AAC ROUNDUP

McKenzie Milton threw for four touchdowns and 360 yards, and Central Florida routed Florida International 61-17 in Thursday night’s season opener to spoil coach Butch Davis’ return to the field for the first time since 2010. Milton capped the opening drive with a 22-yard scoring pass to Jordan Atkins, and the Knights capitalized on an interception and a safety to lead 40-10 at halftime. Milton was 16 of 21, with TD strikes of 50 and 3 yards to Tre’Quan Smith and 13 yards to Gabriel Davis before he and many other starters were pulled in the third quarter. Four UCF rushers scored — Jawon Hamilton on a 16-yarder, Taj McGowan on a plunge, Cordarrian Richardson on a 10-yard run, and Greg McRae on a 6-yarder. FIU’s Alex McGough hit Thomas Owens on a 75-yard TD pass and Napoleon Maxwell scored on a 55-yard run. The Golden Panthers turned it over four times. It was Davis’ return to the sidelines after amassing a 79-43 collegiate head coaching record in 10 years at Miami (1995-2000) and North Carolina (2007-10).

Hayden Moore was told by first-year Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell that he won the quarterback job over Ross Trail last week. Moore responded with touchdown passes to Thomas Geddis, Kahill Lewis and Tyler Cogswell in the Beacats’ win over the Austin Peay Governors in the season opener for both teams. Fickell came to Cincinnati after 18 years at Ohio State, serving as defensive coordinator for the bulk of his career there. The Bearcats’ other touchdown came on a 3-yard run by Mike Boone in the fourth quarter after the Governors had cut Cincinnati’s lead to six points. Austin Peay’s JaVaughn Craig threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Kentell Williams in the first quarter but was intercepted by defensive tackle Bryan White in the last minute of the first half. Jeremiah Oatsvall took over the Governors offense in the second half and led a 13-play, 66-yard scoring drive capped by Josh Alexander’s 11-yard run to get the visitors within 20-14 with under 12 minutes left in the game. The Governors turned the ball over on downs on the Bearcats 7 with 1:32 to play.