UCF Maintains BCS Bowl Hopes; Host Rutgers Thursday Night In Primetime

The dream of a BCS Bowl berth remains alive for the Central Florida Golden Knights following their dramatic victory over Temple. Now, the Knights must focus for a short week or preparation as they take the field Thursday night against Rutgers. This one will kick off from Orlando at 7:30 pm ET.

It seems as if every successful team will have the one game where they have to dig deep to get through. And if they do, it separates them from others in the past that were not up to the challenge. If records alone decided last week’s game for the Golden Knights, it would have been a blowout. But one-win Temple gave UCF all it could handle. A fourth quarter comeback brought the Golden Knights back from a touchdown deficit to win by a field goal as time expired, preserving a chance to get the automatic invite to a BCS bowl from the AAC.

Make no mistake though; there is still a long way to go. UCF has three remaining conference games. Rutgers is coming off of a blowout loss to Cincinnati and now finds themselves in the role of spoiler. The Scarlet Knights have three conference losses but get the chance put a dent in the journey for the Golden Knights.

Rutgers has lost three of its last four games, and fallen to 94th in defensive scoring surrendering 31.4 points per game.

This one really boils down to how UCF comes in and deals with the pressure of what’s at stake. There isn’t much room for error with Cincinnati and Louisville right behind them in the conference standings, though the Golden Knights beat the Cardinals earlier this season on the road.

All of a sudden it looks like the second-best team in Florida hails from Orlando, with teams in Gainesville and Miami struggling. That team in Tallahassee looks pretty good though.