The 3-3 (0-3 Big 12) UCF Knights begin the second half of the season back at home against the 2-4 (0-3 Big 12) West Virginia Mountaineers for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET and the game will
be televised on TNT. Someone is coming out of here with their first Big 12 win of the season.
Let’s learn about the Mountaineers:
Gameday Info
- Kickoff: Saturday, October 18th, 1 p.m. ET
- Location: Acrisure Bounce House
- TV: TNT
- Spread: UCF -7.5 (ESPN)
- Weather Forecast: 80°, sunny
Injury Report
Series
Leader: West Virginia leads 4-0
Last Meeting: Last year — West Virginia 31, UCF 21
The Mountaineers sealed UCF’s first bowl-less season since 2015 in Morgantown:
Last season’s game was the closest of the four between these two schools. The Mountaineers have scored at least 31 points in all four matchups. UCF has scored 21 or more only once.
About the Mountaineers
Record: 2-4, 0-3 in the Big 12
Last Week: Bye Week. Lost at #23 BYU in their last game on October 4th, 38-24
WVU is coming off a bye week following their loss to BYU in Provo, and it’s not a moment too soon because they’ve surrendered 41, 48 and 38 points in their first three Big 12 games, all losses after their 2-1 start.
They lost starting QB Nicco Marchiol to a foot injury and will likely never get him back, as he is reportedly expected to enter the transfer portal.
Head Coach: Rich Rodriguez
It’s a matchup of two head coaches in their second stints with schools where they had their best success.
Rodriguez is in his first year back at his alma mater, where he went 60-26 from 2001 to 2007 with four conference titles, including a 32-5 clip in his last three seasons there, where he established his penchant for a highly explosive offense. He then went to Michigan, where things did not go so well, and then Arizona, where they went a little better but not as good as WVU.
Five years and two assistant jobs later, he went to Jacksonville State, where he won nine games in each of his three seasons and shepherded the Gamecocks through a highly successful transition from FCS to FBS.
West Virginia Offense
Key Player: QB Khalil Wilkins
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- 6-2, 200 lb. Redshirt Freshman from Upper Marlboro, Maryland
- 2025: 10/21, 144 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 195 rushing yards and 1 TD
Wilkins was a three-star recruit out of the DMV area with serious dual-threat ability, and is actually the team’s leading rusher. With Nicco Marchiol out likely for the season, Wilkins is now out there to show if he can be Rodriguez’s newer version of Pat White.
In his first start against BYU two weeks ago, Wilkins completed only 7/15 for 81 yards and two picks, while rushing for a team-high 89 yards on 23 carries with a TD.
Other Guys to Watch
- #20 RB Diore Hubbard — 30 rush/109 yards/2 TDs, WVU’s RB who isn’t listed as out this week
- #4 WR Cam Vaughn — 19 catches, 320 yards, 3 TD, 16.8 ypc
West Virginia Defense
Key Player: S Fred Perry
- 5-11, 206 Senior from Vienna, Georgia
- 2025: 43 tackles, one sack, two passes defensed, two forced fumbles and a recovery
Perry is a 5-11 senior who followed RichRod to West Virginia from Jacksonville State. The fact that he, a safety, leads WVU in tackles is an indication of the Mountaineers’ struggle on defense this season. They are near the bottom of every significant category except one — turnovers. So UCF will have to take care of the ball.
Other Guys to Watch
- #30 LB Chase Wilson — 30 tackles, three sacks, two INTs
- #24 S Darian Lewis — 34 tackles, two INTs
The More You Know…
- UCF hasn’t won a game in the month of October since October 29, 2022, against Cincinnati.
- WVU was the last team to score five rushing TDs in a game against UCF, doing so in 2023, these teams’ first-ever matchup as conference foes.
- UCF is 0-2 against Rich Rodriguez. Both games were with West Virginia, in the 2003 and 2004.
- This is UCF’s first-ever appearance on TNT.
- West Virginia has won more all-time games than any program in the Big 12 at 1,371 (.594 win percentage). UCF is last at 351 (.578 win percentage).
- The late UCF OL coach Shawn Clark was a West Virginia native, hailing from Charleston.
