From the first play of the game, Knights proved they have one thing in mind: Getting to the Conference USA Championship game.
Brett Hodges opened the game with a 76 yard touchdown pass to A.J. Guyton. Hodges was 8 of 13 passing for 145 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown as the Knights beat up Rice 49-7.
A.J. Guyton had 4 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown and Brynn Harvey ran 12 times for 71 yards. Ronnie Weaver also got some action scoring on a 27 yard touchdown run and ending the day with 58 yards rushing.
The Knights added some trickery to their game plan when Guyton found Kamar Aiken for a 36-yard toucdown on a halfback pass to extend the lead to 28-0 at the half.
In other good news, LB Jordan Richards made his first appearance since suffering a concussion at East Carolina.
Looking Ahead… to the rest of the season, three teams stand in our way of reaching the Conference USA Championship game: Southern Miss, East Carolina and Marshall. We have lost to both Southern Miss and East Carolina so a win this weekend against Marshall is mandatory to have a chance to make the CUSA Championship game.
This is the remaining CUSA schedule for The Knights and their foes:
UCF– Marshall, Houston, Tulane, @ UAB
Southern Miss– @ Houston, @ Marshall, Tulsa, @ East Carolina
East Carolina– @ Memphis, @ Tulsa, UAB, Southern Miss
Marshall– @ UCF, Southern Miss, SMU, and @ UTEP
UCF’s Chances 30%
Comparing everyone’s schedule it is nice to see the Knights are the only team who has three out of four home games. The Knights must win vs. Marshall and the game against Houston will be almost as important but a loss vs. Houston still leaves the door open for a possible trip to the CUSA Championship game.
Southern Miss Chances 5%
I don’t think Southern Miss has any hopes to go to the Championship game with the upcoming games on their schedule. They have little to no chance at Houston, vs. Tulsa and I may go as far to say they could lose every game they have left. So let’s rule them out.
East Carolina’s Chances 50%
Unfortunately it looks at though the heartbreaking loss at ECU will haunt us. Even if we win the rest of the games on our schedule and ECU loses at Tulsa they will have the first three tiebreakers against us. ECU needs to be upset by Memphis, or lose to both Tulsa and Southern Miss.
Marshall’s Chances 15%
Marshall is having one of its best seasons in years but unfortunately for them they don’t do very well against us. We do need them to beat Southern Miss though to prevent a potential tiebreaker situation.
