UCF Football: Game preview, prediction, live stream vs. SMU

UCF football puts a 17-game winning streak on the line at home in Week 6 against SMU. Will the Knights keep their victorious run going against the Mustangs?

Riding the longest winning streak in the FBS, UCF enters their Saturday showdown against SMU as one of just 14 undefeated teams left in the country. Despite losing the architect that built the turnaround from 0-12 to 13-0 in just two seasons, new head coach Josh Heupel has kept the machine running that Scott Frost built.

McKenzie Milton is once again a Heisman dark-horse for the Knights as he continues leading them to win after win. The quarterback has accounted for the fifth-most points in the FBS, and he averages more than 300 passing yards per game. Coupled with a rushing attack that ranks in the top five in yards per game on the ground, the Knights feature one of the most prolific offenses in the country yet again.

SMU, on the other hand, has struggled to keep teams off the scoreboard. The Mustangs lost their first three games of the season, and every one of their four FBS opponents to date have scored at least 30 points against them. Even FCS Houston Baptist scored 27 points against SMU. Once the results are calculated, SMU’s defense averages 38 points and 406 yards allowed per game.

Combined with an offense that is among the worst in the country at chewing up yards, moving the chains, and scoring points, there is no surprise that SMU enters this game 2-3. But the Mustangs have ruined Houston’s shot at a New Year’s Six run as recently as two years ago, and they could ostensibly pull off the shocker again this year. Here’s how you can watch the interdivisional AAC contest between UCF and SMU:

Date: Saturday, Oct. 6
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Venue: Spectrum Stadium
TV: ESPNU
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV

Keys to Victory

UCF really just needs to keep doing what they have been doing. Milton needs to be his usual dual-threat dynamic self, both throwing and running the football Adrian Killins Jr. and the rest of the backfield need to take advantage of mismatches to bolster the offense. And the defense just needs to make sure that SMU’s offense fails to keep pace with the Knights.

SMU, on the other hand, has to play basically the perfect game just to have a shot at beating the Knights. UCF is on a 17-game heater over the past season and a half, and the Mustangs effectively have to get few if any penalties and avoid giving away the football. They need Ben Hicks and/or William Brown to have the game of a lifetime. And the defense needs to dismantle the powerful Knights attack.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com

Point Spread: UCF -24
Over/Under: 74.5

Prediction

Those are all tall tasks to expect SMU to pull off. They might manage to get the upper hand in one facet of the game, but UCF will still churn out plenty of points in a different fashion. The Knights are going to leave their home turf big winners after covering the spread, but the defense will do enough that SMU will fail to do its part to cover the total points.

Final Score: UCF 51, SMU 14