The UCF Knights Have 'Suspect' Bowl Projections
Have the UCF Knights been undersold with their bowl projections?
It’s only Oct. 11. There’s a long way to go with the 2022 college football season and figuring out where teams will go for the bowl games, UCF included. Projecting bowl games has often proven difficult when making those selections way ahead of time.
Well, there are some individuals that specialize in this skill and project the bowl games far in advance. It’s just that one of the specialists undersold the Knights to date, and it’s honestly a little surprising.
That individual would be Jerry Palm. He’s well respected in the sports writing industry and still should be despite his projection for the Knights to play in the Dec. 16 Cure Bowl against the University of Texas at San Antonio, which takes place in Orlando.
Still, the Cure Bowl? That’s it?
That’s hardly an exciting or deserving matchup, to be quite frank. After playing and defeating the Florida Gators 29-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl last season, it’s difficult not to see the Cure Bowl and UTSA as a letdown.
It’s not that UTSA is playing poorly either. It’s a 4-2 team with losses to Texas (41-20) and Houston (37-35). It’s just that it does not have any cache like Florida or another Power 5 program. Fair or not, UCF fans are not likely to be excited about that matchup.
To be fair, it’s an honor to go to any bowl game. That needed to be stated. However, UCF has proved that it’s capable of playing quality competition and doing well, with the SMU game as a great example. That’s especially the case after seeing what UCF’s defense has accomplished this season, with the offense and special teams now rolling as well.
It’s likely to finish with a 9-3 record at worst, and winning 10 or even 11 games should not be discounted either. That’s honestly the bigger point with Palm’s projection. He’s not giving the Knights enough credit for how it will finish the 2022 season.
Currently sitting with a 4-1 record, the Knights are likely to be favored in the majority of the remaining games. That’s true despite UCF’s schedule that includes the four-game stretch that includes playing at East Carolina (Oct. 22), Cincinnati (Oct. 29), at Memphis (Nov. 5) and at Tulane (Nov. 12).
From those four, the team to watch might be Tulane, which has started 5-1 and allowed only 13.3 points per contest. That’s certainly a tough game for UCF or any other squad that goes on the road to play the Green Wave. Those Bearcats are not easy either.
Cincinnati, currently 5-1 with their only loss coming on the opening weekend of college football at Arkansas by the score of 31-24, is a well coached team that will challenge UCF in all three phases of the game. Even with the competition, UCF should have been respected more by Palm.
Does he think UCF is going to just get run over by Tulane? Perhaps Cincinnati as well? In the end, it’s up to the Knights to go out and win. Rolling to 10 or 11 wins will certainly change Palm’s bowl projections.
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