Pitt and the UCF Knights square off late Saturday afternoon, 3:30pm exactly, down In hot and humid Spectrum Stadium in Orlando, FL.

Not too many writers are choosing Pitt to win this match. So, do we Pitt fans think we can pull out what will be a suprise upset?  If so let us know why in some detail.

If you think Pitt won’t win this tough game then let us why about that also. In other words enlighten us with your football wisdom!

Here’s my take. I’ve felt since fall camp that our defense wasn’t going to be as good as the propagandists on the coaching staff wanted us to think. Not with the LBs we field and Briggs and Motley in as DB starters.  With that I figure UCF is going to pretty much score at will against us. I won’t be surprised if they have 27 or 30 points at halftime.

They will strike fast and often because we won’t be able to change our defenses to match their hurry-up offense. They stay in formation and snap the ball between 12 and 15 seconds.

Our OL will not get any better at pass protection and since I think we’ll be playing catch-up ball, especially in the 2nd half where a good passing game is needed to quickly close a bigger scoring gap, its unlikely that that part of the offense will be able to do what it takes to win.

We’ll  run well in the first half but UCF will adjust at halftime and, as said above, we’ll need to abandon it to make quick scores and save clock time in the 4th quarter. So I think the Pitt running game will look good statistically butit won’t have much impact in the final score.

This is the game we’ll see Pickett throw more INTs than TDs.  UCF gives up yards passing but they are 4th in the nation in Opponent’s QBs’ Passing Efficiency Ratings holding them to an average 91.19 rating which is very low. In other words that 91.19 rating would put the opposing team at 128th nationally… very telling what.  They will harrass and disrupt our young QB and impact our passing.

UCF 48 – Pitt 21

Give us your take on the game!