Campus Clash
(22) UCF Knights at (16) Tulane Green Wave
UCF: They may not be what they were a few years ago, but they still play hard for Gus Malzahn. They have a 7-2 record and are riding a two-game winning streak after a win against the Memphis Tigers. Nothing’s changed when it comes to their offense. The Knights can strike and score at any given time. In that game against Memphis, they accumulated 427 yards of total offense and 14 points in the fourth quarter. Let’s show some love to Mikey Keene, the backup Quarterback. He’s come in and done a nice job of playing for the starter, John Rhys Plumlee. It took him a while to get settled in, but I always say when you’re replacing someone, just play your game. Another thing about being a backup is preparing as if you’re going to start because you never know when your number is going to be called upon. From watching Gus Malzahn teams over the years, his groups will always be ready to play defense and it’s not a surprise that he has another solid unit under his belt. Yes, they did give up 28 points and it appeared that they were struggling to get off the field. However, they forced two turnovers en route to their victory. On Saturday afternoon, they’ll make a trip to NOLA for a showdown with Tulane.
Tulane: They’ve been one of the talks of the year this season. Nobody saw them being this good. Ball security is always important when you’re playing this sport and the one thing, I can say about this group is they don’t turn the football over that much. They have only given the ball away a total of nine times this year, which really impresses me. Another thing to note about them is this is a very physical football team that wants to bully you at the line of scrimmage and play downhill. That’s my style of football mixed in with a potent passing attack and spreading the football around to the open receiver and that’s exactly what this Tulane offense does. They want to run the football as I alluded to them playing downhill and Running Back Tyjae Spears is the ringleader in this ground attack. The Green Wave average 180.2 yards per game which is ranked 47th in the nation respectfully. What worries me about them is the inconsistent passing attack. You never know what group will show up for the game. Outside of everything, they’ve been a fun group to watch. They will be home on Saturday for a tilt with UCF.
UCF X-Factor: Ricky Barber– He played his best game of the season against the Cincinnati Bearcats a few weeks back and will have to transfer over to this game on Saturday in Louisiana. Ricky is an active Defensive Tackle that creates trouble from the interior of the defensive line. He can help penetrate up front and stifle a running game along with creating problems for an Offensive Line. If he can do all I listed along with getting some pressure on the Quarterback, the Knights should have a chance to win this game.
Tulane X-Factor: Tyjae Spears– This offense starts with Tyjae and it ends with Tyjae. I like his style of play because he wants to run the football up the middle and get those hard-earned yards. Tyjae is the swiss-army knife of the offense because of the versatility he displays, and Tulane uses his in a variety of ways, even on jet sweeps. It’s as I always say, get the ball in the hands of your playmakers, keep a defense honest and move out of the way once he has the football in his hands.
Final Thoughts: The AAC is on display here. These are two of the most balanced teams in their conference. Both UCF and Tulane are very similar in moving the ball down the field, scoring and playing stingy defense. The key for UCF will be to bottle up Spears and make Tulane throw the football more than they want too. What concerns me is UCF’s inability to get home to the passer. Tulane as I said up top wants to be physical and play downhill. In other words, they want to slow the game down as much as they can. Can UCF get this offense to turn the ball over? That’s one thing to pay attention to in this showdown.
Prediction: UCF 26, Tulane 19
