Obviously if you build your offense around the passing game like UCF has done, you are going to have some impressive wide receivers and they certainly do. Senior Marlon Williams is the leading receiver with 63 catches for 942 yards and eight touchdown catches through only seven games, he is averaging 134.6 yards a game and will be priority number one for Ahmad Gardner and the Bearcat secondary. Opposite him will be redshirt sophomore Jaylon Robinson who has 41 catches for 822 yards and four touchdown grabs to go with a 117.4 yards average a game. The next receiver after those two has 500 yards less receiving, so the heavy focus is going to be on the boundaries and slowing down Williams and Robinson, and if they can do that then UC has a good chance to leave Orlando with a win.
The defensive side of the ball is where UCF is lacking. The numbers don’t tell the full story for this defense. Yes, they give up only 28.7 points a game, which when paired with a historic offense sounds pretty good, but they are giving up 447.9 yards a game and have not really played many great offensive teams except for Memphis. Defensive back Richie Grant leads the team in tackles and interceptions with 49 and three. This unit is very opportunistic as they get to the quarterback pretty well already tallying 18 sacks, they also have nine interceptions and 13 forced fumbles. UC should be able to move the ball down the field and if Ridder is playing like he has over the last month, this offense should be able to put points on the board.
This has been the game I have looked forward to the most for UC, I think it’s going to be a closer game than we have seen UC play in the last month, and although they have yet to ever win in Orlando, I do believe this week changes that. I think at the end of the day UCF offense will be slowed down by the UC defense, but the UC offense becomes too much for that bad UCF defense. The spread favors UC by 6 and I do think they’ll cover that on their way to moving to 8-0 on the season. It will be a great game, but at the end of the day, UC 42-UCF 31. Go Cats!
