By Tim Povtak
Enquirer contributor

ORLANDO, Fla. - Ben Roethlisberger and the Miami RedHawks will go into the Mid-American Conference championship game with the look of an 18-wheeler heading down the side of a mountain.

Miami quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns before watching the backups finish the game. (AP photo)

The only thing that will stop them now is the end of the season.

The RedHawks won their 11th consecutive game, burying Central Florida 56-21 Friday.

No. 15 Miami (11-1, 8-0 MAC) hasn't lost since falling to Iowa in its season opener, scoring at least 40 points in nine of its next 11 games. . The RedHawks have scored 504 points, breaking the MAC single-season mark of 495 set by Toledo last year.

"I'm not going to be that arrogant and say that nobody can stop us, but we've got so many weapons," Miami coach Terry Hoeppner said of his offense. "And we like to use them all."

The RedHawks will play next in the MAC championship game Thursday against the winner of today's Bowling Green-Toledo game.

Roethlisberger tied a school record with five touchdown passes and completed 24 of 29 attempts for 327 yards. He left the game after one series in the third quarter, with Miami leading 42-0.

The RedHawks were so confident coming into the game they made it a vacation-type trip, flying to Orlando Tuesday, touring Disney World Wednesday and having Thanksgiving dinner Thursday.

"We wanted to create a mini-bowl game atmosphere with plenty of distractions, to get us ready for what we will see later," Hoeppner said. "And we handled it well."

Miami scored on its first three offensive possessions and got a defensive touchdown in between when linebacker John Busing ran 28 yards with an interception.

Roethlisberger completed his first 14 passes, to nine different receivers, for 203 yards.

Roethlisberger, a junior, has 10,013 career passing yards, making him the fifth quarterback in league history to surpass 10,000.

Martin Nance caught nine passes for 161 yards, his sixth 100-yard game this season, for Miami.

Miami had 49 points before UCF (3-9, 2-6) scored late in the third period. The RedHawks never punted.

"We scored early and we scored often," Roethlisberger said. "We told our punter, just take your pads off."

Miami	21	14	14	7-56
Central Florida	0	0	7	14-21

First Quarter

Mia-Corbin 11 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 11:22.

Mia-Robinson 11 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 6:59.

Mia-J.Busing 28 INT return (Parseghian kick), 6:06.

Second Quarter

Mia-Larkin 3 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 14:56.

Mia-Nance 27 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 0:31.

Third Quarter

Mia-Larkin 27 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 12:18.

Mia-Murray 18 run (Parseghian kick), 7:48.

UCF-D. Johnson 30 pass from Moffett (Prater kick), 0:16.

Fourth Quarter

UCF-Huggins 8 pass from Moffett, (Prater kick), 9:33.

Mia-Betts 1 run (Parseghian kick), 3:50.

UCF-Fluellen 13 pass from Rivera (Feely kick), 0:27.

A-12,902.

	Mia	UCF
First downs	30	19
Rushes-yards	29-107	28-22
Passing	450	355
Comp-Att-Int	35-44-1	23-48-2
Return Yards	94	16
Punts-Avg.	0-0	4-50
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	1-1
Penalties-Yards	8-57	9-95
Time of Possession	30:34	29:26

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Miami, Smith 14-55, Murray 7-50, Roethlisberger 4-1, Betts 1-1, Ciborowski 3-0. UCF, Moffett 4-11, Torres 1-11, Haynes 5-9, Marshall 1-8, Brown 1-2, Williams 1-2, Fluellen 1-0, Wilcox 4-(minus 1), Prater 1-(minus 2), Rivera 9-(minus 18).

PASSING-Miami, Roethlisberger 24-29-1-327, Betts 10-14-0-120, Vonderheide 1-1-0-3. UCF, Moffett 7-11-1-63, Rivera 16-36-1-292.

RECEIVING-Miami, Nance 9-161, Larkin 5-80, Robinson 5-57, Brandt 2-30, Busing 2-23, Murray 2-20, Williams 2-12, Cooper 2-2, Paige 1-16, Blackmon 1-11, Smith 1-11, Corbin 1-11, Vogel 1-9, Tyler 1-7. UCF, Turner 5-20, Huggins 3-86, Walker 3-63, Marshall 3-38, Johnson 2-47, Joiner 2-40, Fluellen 2-20, Carpers 1-30, Wilcox 1-13, Haynes 1-(minus 2).