Saturday morning College Football and we will see the Central Florida Knights take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in Dublin, Ireland. The game has a start time of 8:30 am (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas odds have UCF listed as 2 point favorites, while the total is set at 45.5.
Analysis: What a magical season the Central Florida Knights had last year as they went 12-1 overall and ended their season with a 52-42 Fiesta Bowl win over Baylor. This year the Knights have a bit of rebuilding to de, especially on offense, but they will still be a factor in the AAC this year. Blake Bortles is gone and Justin Holman will take over after throwing just 14 passes last year. The good news for Holman is that he has their top 3 WR’s back from last year, including Rannell Hall and Breshard Perriman, who combined for 1697 yards and 9 TD’s last year. 1000 yard back Storm Johnson is gone, but William Stanback did have 443 yards and 6 TDs last year, so he should do fine, even though he will running behind a mediocre offensive line. Last year this team allowed just 21.3 ppg and they have 9 starters back this year. LB Terrance Plummer (110 tackles, 6 TFL, 2.5 sacks and 6 PBU’s) and Clayton Geathers (4.5 TFL, 10 PBUs and 2 INTs) lead this defense. The DL will be solid, but is a bit thin, while the LB corps is a strength and the secondary is rated 8th best in the nation.
The Penn State Nittany Lions went 15-9 in the two years under Bill O’Brien, but after promising to stick around, he has now bolted off to the NFL. In steps Ex-Vanderbilt coach James Franklin and while the starting roster looks fine, the NCAA sanctions have really taken away their depth. The Lions put up 28.7 ppg last year but may have a hard time topping that this year, with just 5 starters back. QB Christian Hackenburg is back after throwing for 2955 yards with 20 TDs and 10 INTs last year. He loses his 1400 yard receiver and no one is back with more than 333 yards receiving. The running game looks solid with Zack Zwinak and Bill Belton back after combining for 1792 yards and 17 TDs last year. The problem for this offense is the line, where sanctions have really zapped their depth. The DL looks to be very solid with 2 starters back, including CJ Olaniyan, who had 5 sacks and 6 more TFL last year. The LB corps looks very good, with both Nyeem Wartman and Mike Hull back, but there are some issues in the secondary as they really don’t have anyone decent outside of Jordan Lucas.
Pick: Very hard to see this game as a high scoring one. The Knights have lost a lot of offense from last years team, but on defense they are very stout especially in the secondary, where they are rated 8 th best in the nation. The defense is how the Knights will have to win games this year until their offense catches up. The Nittany Lions have QB Hackenburg back and a very good running game but they are lean on talent at WR and their OL has very little depth. The defense for the Lions looks very solid, especially in their front 7. Both teams are a long way away from home in this one and that could also lead to sluggish play. I look for a game in the 30’s here.
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College Football Free Picks: Central Florida vs Penn State
What college football bettors need to know about betting Central Florida vs Penn State on Saturday (8/30/14) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Scott Spreitzer with added insight from Steve Fezzik.