ORLANDO, Fla. – West Virginia and Central Florida will both seek their first Big 12 Conference win of the season when thay meet Saturday at FBC Mortgage Stadium. The mountaineers and Knights have faced similar challenges early in conference play, with both programs looking to establish momentum as the season progresses.
WVU and UCF have met four times previously, with West Virginia winning all four contests, including two in Orlando. This matchup features contrasting offensive approaches, with UCF showcasing a balanced attack led by running backs Myles Montgomery and Jaden Nixon, and WVU seeking to find consistency on both sides of the ball.
Myles Montgomery currently leads UCF’s rushing attack with 434 yards and three touchdowns on 86 carries. Jaden Nixon provides a big-play element, having rushed for 289 yards and four scores on just 25 attempts, including 156 yards in a win over North Carolina A&T.
Through the air, Duane Thomas Jr. paces the Knights with 272 receiving yards, while DJ Black has 241 receiving yards and half of the team’s four receiving touchdowns.
West Virginia defensive backs coach ShaDon Brown anticipates UCF will attempt to exploit the Mountaineers’ secondary with deep passing plays. “As a whole, they’re going to run the ball to set up the deep play action shot off of it and see if they can take the top off,” Brown said. “You get two or three of them a quarter. No matter what, here comes a deep post and they’re going to throw it to try and see if they can get a 1-on-1 or a [pass interference]. everyone counts that as a win nowadays. That’s something they like to do and I anticipate they will do across the board to make sure you’re doing your job back there and playing with depth.”
Despite the Knights’ balanced offensive output – 595 rushing yards and 595 passing yards in Big 12 play – Brown expects the WVU secondary to be tested frequently.
WVU head coach Neal Brown emphasized the team’s commitment to betterment. “I challenged the staff and the players, but everybody on staff, are we doing everything we can to have success? I think we are as best we can,” Brown said.”Some of it is out of our control.that’s a challenge for all of us. To our players’ credit and the staff’s credit, they’re doing everything they can. Some of it is indeed out of our control, but some of it isn’t. The things that we can control, let’s control the best we can.”
