St. Petersburg Bowl 2009

St. Petersburg Bowl

UCF vs. Rutgers

This might be a nice game to watch, if you have been following the Big East and Conference USA, a pretty nice matchup of two good schools and two good coaches.

I really like what UCF has done since they have come into the big leagues. Granted they are not one of the BCS conferences, but when you have a school in Florida, you have an excellent chance to get strong recruits. But I also like the way Rutgers has turned things around, I found myself really enjoying this team when I had a chance to see them. So I am split on who I want to win, but I have to defer to my stats as who SHOULD win.

Now I am sure few will argue which is the stronger conference, the Big East is better than Conference USA. This is NOT to say that CUSA is a half a step off the 4A high school conferences, because we have seen some good teams this year out of this non bcs conference.

But we still have to credit Rutgers for surviving in a tough league, right? Let’s see:

Central Florida comes into this game with an 8-4 record, which seems pretty strong. But such a record should have them as one of the top 25 in the nation, right? Their four losses were to Southern Miss, East Carolina, Miami and Texas… consider for a sec that three of those 4 losses were away….hmmm.

Consider also that all four of these teams are winning teams. So you have to ask, did Central Florida beat any quality teams? Marshall ends up with a 6-6 record, but Houston was a big win for Central Florida. It was a home game though, which makes one raise their eyebrows on the true strength of UCF. To be great, you have to win big games on the road. Three of their four losses were on the road, granted to some good teams, but beating Houston at home was in their favor. Still this is a quality team, I cannot take too much away from that.

Rutgers comes in with an identical 8-4 record, with a few raised eyebrows too. Three of their losses were AT home…ugh. And playing FIU, Howard AND Texas Southern is highly questionable. Come on guys, you are a BCS conference, man up!

Beating Maryland isn’t saying too much, but beating UCONN and West Virginia does mean something, especially since West Virginia was ranked when Rutgers beat them. Still, these two teams ended up 7-5, barely above average.

So you wonder, who is better? Both teams lost several games to high quality teams, but Rutgers seems to freeze up when they play at home in a big game. They are 4-1 away from home, although that lone loss on the road was to Syracuse…how close is that to Rutgers…

But Central Florida will be playing in their home state, which evens out the game a bit. But if you ask me who had the tougher schedule, I might say Rutgers, by the slightest of margins. Central Florida fed a lot on the bottom of CUSA, and has very few quality wins. Rutgers has tasted some hot success, and the trip will do them good. I think Rutgers wins this one, but very close…

Very close.