Arizona State and UCF hope to build on their momentum from victories last week and gain bowl eligibility when they meet Saturday in Orlando, Fla.
Arizona State is coming off a 20-10 home victory over Colorado, while UCF escaped with a 33-32 road victory over Kansas.
The Sun Devils (5-4, 3-3 Big 12) will attempt to win consecutive games for the first time this season.
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham acknowledged in his press conference Monday that the team went through a difficult stretch after returning from its trip to London, where the Sun Devils beat Kansas in the third week of the season.
“I thought we played well in Week 1; Week 2, we were playing good football, and then it was like, boom, in the fourth quarter — go to London, win a football game against a conference opponent,” he said. “Then we got back, and we got into a funk. We lost our identity.”
The Sun Devils also experienced instability at quarterback, with struggling starter Cutter Boley replaced by former UCF quarterback Mikey Keene, who then picked up a right knee injury.
True freshman Jake Fette has started the last two games against BYU and Colorado. He has completed 39 of 69 pass attempts for 411 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Fellow true freshman Cardae Mack has emerged as one of the top running backs in the Big 12 with 603 yards on 102 carries with six touchdowns.
UCF (5-4, 3-3) followed its upset of then-No. 2 BYU 39-31 in double overtime on Oct. 24 by suffering a 41-9 home loss to Baylor the following week.
The Knights then allowed a 19-point lead to slip away at Kansas last week before pulling out the 33-32 win on a touchdown pass from Alonza Barnett III to Caden Piening in the closing seconds.
Barnett took over against Kansas for Keyone Jenkins, who is out indefinitely with an ankle injury. Barnett completed 18 of 31 passes for 251 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against the Jayhawks.
“There’s definitely no time to take a breath now, so we need to double down on effort and intensity,” UCF coach Scott Frost said in his weekly press conference. “I’ll be really disappointed in all of us if we don’t play really hard and well on Saturday.”
–Field Level Media
