UCF Football: Knights look to remain undefeated against Pitt

No. 13 UCF football hasn’t missed a beat in 2018. So far they’ve dominated UConn, South Carolina State, and FAU entering their game against Pittsburgh.

UCF’s success is largely due to one of the best quarterbacks in college football McKenzie Milton. Milton’s success story begins in 2016 when he was booed off of the field against Arkansas State in their AutoNation Cure Bowl game. The Knights lost 31-13 to the Red Wolves and Milton never forgot the sounds of his fans’ disapproval of his play in the post game.

Since that very game on December 7, 2016, UCF has yet to lose a game and currently holds the longest active winning streak in college football with 15 straight wins. The Knights have averaged 49 points per game and Milton has scored 57 times since their last loss.

Outside of Milton, the Golden Knights have allowed only one sack all season long and went two games without giving up a single sack. Their offensive scoring is actually two points better from their top-ranked scoring offense a season ago and that’s because of how the ball is being spread around to leading receivers Gabriel Davis, Dredrick Snelson, and Tre Nixon while the running lanes for Adrian Killins have allowed him to average 5.8 yards per carry.

Defensively it’s a different story. While their passing defense, anchored by Linebacker Pat Jasinski, have allowed 157.7 yards per game through the air with the second most interceptions nationally with seven, their run defense is their Achilles heel. They’ve allowed 717 rushing yards over three games for an average of 234 yards per game (113th nationally) including 320 last week to FAU.

Pittsburgh hasn’t been bad but they aren’t exactly good either. Their ground game is the best thing they have going for them thus far this season. They’ve averaged 212.25 yards per game between senior running backs Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall as well as sophomore quarterback Kenny Pickett. Their pass defense has done surprisingly well for a squad that has had to go up against Trace McSorley and the Penn State receiving corps by allowing 205 yards per game (56th nationally).

Most everything else for the Panthers is aggressively mediocre. Their passing game ranks 118th nationally with only 148 yards per game and their scoring offense as a whole isn’t much better with 24.5 points per game (102nd nationally). They have a middle of the pack all around defense ranking 85th in scoring defense and 86th in total defense.

Can the Pitt Panthers get creative and end the longest active winning streak in college football?

Date: Saturday, September 29, 2018
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Orlando, FL
Venue: Spectrum Stadium
TV: ESPNU
LiveStream: WatchESPN

Players To Watch

Pittsburgh

Central Florida

QB, McKenzie Milton
WRs, Gabriel Davis, Dredrick Snelson, and Tre Nixon
MLB, Pat Jasinski
WLB, Eric Mitchell
DB, Richie Grant

Keys To Victory

I don’t have to mention that UCF has to score to win because they have proven time and time again that they can so we will just skip past that. The key for them is to stop the run. The Golden Knights have given up far too many rushing yards in their first three games and they can’t afford to do so against Pitt who has relied heavily on the run all season long. If you stop the run against Pitt then you cut the head off the snake.

Pittsburgh has to get better passing the ball this week. Kenny Pickett looked promising at the end of last season with 435 passing yards against Virginia Tech and Miami at the end of last season for an average of 217 yards per game. He’s currently down a full 72 yards from a season ago with 145 yards per game and has a 4:3 touchdown to interception ratio.

Pickett has to clean up his act and throw the ball just enough to open up the run game. The Pittsburgh pass defense is it’s best chance at stopping anything UCF has to offer and if they can force Milton to make mistakes as he did against SC State then Pitt can keep the momentum on their side. Control the clock with the run and keep the ball out of McKenzie Milton’s hands.

Betting Odds

Presented by OddsShark

Points Spread: UCF -15.5

Over/Under: 66.5

Next. Latest 2019 NFL Mock Draft after Week 4. dark

Prediction

UCF finally gets their shot against a Power 5 program during the regular season and they’re going to take full advantage of it. A fast start for the Golden Knights will keep them ahead until the end but they’ll give up a few more points than they’d like to a strong Panther ground game.

Final Score: UCF 38 Pitt 24

Home/UCF Knights