5 Things to Know: UCF vs. Tulane5 Things to Know: UCF vs. Tulane

5 Things to Know: UCF vs. Tulane

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The last time UCF played in the Bounce House, the Knights came in unbeaten, riding high, ranked 11th nationally with a 21-game homefield win streak.
 
The scene has changed a bit heading into home game number two, presented by Orlando Health.
 
This time the Knights (2-2 overall, 1-2 American Athletic Conference games) are intent on ending a two-game losing streak, their first since dropping their last three games in 2016, and starting a brand new homefield skein.
 
Tulane (2-3, 0-3) has never won in Orlando—with the Knights prevailing in previous Green Wave visits in 2009, 2014 and 2016. Tulane series wins have come in 2006 and 2015, both games played in New Orleans.
 
With that as a backdrop, here's what to watch Saturday afternoon (2 p.m. ET on ESPN2) when the Knights play the first of three home games in a four-game stretch:
 

  1. Maybe Tulane is overdue. The Green Wave has dropped eight of its last nine conference games, but few of those have been one-sided. Four of those eight were three-point defeats—and three times the winning points came on the last play of the game. Plus, those eight came against Navy and SMU (twice each), Memphis, UCF, Temple and Houston, with a composite league mark of 38-9 between them (and five of those eight were played away from New Orleans).
     
  2. What happens on third down? UCF has been especially strong on third down, currently ranking 18th nationally (amazingly there are five AAC teams with even better percentages, led by Temple at .567) at .476. So far in 2020, the Knights have produced 10 third-down conversions against Georgia Tech, eight at ECU, seven vs. Tulsa, five at Memphis (add five combined fourth-down converts). Meanwhile, Tulane in its most recent outing allowed SMU to convert 10 times (of 18 attempts) on third down on plays that combined for 251 yards and continued drives that turned into two TDs and two field goals.
     
  3. Green Wave does it differently. While the AAC has a reputation as a pass-happy league (maybe rightly so with eight of 11 league members currently averaging at least 218 aerial yards per game), Tulane does it a different way. The Green Wave leads the AAC and ranks 10th nationally in rushing at 232 yards per game (the UCF rush defense allows 213.3 each game so far in 2020). Tulane has two of the top-rated rushers in the conference in senior Stephon Huderson (309 yards, including 132 vs. #17 SMU) and redshirt sophomore Cameron Carroll (297 yards). The Green Wave also is staunch against the run, ranking second in the league while giving up 127.6 ground yards per game.   
     
  4. Can anybody slow the UCF offense? Knight fans in recent years have been used to glossy offensive numbers and rankings from their football teams. But, as UCF approaches the halfway mark of its nine-game 2020 regular season, the Knights have been even better than usual in those categories. UCF leads the country in total offense (at 636.3 yards per game, almost a hundred yards more than the all-time UCF season high of 540.5 set in 2019). The Knights also lead the nation in passing (439 per game, also almost a hundred yards more than the UCF record of 342.8 set in 1998). UCF is scoring at a 43.8-point-per-game clip (fifth nationally). The UCF record is 48.2 from 2017.

    Can Tulane do something to stem that tide? The Green Wave ranks 50th in total defense (432.4), 65th in passing yards allowed (304.8) and 51st in scoring defense (32.2).
     
  5. Knights equal road warriors. UCF is one of only three teams in the country to play and win its first two games of 2020 on the road (at Georgia Tech and at ECU). The others to do that were SMU and Louisiana-Lafayette. If the Knights had prevailed at Memphis last weekend, UCF would have joined SMU as the only programs to post three road victories so far in 2020.