The UCF Knights (9-4) are set to take on Ball State (9-3) in the Beef O’Brady’s bowl Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Tropicana Field in St.Petersburg, FL.
The Knights are no stranger to the Beef O’Brady’s bowl, as they just played in the bowl in 2009 when they lost to Rutgers 45-24. Ball State will be making their first bowl appearance since 2008 when they lost to Tulsa 45-13 in the GMAC bowl.
The Knights won the Conference USA East Division this year for the fourth time since joining the league in 2005. Although they lost to Tulsa in the Conference USA championship, their 9-4 record proved to be good enough to send them to their fifth bowl appearance in the last eight seasons.
The Ball State Cardinals from Muncie, Indiana are currently riding a six game winning streak dating from October 6th when they lost to Northern Illinois 35-23.
Keys to Knights victory:
The Knights are no stranger to the endzone this season, averaging 35.2 points per game which puts them 27th in the nation. A big reason for these numbers is the bigger role and responsibility on behalf of Sophomore QB Blake Bortles who has thrown 22 touchdowns on the season.
If the Knights can get the run game going with running back Latavius Murray taking the brunt of the carries and getting the ball to leading receivers J.J. Worton and Jeff Godfrey, the Knights should have no problem putting points on the board.
The Ball State Cardinals have allowed at least 20 points in every game this season, so that should bode well for the Knights offense.
Defensively, the Knights may have a tough assignment against Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning who missed the Cardinals’ last regular-season game after having surgery on his fractured right ankle. Wenning has shined this season, throwing for 2,878 yards and 22 touchdowns. If the Knights can contain the Ball State passing attack and force the Cardinals to punt, C-USA Special Teams player of the year Quincy McDuffie will have a chance to show off his flashy kick/punt returns.
Final thoughts:
The Knights have an obvious home field advantage, being that St.Petersburg is only 125 miles away from campus. The match-up is pretty even, with the Knights favored by 7. Ball State will have a tough time stopping UCF from putting up lots of points, with the Knights having a myriad of scoring options on offense and even special teams. It doesn’t help the Ball State case when Kemal Ishmael, voted UCF’s Most Valuable Player, is lurking in the backfield against Keith Wenning who has thrown 10 interceptions this season.
The game will be close, but UCF will prevail on the intangibles and capitalize on Ball State turnovers, final score: UCF 31, Ball State, 27.
