St. Petersburg Bowl: Can UCF get to 10 wins?
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl
Central Florida (9-3) vs. N.C. State (7-5)
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Dec. 26, 2014
UCF will be on an impressive streak if it beats N.C. State on Friday.
The win gives the Knights a third-straight 10-win season. Sure, one of those seasons came in Conference USA and the last two years have been played the AAC. Neither conference is a beacon of college football power. But UCF would be in pretty elite company, and as last year's Fiesta Bowl win over Baylor showed, the Knights can play with the best.
Though it did take a miracle for UCF to be in position for a third-straight 10-win season. In the final week of the season, UCF traveled to East Carolina for the Pirates' senior night. And it looked like ECU would escape with a win before giving the ball back to UCF with seconds remaining. All of that changed when Justin Holman hit Breshad Perriman on a Hail Mary behind ECU's secondary. UCF had the win and a share of the AAC title.
While Holman, a sophomore, has improved as the season has gone on, the strength of this UCF team is the defense. The Knights give up less than 18 points per game, good enough for eighth in the country. The Knights' total yardage stats are even better. UCF ranks third with just 283 yards per game given up and 4.29 yards per play.
It'll be tough for QB Jacoby Brissett and N.C. State to move the ball. While Brissett has looked dynamic at times – most notably in a loss to Florida State – the strength of N.C. State's offense is its ground game. Four players have at least 50 rushing attempts and the Wolfpack's leading rusher is Shadrach Thornton, who has 811 yards and nine touchdowns. But UCF stops the run extremely well and limits opponents to less than 100 yards a game.
Vegas odds: UCF (-2)
FUN FACT
This used to be the Beef O'Brady's Bowl. No, this isn't your fun fact. Your fun fact is that this is the third meeting ever between the teams and it comes in UCF's third St. Petersburg Bowl appearance. (No other team has been to the game more than once) In 2007, UCF beat N.C. State 25-23 and in 2010, N.C. State won 28-21.
PREDICTIONS
Graham: UCF is coming off a dramatic win against East Carolina that helped it claim a share of the AAC title and that magic keeps going against N.C. State. The UCF defense shuts down N.C. State QB Jacoby Brissett and the Knights win this one going away. UCF 31, N.C. State 17.
Nick: This line seems skewed to N.C. State for some reason to me. Which probably means the Wolfpack will win. I'll go with what I teased in the headline. UCF gets win No. 10. UCF 23, N.C. State 17.
Sam: I've been impressed by N.C. State's Jacoby Brissett every time I've watched him play, but UCF's defense is really strong. It should be a close one, but I like the Knights to pull this one out. UCF 24, N.C. State 20.
For more N.C. State news, visit TheWolfpacker.com
For more UCF news, visit UCFSports.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
