In spite of their stunning success in each of the last two seasons, the Central Florida Knights will enter the 2019 college football season still looking for the national respect – and College Football Playoff berth – they feel like they deserve. After losing just one game over the last two seasons combined, let’s find out just how many games UCF will win in 2019 and whether they will challenge the nation’s top programs to be one of four teams with a chance to win the national championship.
Let’s get started.
UCF Knights 2019 Season Win / Loss Total Odds & Betting Prediction
2018 Team Leaders
- Touchdowns: Greg McCrae (11)
- Rushing: Greg McCrae (1182)
- Passing: McKenzie Milton (2663)
- Receiving: Gabriel Davis (815)
- Interceptions: Richie Grant (5)
Why Central Florida Will Top Their Win Total Odds?
There are a bunch of great reasons to back Central Florida to top their 2019 win total odds of 10 victories. First, the Knights return four starters on the offensive line and have some impressive depth at running back with 2018 rushing leader, Greg McCrae and backups, Adrian Killins Jr. and Otis Anderson. UCF also has talent galore at the wide receiver position starting with All-AAC selection Gabriel Davis.
Then, there’s the fact that the Knights have a trio of starters returning in the defensive backfield includingRichie Grant, Nevelle Clarke and Brandon Moore. Grant looks like an NFL prospect after recording a team-leading 109 tackles and six interceptions last season while Clarke and Moore have 38 combined starts between them. UCF also has a standout linebacker in All-AAC first-teamer Nate Evans after he recorded 99 tackles and 10 TFLs. Last but not least,, I love UCF head coach Josh heupel and I believe he’s one of the best offensive minds in all of college football today.
Why Central Florida Won’t Top Their Win Total Odds?
While the Knights are now, perennial double-digit winners, there are also a handful of great reasons to pick UCF to come up just short of topping their win total figure in 2019. First, the Knights will be without star quarterback McKenzie Milton who will be sidelined for the entire 2019 season after suffering a gruesome leg injury late last season. While the Knights do have a pair of talented dual-threat signal-callers in Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush and sophomore Darriel Mack Jr., it remains to be seen just how well either will perform in place of Milton.
Mack Jr. started the final two games of 2018 and showed some huge upside with his MVP performance of 348 yards passing and six combined touchdowns in the conference championship game against South Florida while playing some decent, but not great, football against LSU in their 40-32 bowl games loss to the Tigers. Wimbush went 13–3 as the starter at Notre Dame before being replaced by current starter Ian Book. There are question marks along the defensive line with Brendon Hayes the only returnee with any real experience. There are also some question marks at linebacker, although, again, the secondary looks rock-solid.
Prediction
I’m going to get right to the point by saying that I’m fully expecting UCF to lose two games in 2019 to finish with a regular season mark of 0-2. Road dates at Pittsburgh and Cincinnati look challenging and the Knights have a couple of super difficult home games against Stanford.
UCF’s Week 3 home date against Stanford and ensuing road dates agt conference rival Cincinnati and temple also look daunting to say the least. After going 13-0 in Scott Frost’s final season in 2017 and backing that up with a fine 11-2 mark in Heupel’s first season a year ago, UCF looks like a team set to take a slight step backwards in 2019.
Pick: 10 Wins
