Up until last week, UCF’s season was going nowhere fast. Yet, a five-game losing streak came to a halt in a blowout win over Arizona. What are the challenges and opportunities the Knights can present on Saturday night? Here’s our detailed look at ASU's upcoming opponent.

UCF Offense

The quarterback carousel UCF has ridden in 2024 has been quite the thrill ride. Last week, the fourth quarterback of the year took his turn as a starter for the Knights.

The season began with reputable Arkansas transfer KJ Jefferson at the helm, but after four games, true freshman EJ Colson was inserted into the lineup. After that lone start, former Miami transfer Jacurri Brown replaced Colson for the next two games before being replaced in the starting lineup by redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk.

For UCF, the fourth time might be the charm, as in his first collegiate start, Rizk lit up the Arizona Wildcats to the tune of a stat line that included 20 completions on just 25 attempts for 294 passing yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions along with 55 net rushing yards in the Knights’ 56-12 obliteration of the Wildcats.

Rizk is listed as this week’s starter on UCF’s depth chart with no ‘or’ listed by his name, which comes as little surprise after his eye-opening starting debut last weekend.

A three-star recruit of the 2023 class rated by Rivals as the No. 22 pro-style quarterback prospect in the country that year, Rizk made one appearance as a true freshman last season and has played in three games this year, including last week’s start.

As has been the case on multiple occasions so far this season, ASU faces an opponent with a nationally elite running back. In this case, UCF rusher RJ Harvey, one of the most prominent runners in college football, will go head-to-head with the strong Sun Devil rush defense.

Through nine games, Harvey is well beyond the 1,000-yard mark as he’s rushed for 1,201 yards on 171 carries (7.0 avg.) with 16 scores. He is also a respectable pass-catcher, as he has 13 receptions for 219 yards with two scores.

He leads the Big 12 and ranks third nationally, averaging 133.4 rushing yards per game, and only four players in the nation have more than his conference-high 16 rushing touchdowns. Harvey also ranks third nationally in all-purpose yards per game (161.89) and fifth nationally in total touchdowns (18).

Harvey, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 choice in 2023, has six 100-yard games this season, including each of the past three. He also has six multi-touchdown games this year, again including each of the team’s last three games.

Last season, Harvey burst upon the national scene by rushing for 1,416 yards with 16 touchdowns and catching 19 passes for 238 yards with two scores.

Behind Harvey, Peny Boone is the second-most productive running back on the roster this year, as he has 208 yards with two touchdowns on 34 carries in six games. Boone began his college career at Maryland before transferring to Toledo, where he posted 1,400 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns last season.

In the pass game, UCF’s offense is fairly similar to ASU’s as they heavily rely on one receiver and one tight end while using their running back as well as a pass catcher.

Receiver Kobe Hudson, a former Auburn transfer, leads the way with team-highs of 31 receptions for 567 yards with three touchdowns. Hudson, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 choice last year for UCF, has three 100-yard games this season and he has crossed the century mark on eight total occasions during his five-year college career.

Tight end Randy Pittman Jr. ranks second on the team behind Hudson with 21 catches for 266 yards and two scores. He comes to Tempe with some major momentum, as last week, he posted the best game of his college career, with a collegiate career-high of five catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns in UCF’s blowout win over Arizona.

Ohio transfer Jacoby Jones has fairly mild stats of 13 receptions for 251 yards with two scores through nine games, but like Pittman, he enters Saturday’s game on a major hot streak as he has 11 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns in the last two games. He had five catches for 106 yards with a score last week against Arizona and six receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown the previous week versus BYU.

Behind Hudson, Pittman, Harvey, and Jones, no other UCF pass catcher has surpassed 100 total receiving yards in the year so far.

The UCF offensive line figures to feature a starting lineup, including former Alabama transfer Amari Kight at left tackle, left guard Adrian Medley, center Caden Kitler, former Kent State transfer Marcellus Marshall at right guard, and right tackle Paul Rubelt.

Sun Devil fans may remember Rubelt, a 6-11 lineman from Germany who verbally committed to ASU in 2019 before ultimately signing with UCF.

UCF Offense Summary

Statistically, UCF has an elite rush offense this season. The Knights lead the Big 12 and rank second nationally behind only Army by averaging 272.3 rushing yards per game. UCF’s rushing prominence has been the key to the Knights' ranking 10th nationally in total offense (471.1).

They also rank 31st nationally in scoring offense (33.2), 45th in third-down offense (.430), tie for 73rd in sacks allowed (2.11) and tackles for loss allowed (5.56), tie for 76th in red zone offense (.838), place 93rd in team pass offense (198.8) and tie for 94th in turnovers lost (14).

Prior to last week, the script to contain the UCF offense was a simple statement of stopping the run, but though Harvey could be a Doak Walker Award finalist, ASU must be mindful of the up-and-coming passing capabilities of UCF with Rizk under center.

UCF Defense

Operating out of a 4-2-5 defense, the UCF line figures to start ends Malachi Lawrence and Miami transfer Nyjalik Kelly, along with former Auburn transfer Lee Hunter and former Western Kentucky transfer Ricky Barber at defensive tackle.

Kelly leads all UCF defensive linemen with 33 tackles on the year, including 4.5 for loss with 2.5 sacks, along with two forced fumbles, two quarterback hurries, and a pass breakup.

Hunter has totaled 31 tackles, including 5.5 for loss with a sack, along with four quarterback hurries, while Barber has generated 23 tackles, including 5.5 for loss with 2.5 sacks and a team-high nine quarterback hurries.

Lawrence leads UCF with 4.0 sacks, which are part of his 5.0 total tackles for loss. He also has 13 total tackles, three quarterback hurries, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery.

Last season, both Hunter and Lawrence were Honorable Mention All-Big 12 picks.

Vanderbilt transfer Ethan Barr and Cincinnati transfer Deshawn Pace presume to be the team’s starting linebacker pair against ASU. Barr leads the team with 47 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with two quarterback hurries, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery, while Pace is third on the squad with 42 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with one pass breakup and a split of the team-high with two interceptions.

Another name to keep in mind at linebacker for UCF is Xe’ree Alexander, who in 2022 verbally committed to ASU before signing with UCF. He is also the brother of former Sun Devil receiver Lonyatta Alexander, now with Montana State. He ranks fourth on the team with 39 tackles, including 4.5 for loss.

In the secondary, cornerbacks BJ Adams and UAB transfer Mac McWilliams are slated to start with nickel back Braeden Marshall. At safety, East Tennessee State transfer Sheldon Arnold, Ole Miss transfer Ladarius Tennison, and/or Quadric Bullard are slated to be starting candidates for Saturday’s game.

McWilliams has collected 24 tackles, including 5.0 for loss with an interception, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup. Adams has posted 14 tackles, including one for loss with two pass breakups and a share of the team-high of two interceptions. Marshall is credited with 22 tackles, including three for loss with one interception and three pass breakups.

Bullard ranks second on the team with 45 tackles including one for loss with a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. Arnold ranks fifth on the team with 36 tackles, including one for loss with an interception.

Tennison has posted 26 tackles, including two for loss with two pass breakups, a quarterback hurry, and an interception.

UCF Defense Summary

Similar to ASU, UCF boasts not only one of the nation’s elite rushers but also an above average rush defense, as the Knights rank 34th nationally against the run by allowing 117.8 yards per game. As part of that impressive rush defense, UCF also is tied for 26th in the nation in team tackles for loss per game (6.7).

However, in most other key defensive categories, the Knights rank in the middle to lower tiers among FBS teams as they tie for 66th nationally in turnovers forced (11), rank 70th nationally in total defense (366.0), 76th nationally in scoring defense (25.44), tie for 95th in team sacks (1.67 per game), 104th in pass defense (284.2), 107th nationally in third-down defense (.438), 122nd in red zone defense (.935).

In this discussion, the clear wild card is whether or not ASU’s Cam Skattebo plays on Saturday. That said, the numbers indicate that even if Skattebo is able to overcome injury issues to suit up, the Sun Devil offense might shift at least a bit of focus to seeing if Sam Leavitt can build upon what was clearly his best passing game of his young college career last week at Oklahoma State.

UCF Special Teams

Colton Boomer and Grant Reddick have split time this season, as each has attempted six field goals this year. Reddick has connected on 5-of-6, while Boomer, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 selection last year, has made just half his attempts.

I’m going to assume it’s a typo on behalf of the UCF media staff, but the online stats list Boomer has a long field goal of 94 yards – but if you think that’s amazing, they list Reddick as having made a 104-yarder! My gut tells me that’s wrong, but we’ll see if either kicker connects on an attempt from Burrito Express into Mountain America Stadium on Saturday evening.

Punter Mitch McCarthy averages a solid 44.4 yards on 30 punts this year. His name is oddly absent from the NCAA leaderboard, but he would rank inside the nation’s top 25 with that average.

Most importantly, like the team’s placekickers, McCarthy appears to have intergalactic punting abilities, as the UCF media staff lists a long punt this year of 424 yards! NFL teams must be absolutely salivating over a punter with greater than 1,200-foot range.

On returns, Xavier Townsend, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 pick as a returns specialist, averages 12.1 yards on ten punt returns, while he also averages 23.1 yards on seven kickoff returns.

However, what must bring immense shame to Townsend and his entire bloodline is that he only has a long punt return of 26 yards and a long kick return of 38 yards, woefully lower than the max efforts put out by UCF’s kickers and punters this year. Perhaps he’ll run a kickoff back from Cactus Sports on Saturday to bump up his numbers.

Overall Summary

In what will be only the second all-time meeting between ASU and UCF, the two teams met in 2002 in Tempe when the Knights were members of the Mid-American Conference. UCF has some energy after a major, multi-week skid. The Knights had dropped five consecutive games prior to last week’s dominant victory over Arizona.

Similarly, ASU comes into this week with incredible momentum after having achieved bowl eligibility with last week’s win, but the Devils’ mojo took a couple major hits this week with the announcement that superstar do-it-all dynamo Cam Skattebo may not play against UCF and that standout linebacker Keyshaun Elliott is confirmed to be out for Saturday’s game – itself a significant blow with ASU facing one of the most productive rushers in college football.

UCF, with a 4-5 record and games at West Virginia and against Utah to round out the season, has earned a bowl bid every year since its winless 2015 campaign. A loss to ASU would eliminate any margin for error in the Knights’ ambitions to qualify for a ninth straight bowl game.

Saturday’s game will pit teacher against student, as Kenny Dillingham served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for UCF head coach Gus Malzahn in 2019 when Malzahn was at Auburn. Both Dillingham and Malzahn have roots in the Todd Graham coaching tree. Malzahn was Graham’s co-offensive coordinator at Tulsa in 2007-08, and, of course, Dillingham was a staff member at ASU under Graham in 2014-15.

Both teams have redshirt freshmen quarterbacks entering this game after posting collegiate career-best performances last week. At full strength, both teams feature two of the elite running backs in college football this year.

ASU has overcome many odds this season and exorcised quite a few demons along the way to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2021, but can the Sun Devils win without Skattebo, the heart, and soul of this team, if he is, in fact, out for Saturday’s contest?

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