The Denver Post

Milton’s six TDs extend win streak to 16 games

- By Fred Goodall

ORLANDO, FLA.» McKenzie Milton ran for a careerbest three touchdowns while throwing for three more, helping No. 16 UCF extend the nation’s longest winning streak with a 5636 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 (30) won for the 16th straight 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 fourthmost in school history.

FAU (22) stayed close for a half, but ultimately couldn’t keep pace with the prolific UCF offense. Devin Singletary rushed for 131 yards and three TDs for the Owls, who finished with 320 yards on the ground.

UCF led 2117 at the half, letting a twotouchdo­wn lead slip away and falling behind on a secondquar­ter 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 140 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 timeconsum­ing scoring drives that kept Milton off the field.

Singletary’s first touchdown finished an 11play, 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 1714 lead.

Robison was intercepte­d three times and finished 13 of 26 passing for 124 yards, including a 23yard TD throw to Kerrith Whyte late in the third quarter.

UCF moved up two spots in the Top 25 despite having an unschedule­d bye week because of Hurricane Florence, which forced last week’s game at North Carolina to be canceled. Beating FAU won’t bolster the Knights’ case for a higher ranking, but they could benefit if teams ahead of them stumble.

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