With four games left in the regular season, in order to get a fifth Arizona has to start winning. This week provides a great opportunity, albeit on the road, to snap a 4-game losing streak.
Arizona (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) and UCF (3-5, 1-4) are both in ruts, with the Knights on a 5-game skid after starting 3-0. The home team will be wearing special “Citronaut” uniforms as part of their annual Space Game, meaning the Wildcats can lay claim to the true space-first program.
How will the UA fare in this cross-country matchup? Our staff makes its predictions, and hopefully they’re a little more accurate this time.
Kim Doss — UCF wins 28-24
There’s not a lot to say about Arizona football at this point beyond, “What a disappointment.”
Before the season, I thought this was a game Arizona could lose, not because they weren’t going to be the better team but because of the travel involved and the fact that it was just before the second bye week. At this point, I’m not sure saying the Wildcats are the better team is even accurate.
With the team in a tailspin, it’s tough to go against that preseason prediction now. The Wildcats finally showed some offensive life late in the game against West Virginia but still couldn’t pull off the victory against a reeling Moutaineers team and their second-string quarterback.
The Knights average just 25.6 points in conference play, including putting up 35 and 24 points in their last two games against ranked opponents. Their conference opponents score 35.2 against them.
Arizona has given up 29.2 against conference opponents, including the nonconference game against Kansas State. The Wildcats score just 17.3 points per game against those same six foes.
Arizona may do better than its averages here, but it’s tough to see anything but a fifth straight loss.
Ezra Amacher — UCF wins 28-27
This is the type of game Arizona should (and needs to) win. UCF is on a five-game losing streak and just fired its defensive coordinator earlier in the week. The Knights have given up at least 34 points in four of five conference games. Arizona’s offense showed sparks of life in the late second half against West Virginia, and I expect the Wildcats to have a decent amount of success against UCF. Unfortunately, I don’t trust the beleaguered defense to hold its own over four quarters on the road. UCF has a dual threat quarterback in Jacurri Brown and one of the nation’s most productive running backs in RJ Harvey. Together they’ll give Arizona’s front seven fits. I think the Wildcats will come tantalizing close to a win but fall just short.
Adam Green — UCF wins 31-17
If Arizona could play an entire game like it did the fourth quarter against WVU it would actually be a pretty good team. The question for the Cats now is if that late push was a sign of having fixed issues or, maybe, facing a poor pass defense and playing with nothing to lose.
At any rate, before the season began this seemed like a likely loss for Arizona, and that’s back when we though the Cats would be a good team. Now of course neither Arizona nor UCF can make that claim, as they have identical, underwhelming records.
Can Arizona win this game? Absolutely. But they just lost to a similarly struggling team with its backup QB and missing other key players at home, so to expect them to go on the road and come away with a victory is not logical.
Brandon Combs — UCF wins 38-24
I don’t know if Arizona will be able to handle the UCF Space Game with all the injuries on defense and inconsistent play on offense. UCF isn’t exactly the barn-burner that was expected at the beginning of the season but they are still one of the better running attacks in the nation. RJ Harvey is an absolute stud who averages just under 7 yards per carry and has over 1,000 yards on the season. Arizona’s young defense will have to step up in order to stop them, and I’m not sure they can. That is what will be the difference in this game.
Juan Serrano — UCF wins 49-24
For the second straight game, Arizona will be playing a team for the first time ever. Both teams go into this game on losing streaks, UCF at five and Arizona at four. One of those streaks will be snapped. The Wildcats have struggled to stop the run in almost every game this season, and the Knights specialize in that. The young and short handed defense for Arizona has been asked to step up in a small amount of time. They will more than likely need some “Disney Magic” when they land in Orlando to be successful.
The good thing for Arizona, they found some offense last week. Maybe it was just because they played “backyard” style football, but something finally did click for Noah Fifita and the Wildcats. Tetairoa McMillan also found the end zone for the first time since the season opener. This week, he acknowledged that his body language has not been ideal but says that they are still committed to the season. We will see a lot of fight from the Wildcats, but this is the “Space Game” for UCF. The Knights play a near perfect game for every space game, and they will continue that trend on Saturday.
Devin Homer — UCF wins 38-17
With Arizona and UCF coming into this game on a losing streak, and not performing as they thought they would before the season, one will snap the streak Saturday. I expect UCF’s rushing attack is going to be to much for the banged up UA defense who gave up 203 yards last week to West Virginia.
Arizona’s offense has been ineffective during this losing streak and hasn’t shown enough that it can be corrected right away. Arizona does have the talent to compete in this game and if they can limit the turnovers and keep UCF’s time of possession down they can have a shot at an away win, but it’s doubtful.
Brian J. Pedersen — UCF wins 42-34
UCF changing both play callers reeks of desperation, while Arizona is just trying to survive the remainder of the season without losing anyone else to injury. Last week’s performance against West Virginia could be a preview for the rest of the games, as the offense looked like it turned a corner but may need to score every time since the defense has zero depth and will wear down against the Knights’ run game.
