Love is in the air… at the St. Petersburg Bowl

December 15th, 2009 by John Huss

University of Central Florida senior quarterback Brett Hodges (thanks Icon SMI)

St. Petersburg Bowl: UCF Knights (8-4) vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-4)

December 19th at 8pm St Petersburg, FL

Tickets purchased…check. Hotel room booked…check. Wife who doesn’t mind going to the St. Pete Bowl on our anniversary…check!

Ah, nothing says romance like a room on the beach along with all the amenities your heart desires. When I told the better half where we are staying is going to be a surprise, the first words out of her mouth were “Is it close to the game? …because I don’t want to be wasting time driving all over the place.” Now if that doesn’t scream true love, I don’t know what does.

The flip side of the equation is that alma mater UCF may break our hearts. True, the game practically comes equipped with home field advantage. Of course the Knights have a strong defense, one that ranked 23rd overall based on points allowed. The bread and butter is the run defense that allowed a paltry 82.50 yards per game. That mark was good for 4th best out of the 120 FBS teams. The problem is that the Knights have a scoring offense that ranked 68th in the nation (26.33 ppg). In a weak C-USA, the team was 8th best at putting points on the board. This season had déjà-vu written all over it as UCF was horrible on the offensive side of the ball last year also. The whole season flashed before my eyes each time the offense took the field…kind of like Coach O’Leary’s did when he heard there was a job opening at Notre Dame.

Rutgers comes out of a stronger conference. Not that we need evidence to prove that statement but Rutgers finished 4th in their conference…behind 3 ranked teams. Their defense is ranked even higher than UCF’s (19th overall). Their Achilles heel, much like UCF, is that their offense is also mediocre.

Disclaimer: I am siding with the Alma Mater.

Players to watch: For UCF, the big must for success is getting RB Brynn Harvey going early. If he can put a dent into that tough Rutgers run D, the UCF offense will be able to gains some yards on play action. Also, WR Kamar Aiken is a nice target and has a nose for the endzone.

For Rutgers, it looks like they won’t be dealing with a full deck. Unfortunately, WR Tim Brown won’t be able bring his best game with him to Florida. The diminutive receiver, who had 1,051 yards and 8 TDs on the year, has an ankle injury that likely will keep him out of the game. This puts more pressure on RB Joe Martinek to keep the UCF defense honest and open up the game. QB Tom Savage will need to find a new trusty WR to compensate for the loss of Brown.

Overall, UCF had more time to prepare for this game having not played the last weekend of the regular season. UCF’s offense is actually better if we just dissect the games that QB Brett Hodges started. In those 9 games, the team scored 29.55 on average. These types of numbers would have been good for 45th best scoring offense. UCF faced 3 ranked opponents this season, beating Houston, putting up a good fight against Miami and getting horned by Texas. The perception is that Rutgers had a tougher schedule but in fact got destroyed by Cincy and losing two tough ones against Pitt and WVU. This game will be a close one but will finish UCF 24 Rutgers 21…my anniversary weekend depends on it!

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