Jones, LSU to play UCF in New Year's Day bowl

No. 11 LSU will be looking to cap its season on a positive note and end seventh-ranked the University of Central Florida’s 25-game winning streak when the teams meet New Year’s Day in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
Among those LSU Tigers will be former Berwick High standout Kenan Jones, who is a freshman member of the LSU football team this season.
The Jan. 1 contest will be played at State Farm Stadium on ESPN at noon.
Jones has played in all 12 of LSU’s games this season and has recorded one solo tackle.
As a team, LSU enters its bowl game with a 9-3 overall mark. The Tigers finished 5-3 in Southeastern Conference play.
Prior to losing a seven-overtime thriller to Texas A&M to end the regular season, LSU had two straight.
LSU is averaging 31.8 points per game and 389.3 yards of offense this season.
Senior running back Nick Brossette is the team’s leading rusher with 211 carries for 922 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Joe Burrow has completed 198 of 345 passes for 2,500 yards with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions.
His top receiver is sophomore Justin Jefferson, who has 50 catches for 788 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, the Tigers are surrendering 20.9 points a contest and 346.1 yards per game.
Junior linebacker Devin White is LSU’s top tackler with 115 stops (54 solo and 61 assists). He has 12 tackles for loss, including three sacks. White also has five pass breakups, five passes defended, eight quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.
Junior outside linebacker Michael Divinity Jr. and sophomore safety Grant Delpit lead the team with five sacks apiece, while Delpit has five interceptions.
UCF comes into the Fiesta Bowl with a 12-0 mark this year, including an 8-0 record in the American Athletic Conference.
UCF’s last loss came on Dec. 17, 2016, when the squad fell 31-13 to Arkansas State in the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando.
The Knights are averaging 44.2 points per game and 545.4 yards of offense per outing.
The squad’s offensive attack is balanced as the Knights average 276.5 yards per game rushing and 268.9 yards per game passing.
Sophomore running back Greg McCrae is the team’s leading rusher with 123 carries for 1,101 yards and nine touchdowns.
While junior starter McKenzie Milton, who passed for 2,663 yards and 25 touchdowns, suffered a season-ending injury in the team’s contest against the University of South Florida, redshirt freshman Darriel Mack Jr. has replaced him. This season, Mack has completed 40 of 70 passes for 522 yards with two touchdowns in nine games. He also has rushed 58 times for 340 yards and six touchdowns.
The team’s leading receivers are sophomore wide receiver Gabriel Davis, who has 50 catches for 756 yards and six touchdowns, and junior wide receiver Dredrick Snelson, who has 41 receptions for 664 yards and five touchdowns.
Defensively, UCF is surrendering 21.2 points and 423.6 yards per game. Of those yards, an average of 227.4 have come on the ground each contest.
Redshirt sophomore defensive back Richie Grant leads Central Florida with 102 tackles (64 solo and 38 assists). He has three tackles for loss, six interceptions, three pass breakups, one fumble recovery and three forced fumbles.
Senior defensive lineman Titus Davis leads the team in tackles for loss with 16 and in sacks with 6.5.