No. 12 UCF remains undefeated after a 52-40 win over Temple. They also take a commanding lead in the AAC East division race, in case they slip up late in the season. And there’s certainly a chance for that to happen, which we’ll get to, but first a brief look is necessary on this game and, absent any Playoff talk, the accomplishment that UCF has put together these last two years.
2018 UCF isn’t 2017 UCF, and that’s OK
The Knights’ nation-leading winning streak is still intact. Step away from rankings debates and just appreciate that.
Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Temple set a school record for offensive yards (670). You already know the Knights can put up points, and although quarterback McKenzie Milton had some injury concerns coming in, he suited up and was his usual self to pilot the Knights offense to 630 of their own. The Division I-leading, 21-game win streak is still alive. If the Knights get to the end of this season undefeated, it’ll be the third-longest FBS winning streak since 2003.
UCF got off to a blazing start with a four-play drive in which they steamrolled down the field so quickly an apparent incompletion couldn’t be reviewed, even though the booth wanted to.
The offensive output could have been much higher, seeing as how this was the box score at half. This halftime score topped the Vegas total of 60 points by the intermission.
The Owls got pretty banged up during the game, and running back Ryquell Armstead sustained an ankle injury late. But they never stopped battling throughout the entire game. The Knights would score, and the Owls would answer every time.
UCF held serve a final time with about five minutes left, and iced the game from there.
After boosting the 2017 Knights, we asked questions about how good 2018’s UCF team really is. Now more tests are coming.
They’re still undefeated, but — as the Temple game exemplified — in a less demonstrative way than they were last year, when they were truly blowing teams the hell out every week. Part of this is the way that top teams always get their opponent’s best shots, combined with some natural regression for the Knights under a new coaching staff and minus four NFL Draft picks.
UCF’s schedule coming home only gets tougher. This is the first 2018 win UCF has over a team with a winning record, but they’ll get a chance to do it more and more in the next few weeks.
Earlier this week, we compared last November’s schedule for the Knights to this one, and here’s the home stretch of each:
Here’s 2017’s end to the season vs. 2018’s, with the assumption that the Knights will again make the AAC championship, along with S&P+ rankings.
2017
-Game 8: SMU, 67
-Game 9: UConn, 119
-Game 10: Temple, 78
-Game 11: USF, 15
-Game 12: Memphis, 20 (conference championship)
2018
-Game 8: Temple, 34
-Game 9: Navy, 102
-Game 10: Cincinnati, 40
-Game 11: USF, 41
-Game 12: Houston, 25 (probable conference championship opponent)
You saw against the Owls what playing against a good team can do. UCF pulled away in the end, but allowing almost 700 yards of total offense and 7 yards-per-play to Temple isn’t a great start as things stay tough coming down the stretch.
A win is a win. UCF’s goal is to again go undefeated. It’ll be harder to make any kind of remote Playoff argument this time around, but repeating as unbeaten AAC champs in New Year’s bowls would still be a major achievement.
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