ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 11 Central Florida looks to extend its national-best winning streak to 23 games and clinch a spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship game when it hosts 20th-ranked Cincinnati on Saturday night. The Knights, who are also 11th in the College Football Playoff rankings, grinded out a 35-24 victory over Navy last week to set up a showdown between their explosive offense and one of the best defenses in the country - all in front of a national television audience.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ABC. LINE: UCF -7
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“It’s exactly what you want as a program,” UCF coach Josh Heupel told reporters of the prime-time contest and a visit from ESPN Game Day. “You want the spotlight on you. You want each game that you play to get bigger. … (But) all the outside noise, at the end of the day, has no bearing on what’s going to happen on Saturday. So we’ll focus on what we can control.” The Knights are third in the nation in total offense (543 yards per game), led by junior quarterback McKenzie Milton (21 TD passes), while Cincinnati is seventh in the country in scoring defense (14.9 points) and sixth in total defense (279.8 yards). The Bearcats have won three straight games since an overtime loss to Temple on Oct. 20 after rallying to beat South Florida 35-23 last week, remaining in the hunt for a spot in the American title game. “This is your chance and your opportunity,” senior defensive tackle Cortez Broughton (16.5 tackles for loss) told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We always have something to prove. It’s not so much as showing the world, it’s showing yourself what you can do with your team, the philosophy that you built and the culture that you have.”
ABOUT CINCINNATI (9-1, 5-1 American)
Sophomore running back Michael Warren II rushed for 151 yards to become the 11th Bearcat to go over 1,000 in a season and notched his 15th, 16th and 17th touchdowns on the ground in last week’s win over USF. Freshman quarterback Desmond Ridder continues to be efficient with 15 touchdown passes and five interceptions (none in the last two games) while completing 63.9 percent of his passes. Senior Kahlil Lewis (41 catches, 490 yards, six TDs) is the top target, but junior Rashad Medaris has hauled in 12 passes for 230 yards the last three contests.
ABOUT CENTRAL FLORIDA (9-0, 6-0)
Milton has thrown just five interceptions - two in his last six games - and rushed for eight touchdowns as the Knights prepare to take on the toughest defense they have faced this season. “Pressure’s what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing,” Milton told reporters. “We know what we’re doing. We have confidence in the work we do during the week.” Sophomore running back Greg McCrae rushed for 388 yards and three scores the last three games while sophomore receiver Gabriel Davis is the top target with 37 catches, 571 yards and five TDs.
EXTRA POINTS
1. The Bearcats, who lost 51-23 to UCF last season, are second in the nation in third-down conversion defense (25 percent).
2. Central Florida sophomore DB Richie Grant leads the team with 81 tackles and four interceptions.
3. Cincinnati is off to its best start since going 12-0 in the 2009 regular season, and is 4-1 on the road this year.
PREDICTION: Central Florida 34, Cincinnati 24