Much of the UCF (0-9, 0-5 AAC) chatter this week has been about the Knights' stellar graduation success rate of 93% overall, and 90% for the football program (both numbers are good for #1 among FBS public schools).
That this has seemingly been
more of a focus than the upcoming game should tell us something about
the level of enthusiasm for what ought to be a loss against Tulsa (4-4,
1-3 AAC) en route to a winless season.
But hey, the football program is at least successful academically, and that's been a great legacy of the George O'Leary era.
The match-up against Tulsa is the Knights'
last road game of the season, so it will be much easier for Knights
fans to get to watch the rest of the slog to 0-12 in person. Yaaay.
I kid, I kid. Seriously, we'll all miss this when the season ends and the yearly football drought begins.
Start time: 12 PM EST, Saturday November 7.
Location: Chapman Stadium, Tulsa, OK
TV: ESPNews
Radio: 96.9 FM & 740 AM - Orlando.
Betting Line: Tulsa is a 17 or 17.5 point favorite, depending on where you look. The smart prediction is that Tulsa will cover.
The Series: 5-3. There's history here given that both the Knights and the Golden Hurricane
were in Conference USA. UCF and Tulsa played three times for Conference
USA Championships, with Tulsa winning two of those championships.
The Golden Hurricane are undefeated against UCF on their home turf, but hey, the Knights won last year in Orlando 31-7.
UCF Outlook: I mean, it's perpetually terrible, right? UCF is coming off two of the worst losses
in program in history. The team's problem areas are numerous, and there
was never going to be a reasonable chance for interim Head Coach Danny
Barrett to solve them.
But - if you're looking for
signs of life for the future, there are perhaps a couple to be found.
Last week, the Knights finally got something out of the moribund running
game. The offensive line, especially on the right side, did a very fine
job of run blocking. The Knights totaled 212 yards on the ground
against Cincinnati, only the second time the team had exceeded 100 yards
rushing. Much of that was attributable to redshirt freshman C.J. Jones who ran for 123 of them and the Knights' sole touchdown of the day.
So keep an eye out to see
whether that success can be replicated or improved on against Tulsa.
There haven't been many signs of progress to cheer UCF fans, and it
would be nice if the performance against Cincinnati was not an
aberration.
Tulsa Outlook: The
Golden Hurricane have clearly improved this year under head coach Philip
Montgomery, who has already doubled their win total from last year. And
I tend to think that the Golden Hurricane are a better team on the
field than their record and statistical ranks would suggest. Three of
Tulsa's losses were to very good teams: remaining AAC unbeaten teams
Houston and Memphis, as well as 7-1 Oklahoma.
On Saturday, expect the Tulsa
passing attack, led by Keyarris Garret, to tear through the UCF
secondary, which just yielded 489 yards through the air and 6 passing
TDs to Cincinnati. Garrett has been a huge part of Tulsa's offense. The
senior wide receiver ranks fourth nationally for receiving yards (992)
and fifth in yards per game (124). And though ultimately it was a losing
effort, he played extremely well against Memphis, ringing up an NCAA
season high 268 receiving yards and three long touchdown catches. And,
worse for UCF fans and the Knights' poor secondary, the rest of the
Tulsa receiving corps is solid too. Four different Tulsa wide receivers
have had a 100+ yard game so far this season.
Expect a Tulsa victory to bring the Golden Hurricane close to evening up the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment