This weekend the Bearcats (6-1, 3-0 AAC) travel to Orlando, Florida to take on the UCF Knights (5-2, 2-1 AAC) at 3:30pm in an AAC showdown as the Bearcats will look to go down to Florida and deflate the Bounce House.
The Bearcats know what this match up means as this matchup has turned into a rivalry match up over the last few seasons and the Knights are coming into this one with vengeance after suffering a 34-13 loss to East Carolina last week, the Knights will look to bounce back as they are looking to remain perfect at the Bounce House under head coach Gus Malzahn, who enters his third season at UCF and is looking to get the Knights back in the win column here at the midway point of the 2022 season.
As everyone knows this series has a lot of history and it dates back to coach Fickell’s first year at the University of Cincinnati when the Knights traveled to Nippert Stadium and just dominated the Bearcats 51-23 en route to a perfect season back in 2017. The Bearcats would also see the Knights dominate back in the team’s matchup in 2018 where the Knights would also win big 38-13 as the Knights were ranked 11th in the country at the time, but since then the Bearcats have won the last three matchups including a 56-21 victory over the Knights in 2021. The Bearcats were led by running back Jerome Ford who had a career day where he rushed for 189 yards and four touchdowns in the Bearcats victory.
However, the Bearcats haven’t made the trip to the Bounce House in front of a sold-out crowd since 2018 as the last time the Bearcats made the trip was during the covid season back in 2020. The Bearcats know it will be a hostile environment as FBC Mortgage Stadium earned the nickname the “Bounce House” due to how loud the crowd gets and the stadium will get absolutely rocking, but the Bearcats know they will have to be on their “A” game on Saturday as they haven’t played in a true hostile environment since Week one where the Bearcats took on Arkansas, where they ultimately fell 31-24.
“This is our first true challenge since Week one to go on the road in a hostile environment to play a great football team. This rivalry is huge to me because I go back to what starts it, and that was year one, but all I remember was that game. All rivalries are created differently but to me, any team that has beaten or embarrassed us like they did in year one, that is something that will never get away from me,” said Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell.
The Knights are led by senior quarterback John Rhys Plumlee who comes in averaging 258.9 passing yards per game along with 72.3 rushing yards per game as Plumlee currently leads the Knights in rushing as well as passing. Plumlee plays a dynamic role in the Knights offense as the Knights average 511 yards of total offense per game, which currently ranks 6th in all of college football and it all starts with Plumlee as he has thrown for 1,182 yards, 11 touchdowns since transferring to UCF this spring after starting his collegiate career at Ole Miss University, but since arriving on campus at Central Florida, Plumlee has started to flip the momentum for the Knights as they look to make a statement in the AAC. “The offense will run through him,” said Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell. Plumlee also has 101 carries for 506 yards and seven touchdowns on the season, which is something to really keep an eye on heading into Saturday’s contest as the senior isn’t scared to take off and run the rock as well.
The Knights are also led by running back Isaiah Bowser and wide receivers Ryan O’Keefe and Javon Baker on offense, as Bowser leads the American Athletic Conference with 10 touchdowns on the season, as Bowser has rushed for 378 yards on the season, averaging 3.8 yards per carry. O’Keefe, leads the team with 32 receptions tallying 392 yards and four touchdowns, but his battle mate Javon Baker has 26 receptions, for a team high 411 yards and two touchdowns. O’Keefe and Baker are both names to keep an eye on as Plumlee will look to get his playmakers involved early, especially after their loss to ECU last week, I expect the Knights senior quarterback find his two top targets early in this contest as both are capable of having big days.
“The Bearcats know what this match up means as this matchup has turned into a rivalry match up over the last few seasons and the Knights are coming into this one with vengeance after suffering a 34-13 loss to East Carolina last week, the Knights will look to bounce back as they are looking to remain perfect at the Bounce House under head coach Gus Malzahn, who enters his third season at UCF and is looking to get the Knights back in the win column here at the midway point of the 2022 season.”
Who proofreads this? The entire paragraph is one run-on sentence.