Auburn moves past ‘sad’ SEC loss, focuses on UCF
High-scoring Knights trying to finish season with unbeaten record
ATLANTA — No. 10 Central Florida will be playing for a perfect season — and respect for the team and its conference — when it faces No. 7 Auburn in the Peach Bowl today.
If not for a loss in its last visit to Mercedes-Benz Stadium one month ago, Auburn might have been playing for even more.
A loss to Georgia in the SEC championship game kept Auburn out of the College Football Playoff.
“We knew that it was an opportunity to play for the playoffs and potentially a national championship,” Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis said. “It was definitely a slump that we had to get over.”
Davis said he and other leaders “let our team be sad for a minute, let them get the taste in their mouth so the guys that come next year, they know how it feels.”
Davis said the Tigers (10-3) then were prepared to shift focus to Central Florida (12-0).
Coach Gus Malzahn says his players returned to practice with a more serious approach than for other bowl games.
“Our mindset is more of a business trip probably than it has been in the past with a bowl,” Malzahn said, adding the approach was the “design” of the team’s seniors.
“That’s what they want, that’s what they expect,” he said.
A win over Auburn would give Central Florida its first undefeated season and give the school and the American Athletic Conference respect. The Knights feel insulted they weren’t given serious consideration to be part of the playoff.
“Our guys want to send a message they can play with anybody,” Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton said.
“I think we all kind of know what’s at stake. We know we’ve had a special year so far, and we know we’ve got a tall task ahead of us. But I think we’re definitely up to it.”
The Knights led the nation in scoring, averaging 49.4 points per game. They have scored 30 or more points in every game this season.
Central Florida coach Scott Frost chose to stay with the team through the bowl game after accepting a job to move to Nebraska, his alma mater. Frost will bring most of his assistants with him to Nebraska. Former Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Heupel is Central Florida’s new coach and is expected to watch the game from a private box.
“It will be bittersweet,” Frost, the AP coach of the year, said Sunday. “This certainly isn’t an ideal situation for the players or for me or for my staff, but we all care about each other, and I don’t know what the alternative would have been.”