St. Petersburg Bowl Betting

Central Florida Knights (8-4) vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-4)
Opening Line: UCF +2.5 / Rutgers -2.5 O/U 44.5
Time: 8 PM EST Saturday December 19, 2009 on ESPN

In what may be a defensive battle in the St. Petersburg Bowl the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers face the Knights of Central Florida. Both teams are solid on, but neither team features an offense that ranks in the top 80 in the nation. The Knights won their last 3 games of the season, including beating 15th ranked Houston, while the Scarlet Knights lost 2 of their last 3 games including losing to West Virginia in the season finale.

This season Central Florida was 9-2 ATS and Rutgers was 5-5 ATS

Rutgers ranks 99th in the nation on offense and they are led by QB Tom Savage (1,917 yds 12 TD 6 INT). Savage is decent and his main target is WR Tim Brown (51 rec 1,051 yds 8 TD), who averaged over 20 yards per reception during the regular season. RB Joe Martinek (923 yds 9 TD) leads a decent Rutgers' rushing offense, but he will be facing a UCF defense, which ranks 46th in the nation, but is much better at defending the run. UCF has a Jekyll and Hyde defense, as their run defense is stellar ranking 4th in the nation, but their pass defense is weak, which is an understatement, ranking 112th in the nation. The UCF D has to get to Savage and pressure him all game and not give him time in the pocket, as if they do he may shred their secondary.

UCF ranks 84th in the nation on offense and they are decent at both running the ball and airing it out. QB Brett Hodges (2,263 yds 15 TD 11 INT) leads the passing offense and his main target is WR Kamar Aiken, who had 7 TD's this season and averaged 17 yards per reception. The rushing offense is carried by Brynn Harvey (1,077 yds 14 TD), who did have a good season, but only averaged 4.3 yards per carry. The strength Rutgers, to say the least, is their defense, which ranks 19th in the nation and is strong against the pass and the run.

Since this game is in the Sunshine State UCF will have a bit of a home field advantage, but Rutgers was 4-1 in away games this season.

Central Florida is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games and the total has gone Over in 4 of their last 6 games. Rutgers is 4-2 ATS in their last 6 games.