in October before UCF rallied for a 31-30 win.
“We’ve competed extremely well against them, but at the same point, we always had mistakes late in games that have cost us,” Norvell said. “They’ve made plays late in games that have helped them to victory.”
Consider what happened when the teams met in October. UCF held Memphis scoreless in the second half and converted on key moments, including a fourth-and-1 play that led to a 71-yard rushing touchdown.
Norvell said it will take “an extraordinary effort” to win Saturday even with UCF playing without quarterback McKenzie Milton, who underwent surgery after a severe leg injury in the Knights’ win over South Florida on Friday.
UCF will turn to its backup, Darriel Mack Jr., a 6-foot-3, 230-pound freshman who finished the win over South Florida. Mack also started UCF’s win over ECU and has proved himself a dangerous runner as evidenced by his 70yard rushing touchdown against UConn.
“For a young man to go in his first two games on the road in conference play and play at the level that he’s done, this kid’s got a great future in front of him,” Norvell said. “We know we have to go out there and play at a high level and try to make him uncomfortable.”
Norvell also recognized what’s before his team. The Tigers won a share of the AAC championship in 2014 and enter on a four-game winning streak.
After defeating Houston last week, Norvell said, Memphis will have to overcome similar emotions knowing how much it wants to defeat UCF but not lose sight of how it has played in November to get to this game.
“I don’t think we’re going to need many motivational speeches to get our guys ready to play in this one,” Norvell said. “But almost like the Houston game, you got to go out there and don’t let the moment or the game really be more than what it is.”