UCF Knights face Louisville's No. 1 defense

It’s been 28 years since the UCF Knights faced Louisville on the gridiron. Back then the Knights were NCAA Division II facing their first FBS opponent in program history. It wasn’t pretty: a 42-21 loss for the Knights. They haven’t faced the Cardinals since.

That changes Friday night when the Knights travel to Kentucky to try to erase a 7-10 deficit against teams from the Bluegrass State. That’ll be a tall order for the Knights, who are facing one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA this season. The No. 8/6 Cardinals have scored 41 points per game this season, with an average point differential of more than 30.

And in the Cardinals, the Knights face one of the most potent defenses seen in NCAA football in years, allowing only 7.3 points per game in their 6-0 winning streak to start the season. Already bowl eligible with their six wins, the Cardinals have nailed teams for 23 sacks in 2013 — nearly four per game.

Against the tough defense of No. 11 South Carolina on Sept. 28 the Knights only allowed two sacks. But they allowed the Gamecocks into the pocket enough to startle quarterback Blake Bortles into throwing two crucial interceptions, one of which was in the red zone.

Both teams’ defenses are expected to be big factors in the game, with oddsmakers already talking up UCF’s potential strategy of slowing the game and trying to hold back Louisville’s prolific pass offense.

That’ll be a tough offense to stop, with Louisville’s junior quarterback Teddy Bridgewater throwing for an average of nearly 300 yards per game while completing 71 percent of his pass attempts to a wide variety of receivers. Six of his receivers have 14 catches or more in the season, giving him plenty of room on the field to throw.

It’s that variety that could test UCF’s secondary defense, which is young and has struggled in giving up crucial big plays so far, both on the ground and with the long ball. They’ve also had trouble seeking out short pass receivers to stop first downs, picked apart by South Carolina in a second half bamboozling that put up 28 unanswered points.

In that game the Knights’ defense had little trouble forcing third downs. They did have trouble stopping conversions, allowing 60 percent of third and fourth down conversions against South Carolina, and that could be an issue against the Cardinals, who have the best conversion rate in NCAA football at 63.6 percent.

But the Knights haven’t been slouches in offense either, with quarterback Blake Bortles leading the way with 270 yards passing per game, though he’s been less mobile this season than last to make good plays out of bad ones. The vast majority of his rushing attempts this season have turned into sacks or losses.

But Bortles has had help from receivers Breshad Perriman and Rannell Hall, who have combined for five 100-yard receiving games, both of them nearing or eclipsing their 2012 numbers already. Against big opponents, the Knights have a tendency to rack up yards. Both of those receivers snagged 100-yard-plus games against South Carolina, while Bortles threw for a career-long 358 yards in the game. And running back Storm Johnson shores up the run game with 455 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns so far.

With an ability to rise up against tough opponents, the Knights have shined in the national spotlight. But in their last game against unranked conference rival Memphis, they were stunned until an unusual set of scores put them on top in an unorthodox win.

Losing that game for most of the first three quarters, the Knights only tied it back up with two minutes left, then watched their special teams squad force a kickoff fumble and return it for a touchdown to put the Knights on a 14-point swing in 9 seconds. After the next kickoff, a wild halfback pass turned into a Knights interception to end the game.

Turnovers have been a massive contributor to UCF’s wins of late, with three interceptions against Memphis, and a total of seven recovered fumbles of nine forced so far this season. Meanwhile they’ve only lost one fumble of seven they’ve dropped.

The game will be live nationwide on ESPN at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, from Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.