Beating the Spread: Stanford at UCF

UCF gets Stanford to travel to Orlando in a game UCF has to look impressive in to get the College Football Playoff committee’s attention. UCF has rolled through the competition the first two weeks of the season. Stanford, after a dominant defensive performance in week one against Northwestern, came up painfully short against USC without their starting quarterback K.J. Costello. A decision has not been made on Costello as of this writing and if he can’t play this pick is a no-brainer and it may be either way.

Keys to the Game

Cardinals struggling on offense

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Even with starting quarterback Costello playing in week one the Cardinal offense left a lot to be desired. Costello threw for 152 yards and a touchdown against Northwestern prior to getting injured, but is expected to play this week. Davis Mills will go this week if Costello can’t return. He has 318 yards with one TD and one INT.

Cameron Scarlett is the leading rusher for Stanford with 179 yards, while Connor Wedington is the leading receiver with 136 yards on 12 receptions. As you can see the Cardinal are not loaded with offensive weapons and they need Costello to play this week to have any chance at winning this game.

The Knights are still explosive

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UCF has continued to be impressive on both sides of the ball. The Knights are putting up 55 points and 634 yards per game on offense right now, while holding opponents to seven points and 205 yards per game on defense. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel has emerged as the man at quarterback. He has thrown for 372 yards and five touchdowns to best Brandon Wimbush, the ND transfer, who has thrown for 168 yards and two scores. The Knights have four players with over 110 rushing yards already. Bentavious Thompson is leading the way with 155 yards and a score. Gabriel Davis is leading the receivers with six catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns. So, as you can see, the Knights have a balanced attack that can beat you multiple ways and the Cardinal defense got destroyed at USC by a Trojans team that was playing with a backup Quarterback.

Prediction: I think who plays quarterback for Stanford in this game won’t really matter in the end because the Knights are just the more explosive and better team and should have there way in this matchup. Take the Knights and give the 7 points.

UCF 38  Stanford 17