The UCF Knights begged the South Florida Bulls for years to join into a natural rivalry. Now, the two teams are together in the AAC, but UCF is just hoping that this game with its rivals from up the road on I-4 will end quickly to get into the offseason as mercifully as possible.
You can find all of the college football odds at BookMaker.eu for this game later in the week.
ODDS ANALYSIS
UCF and Kansas are the only two teams in America who have yet to win a game this year, and that's very likely to finish the case as well.
The Knights have been smoked time and time again, and this might be the toughest game they've played in months. USF, a budding team which has come on strong in the second half of the year under Willie Taggart, and it will surely end up being a huge favorite when the line opens up later in the week.
KEY MISMATCH
Marlon Mack is just a sophomore, but he has been lighting it up for the Bulls in recent weeks, giving a lot of hope for the future. He has six 100+ yard games in his last seven, and we can't see a UCF defense which is conceding 192.1 rushing yards per game slowing him down.
When Mack has it going, the rest of this USF offense can actually get going as well. We know that Quinton Flowers can't really throw the football that well, but when playing from ahead, a young offensive line has been able to plow holes for Mack and the rest of the tailbacks on this roster.
KEY STAT
40 – The minimum number of points the Knights have allowed in their last eight games played this season. The only times they've held teams under 30 came against dreadful outfits like Florida International and Furman, so don't be all that shocked if the Bulls are able to get into at least the 30s, if not the 40s on Thursday night.
BETTING ANGLE
Remember when the Bulls went on the road in Week 3 and lost to Maryland 35-17? They were in it with a chance against Memphis and were unfortunate to only get a push the next week at home in a 24-17 loss, but since that point, they've been off and running.
USF is 6-1 SU and ATS since that point, and its only loss came against a Navy team which, as we've come to find out, is a pretty darn good ball club.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
It's tough to make any case for UCF here after the team got drubbed against East Carolina last week. There just isn't a quarterback on this roster who is anywhere near capable of putting points on the board, and that's going to show again in this game.
Meanwhile, with the way USF has been running the ball, reaching 300 rushing yards as a team and 40 points isn't out of the realm of possibility.
The Knights will fight hard for sure. They've got as many as 22 freshmen playing for them at any given time to help build for the future. But just as they ran out of gas in the second and third quarters against East Carolina, their youngsters are going to do the same here against South Florida.
South Florida 37, UCF 17
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