LSU Football: 5 reasons Tigers are on upset alert vs UCF

4. UCF has room to improve their discipline in the penalty department

While UCF has been a top team in the FBS in many ways this season, one place where they have been among the worst teams in the country is in the number of flags they take and the number of yards they lose to penalties.

Even with improvements from last year’s group, the Knights still have plenty of room to improve their discipline against the Tigers. Importantly, the Knights have shown an ability to tighten up their mistakes and lower the number of penalties they face.

Last year’s UCF side suffered an average of 8.4 penalties and 68 lost yards. This year’s team scaled that back to 7.1 flags and 62 yards given away per game. And in the final three-game stretch against Cincinnati, South Florida, and Memphis, the Knights took only five penalties per game and averaged 41 penalty yards.

If UCF can keep their penalties down to five or less against LSU, they will make sure that they do not beat themselves. That will be a critical ingredient to UCF’s upset of the Tigers at State Farm Stadium.