After starting the bowl season off with a 56-28 rout by Appalachian State over North Texas, Tuesday promises to offer some closer contests. Nevada will battle Tulane, and then, BYU and UCF will kick off in the Boca Raton Bowl. It should be a hard fought showdown between two teams that are considered to be "Group of Five" teams, but have had a recent history of top 15 rankings and wins over power five opponents.
Date: December 22
Time: 5:00 pm CT
TV: ESPN
Place: Boca Raton, Florida
Passing is UCF's key to attack: The Knights come into the game averaging 373 yards per game through the air, good enough for the second-most in the FBS this season. It starts with quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has 30 passing touchdowns and just four interceptions, while also adding two scores on the ground. Round Rock native Ryan O'Keefe is also part of the fast-paced offense, with three touchdowns as a freshman wide receiver this season.
High-scoring Cougars: Led by quarterback Zach Wilson, BYU has a high-scoring offense that nearly earned the Cougars a win at No. 12 Costal Carolina two weeks ago. In fact, BYU has never scored less than 27 points this season and ranks 12th in the country in passing offense.
An offensive shootout?: These two teams have played twice before, most recently in 2014 when a then-top 10 UCF team earned a 31-24 victory over the Cougars. Today's game is certainly expected to be as close as that one was. But the question is, who will come out on top? As mentioned above, both offenses are efficient and strong, likely meaning we will witness an offensive shootout in Boca Raton.
Prediction: BYU takes an early lead behind Zach Wilson, but UCF comes out in the second half strong to earn a narrow 24-20 victory.
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