UCF Game Preview – 48 Days Until Kansas Football

The Knights head to Lawrence in their first year in the Big 12 to face an evenly matched Jayhawks team.

The Central Florida Knights will make their inaugural trip to Lawrence on October 7 in their first season in the Big 12 to face the Kansas Jayhawks. It will also mark the first time these two programs have faced off on the football field. And early projections are that this will be an evenly matched game.

Pre-Game Notes

UCF has only been playing football since 1996 – and has only been a university since 1963 – so it’s not much of a surprise that these two programs have never played each other. The Knights have had an impressive run since the program began, with a 192-140 record over 27 seasons. That run includes nine nine-win seasons since 2010, including two years (2013 and 2018) where the Knights went 12-1. And of course, there was the 13-0 2017 season that led the program to declare itself national champions, which was then confirmed by the NCAA.

The Knights have won nine games each of the past two years, but the expectation is that UCF takes a bit of a step back now that it is playing against tougher competition. Both Kansas and UCF have a win total set at 6.5 wins and UCF was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 media preseason poll to KU’s ninth, with just two points separating the two.

The Mike Plank Four-Down Scouting Report

First Down

Gus Malzahn is entering year three in Orlando and will be doing so with continuity at quarterback as UCF enters the Big 12. Former Ole Miss QB John Rhys Plumlee is back for his second season with the Knights after throwing for 2,586 yards and 14 touchdowns with eight interceptions. But his biggest success was on the ground, where he was the team’s leading rusher at 862 yards with 11 rushing touchdowns.

Second Down

UCF had a three-headed monster in the backfield last year. While Isaiah Bowser, who led the team with 16 rushing touchdowns, is gone, the Knights bring back R.J. Harvey (796 yards and five TDs) and Johnny Richardson (370 yards). The Knights also now have former five-star recruit Demarkcus Bowman, who comes to Orlando after unsuccessful stops at Clemson and Florida.

In the passing game, UCF has two 600-yard receivers back for the 2023 season. Javon Baker led the team with 56 catches and 796 yards last year, while Kobe Hudson was second on the team (39 catches for 641) but led the Knights in receiving touchdowns with seven.

Third Down

One of the big changes this year for UCF is with the play callers. UCF alum Darin Hinshaw has been brought in as a co-offensive coordinator as Malzahn relinquishes control of the offense. On the other side of the ball, former defensive coordinator Travis Williams left for Arkansas, so secondary coach Addison Williams was promoted to co-defensive coordinator to take on more responsibility.

Fourth Down

UCF brings back six starters from last year’s defense, with the majority of the production coming up front. Tre’mon Morris-Brash is back after a year in which he recorded 13 tackles for loss and six sacks, as well as two fumble recoveries. The Knights also have last year’s leading tackler, Jason Johnson, back on campus for another season.

Matchup On Paper

UCF averaged nearly 33 points per game last year, and the biggest reason for that was the running game. The staff prioritized pounding the rock, with the Knights rushing the ball 44 times per game for 228 yards and 2.5 touchdowns per game. And while UCF still threw for 241 yards per game, it only averaged 1.6 touchdowns through the air on 32 attempts.

However, it sounds like the coaching responsibility changes could lead to a greater focus on the passing game. UCF has the tools to do it on paper, though greater focus could just mean getting closer to 50/50 between the run and passing games.

Meanwhile, UCF was better at containing the passing game than the run last year, though some of those pieces in the secondary are now gone, especially at safety. It’s also worth pointing out that UCF only played two ranked teams (for a total of three games, as it played Tulane twice) all season, and gave up 21, 31, and 45 points in those games, though two of them were wins. Another game against Navy, which rarely passes, skews the defensive passing numbers a bit.

Final Whistle

This one is hard to predict regarding what sort of game we’ll get by the time we get to early October. The transition up a level in competition is hard to predict, even for a team with as much recent success as UCF. The Knights will have just played K-State and Baylor before coming to Lawrence and then have to go to Norman the next week. The Knights and Jayhawks have similar looks on paper, but there are a number of different scenarios we could see playing out in this matchup.