Knights roll
Junior quarterback McKenzie Milton accounted for 387 yards of total offense, passing and rushing for six touchdowns to lead No. 16 Central Florida to a 56-36 victory over Florida Atlantic on Friday night, helping the Knights extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games — a new American Athletic Conference record.
ORLANDO, Fla. — McKenzie Milton ran for a career-best three touchdowns while throwing for three more, helping No. 16 Central Florida extend the nation’s longest winning streak with a 56-36 rout of Florida Atlantic on Friday night.
The junior from Kapolei, Hawaii, completed 21 of 32 passes for 306 yards without an interception, and the Knights (3-0) won for the 16th consecutive time to set a record for consecutive victories by an American Athletic Conference team.
Milton scored on runs of 12, 9 and 13 yards, using a nifty jump cut to avoid a defender and get into the end zone on the last one.
Touchdown passes of 12 yards to Dredrick Snelson, 21 yards to Marlon Williams and 19 yards to Gabriel Davis hiked Milton’s career total to 56 — tied with Blake Bortles for fourth-most in school history.
FAU (2-2) stayed close for a half, but ultimately couldn’t keep pace with the prolific UCF offense. Devin Singletary rushed for 131 yards and 3 TDs for the Owls, who finished with 320 yards on the ground.
UCF led 21-17 at the half, letting a two-touchdown lead slip away and falling behind on a second-quarter
field goal before regaining control on Milton’s TD pass to Williams.
The Knights used an early interception to set up Milton’s first TD run and then drove 92 yards in 10 plays to go up 14-0 on Snelson’s TD reception midway through the first quarter.
But FAU, which won the Sun Belt Conference in its first season under Coach Lane Kiffin, was unfazed.
Chris Robison settled down after throwing the interception that led to UCF’s first touchdown and fed the UCF defense a steady diet of Singletary.
The Owls battled back by putting together a couple of time-consuming scoring drives that kept Milton off the field.
Singletary’s first touchdown finished an 11-play, 71yard march. The Owls also held the ball for six minutes, driving 54 yards to position Vladimir Rivas to kick a 32yard field goal for a shortlived 17-14 lead.
Robison was intercepted three times and finished 13 of 26 passing for 124 yards, including a 23-yard TD throw to Kerrith Whyte late in the third quarter.