Three Thoughts on UCF’s 30-17 Loss to Georgia Tech in the Gasparilla Bowl
The regular season is in the books and now it is time for bowl season. Nine Big 12 teams will be playing over the next two weeks and UCF is next up on the bowl list. The Knights finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and played Georgia Tech in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. It was a fun evening in Tampa Bay as UCF was looking to go 6-0 at Raymond James Stadium since 2018. Here are my three thoughts on UCF’s 30-17 loss to Georgia Tech on Friday night.
RJ Harvey and Javon Baker Put on a Show Despite Offensive Struggles
In big games, you always need your star players to show up and UCF got that on offense as RJ Harvey and Javon Baker dominated this game. Harvey finished third in the Big 12 with 1,296 rushing yards and he finished the bowl game with 120 yards and averaged eight yards per carry. Meanwhile, Javon Baker had a highlight reel type of game as he caught nine passes for 173 yards and a score. It was great to see both guys play well, and I am happy to see that both of them will be back next season for UCF. However, this offense wasn’t particularly good against Georgia Tech. After scoring on their first two drives, they never found the end zone again in their final nine drives of the game. Yikes.
UCF’s Run Defense Was Bad
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone considering the fact that UCF has the worst rushing defense in the Big 12 this season. The Knights were giving up 187 yards per game on the ground and were just one of two Big 12 schools to give up over 2,200 rushing yards this season. Those struggles continued on Friday night as Georgia Tech racked up a whopping 284 yards on the ground in this game. UCF’s defense had no answer for Georgia Tech’s rushing attack as quarterback Haynes King ran for 128 yards and averaged over seven yards per carry. When you can’t stop the run, things typically aren’t going to end well and that is exactly what happened with UCF’s defense.
What’s Next for UCF?
Before we start talking about next year, I would like to take a moment to appreciate this 2023 UCF team. It’s not easy to make the transition from a group of five conference to a power five conference and the Knights were able to do it in year one quite well. While they would have liked to win a few more games, getting to a bowl game was a big deal in my eyes. They were competitive all season long and even blew the doors off Oklahoma State who ended up playing in the Big 12 championship game. If not for an injury to John Rhys Plumlee earlier in the season, maybe UCF would have ended up winning eight or even nine games this year.
While I did enjoy watching this 2023 team, I am extremely excited to see what the future holds for UCF in 2024. Running back RJ Harvey is coming back and so is first team All-Big 12 wide receiver Javon Baker. Plus, they brought in the second-best recruiting class in the conference. If UCF can figure out the quarterback position next season, then the Knights could be a contender in the Big 12 in 2024.
