Why UCF Will Win The Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
Exactly how focused will Florida be?
It might not be quite as ugly as last year’s 55-20 loss to Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl – after the offense lost a slew of key parts to the NFL – but it’ll be interesting.
Top WR Jacob Copeland is in the transfer portal, a whole slew of other parts are either auditioning for a new staff or for a future home, and interim head coach Greg Knox is the transition man before the Billy Napier era kicks in full force.
The Gators fought to get here with a win over Florida State to close out the regular season, but UCF clamped down hard over the entire second half of the year with an improve passing game and a defense that allowed 17 points or fewer in five of the last six games.
Turnovers and interceptions are a major problem for the Gators, and UCF is great at generating takeaways.
Penalties are a major problem for the Gators, and UCF is decent at limiting the flags.
The mistakes aren’t exactly going to clear up in a turmoil-filled environment and UCF will have to capitalize on all of them.
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Why Florida Will Win The Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
Yeah, UCF was great over the second half of the season.
You’d be, too, against Memphis, Temple, Tulane, UConn, and USF.
There’s a decent offensive punch from the Knights, but the running game is inconsistent and there’s not enough happening down the field with the passing attack. Florida shouldn’t have any problems keeping everything in from of its D.
On the other side, pound, pound, pound.
UCF doesn’t care about time of possession, and having an head coach – for the time being – who knows the running backs like Greg Knox does should help. The Gator offensive line should be able to take over early on against a UCF defensive front that was good against the bad teams and struggled against the wrong.
UCF is 0-4 when allowing 190 rushing yards or more. Florida averages 209 per game.