MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As West Virginia and Central Florida prepare to battle in each team’s 11th game this season, the Mountaineers and Knights find themselves in a similar situation.
Both teams have struggled to sustain success while battling inconsistent play. The Mountaineers (5-5, 4-3) need a victory against UCF to become bowl eligible or they’ll enter next week’s regular season finale at Texas Tech in win-or-go-home mode.
The Knights (4-6, 2-5) need to defeat West Virginia for the first time in four tries to keep hope alive of playing beyond the regular season. UCF enters Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. matchup at Mountaineer Field off its second bye week this season and if it can notch a fifth victory in Morgantown, the Knights would welcome Utah next week with bowl eligibility at stake.
“You’re not doing the game justice if you don’t take advantage of your opportunities,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “My message to our players is not necessarily on six wins, senior day or any of those things. You should prepare your best [Monday through Friday] to give yourself an opportunity to play your best on Saturday and you should give everything you have every play on Saturday. If we do that, we’ll put ourselves in position to win the game.”
UCF’s first visit to Morgantown since 2003 will be shown nationally on ESPNU.
“We’re focused on this game. We’re not focused on the next game,” Knights’ head coach Gus Malzahn said. “We have to take care of this game. Going to a tough place to play, there’s no doubt about that. A team that’s similar to us and got after us pretty good last year. They have a lot of the same guys with the same staff.”
Behind tailback RJ Harvey, the Big 12’s leading rusher, the Knights have the top rushing offense among all Power Conference teams. Harvey’s 1,328 yards and 19 touchdowns pave the way for an offense averaging 262.8 rushing yards.
Freshman quarterback Dylan Rizk has started the last two games for UCF and been effective doing so, completing 44-of-59 passes for 523 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Rizk had limited action before helping guide UCF to a 56-12 victory at Arizona on November 2. For the season, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound signal-caller has hit on 51-of-70 passes for 625 yards with four TDs.
“He’s a mentally tough person, and he is a confident guy, even though he’s young and hasn’t played a lot,” Malzahn said. “That’s really helped. He has a great spirit about him, too. His teammates want him to do well and they want to play hard for him. That’s a big key to the quarterback position.”
Fifth-year wideout Kobe Hudson has been the team’s top target through the air and leads the way with 38 receptions for 623 yards and three touchdowns.
West Virginia’s well-documented struggles defending the pass will again be tested, though perhaps not to the extent of the Mountaineer run defense.
“When you’re playing defense, it’s almost like putting a puzzle together,” Brown said. “If you have all the pieces putting together and all of a sudden you’re missing two, it doesn’t look exactly right. It may be a critical piece. If you don’t have 11 pieces doing their job and that offense finds the one piece that doesn’t, then it’s an explosive play. That’s happened too many times for us this year.”
UCF has also had difficulty slowing opponents down through the air, though its run defense will come into play often against the Mountaineers.
WVU quarterback Garrett Greene returned to the lineup a week ago in a loss to Baylor and rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns. A year ago in Orlando, Greene rushed for three scores while helping lead the Mountaineers to a 41-28 win.
Tailbacks Jahiem White and CJ Donaldson have 639 and 525 yards, respectively, on the ground, while combining for 12 touchdowns.
Wideout Hudson Clement and tight end Kole Taylor become even more integral pieces of the Mountaineer passing attack after receiver Traylon Ray suffered a season-ending injury against the Bears.
Taylor has a team-high 35 catches for 388 yards and three touchdowns, while Clement’s 454 receiving yards lead the team and have come on 31 receptions with three TDs.
“We take a team approach. We’re going to miss him,” Brown said.
Both teams have undergone significant coaching change over the last month. Following a five-game losing streak and ahead of the win over Arizona, UCF fired now-former defensive coordinator Ted Roof, with Addison Williams taking over that role. Additionally, Malzahn gave up play-calling duties to Tim Harris Jr.
The Mountaineers, meanwhile will play their third game since parting ways with now-former defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley. Jeff Koonz has taken over that role and his unit offered a strong initial impression two weeks ago, scoring a pair of defensive touchdowns in a 31-24 win at Cincinnati.
There was, however, no carryover effect from that performance as the Mountaineers were torched for five first-half touchdowns and allowed a season-high 512 yards a week ago against BU.
Saturday’s game will be Senior Day in Morgantown, bringing an end to what’s been a disappointing 2024 home slate for the Mountaineers. West Virginia is 2-4 at home, 1-4 against FBS competition and has lost three straight home games by a combined 53 points.
In five games against FBS opponents at home, WVU has been outscored, 184-113.
“We try to train our guys and we’ll start training our guys [Tuesday]. It’s a really tough deal,” said Brown, who has advocated for senior day festivities to occur early in the season while more players being honored are healthy. “Think of all the things that are different. You get your name called. We don’t do starting lineups like in basketball. It’s the only time in your career that your family is waiting for you. That’s emotional. It could be emotional if they don’t have some family for travel precautions or whatever.
“And then, there’s a little bit of flashback, because if it happens fast. The days are long, but the years are fast. It’s an emotional time and you have to train yourself to really think about it as you go through the week. It’s something I try to do with our guys. We’ll have several guys that are going to walk. I wouldn’t read too much into if somebody walks that has eligibility left. I don’t filter that. I’m not trying to talk anybody in or out of it.”