Miami vs. UCF: Head to head offensive matchups

Bright House Stadium will host the UCF-Miami matchup

With only nine days until the big battle against Miami at Bright House Networks Stadium, there's a lot of debate in the Central Florida community over just how the game will turn out. While many fear that Miami's Jacory Harris and Co. will completely blow over the Knights, others believe that UCF's corps will be able to squeeze one out, citing their proven 2009 home game track record.

In order to put some concrete evidence on the debate, I have decided this week to take a look at both UCF and Miami's key team components, compare them, and shed a little insight into what kind of matchups within a matchup we're dealing with. Today's installment covers the star members of UCF and Miami's offense, while this weekend we will cover both teams' defensive squads.

Quarterbacks:  Brett Hodges (UCF) vs. Jacory Harris (Miami) (WINNER)

No. 11 Brett Hodges has posted six touchdowns, 908 yards, and a 128.86 pass rating this year so far. The senior transfer from Wake Forest is projected to net a total of 2179 yards and fourteen touchdowns in the entire 2009 season. His career stats sit at 1,310 yards and seven touchdowns; granted, this is his first year as a starting college quarterback. While he only arguably has more football experience than Jacory Harris, the Miami quarterback's stats say it all.

While sharing time in 2008, Harris was fantastic, and after being named the starting quarterback for the 2009 season, the seasoned sophomore is one of this year's Heisman hopefuls.

So far this year, Harris has recorded eight touchdowns, 1,008 yards, and a 151.85 pass rating, and has proven that he can bounce back from sound defeat after being beat by Virginia Tech in Week 3, 31-7. He is projected to nearly triple his yardage and double his touchdowns from last year.

Running Backs: Brynn Harvey (UCF) (WINNER) vs. Graig Cooper and Javarris James (Miami)

While Cooper and James are a fire and water-type team on the field, UCF's Brynn Harvey is as potent as the two Miami running backs combined. Harvey has rushed 536 yards this year with six touchdowns. In last week's game against C-USA rival Memphis, Harvey carried the ball 42 times for 219 yards and one touchdown.

 Brynn doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon in the 2009 season, and much to Knights fans' excitement, he's only a sophomore. He's expected to run for 1,286 yards and fourteen touchdowns this year.

Javarris James has 293 yards and three touchdowns this year. He's expected to run 879 yards in 2009 with nine touchdowns. This is not to discount James' amazing athletic ability, however. With just 13 more yards, Javarris will surpass Frank Gore as the seventh-best all-time rusher in University of Miami history, and only the seventh player in school history to have 2000 career rushing yards.

Graig Cooper has quietly but solidly helped the Hurricanes to their three victories this year, with 200 yards and one touchdown. He will most likely net 600 yards and six touchdowns this year, however, for the game against Florida  A&M on October 10 Cooper is questionable  with a “lower extremity” injury.

Wide Receivers: UCF's WR Corps (WINNER) vs. Miami's WR Crew
 
UCF's Rocky Ross, Kamar Aiken, A.J. Guyton, and Jamar Newsome have a combined 742 yards, 58 receptions, and five touchdowns, a solid effort for the foursome. Each receiver is projected to net between 300 and 500 yards this year, making up a large percentage of the Knights' total yardage. Rocky Ross, in his senior year this year, is a particular fan favorite, with Aiken, Guyton, and Newsome making names for themselves among UCF fans and Conference USA.

Miami's wide receivers Travis Benjamin, Leonard Hankerson, LaRon Byrd, and Dedrick Epps have 692 yards, 40 receptions, and five touchdowns this year, showing similar stats to UCF. What Miami exhibits, though, is that they are able to create more touchdowns out of less yards and receptions, basically, they are making every down count. Although UCF's wide receiving team deserves the blue ribbon in this matchup, the Hurricanes aren't far behind.

VERDICT: UCF 2, Miami 1

Both teams are highly talented, and the key to the Knights winning against the Hurricanes on Saturday, October 12 lies in Hodges' ability to keep his cool in the pocket (a la Memphis), and in the ability for the team as a whole to make the most out of every yard and every down.

 Miami hasn't been home to Orlando since 1936, and the media's coverage of the game is already saturating central Florida's television and newspaper outlets, but it lies in the team's best interest to get in the zone and ignore the hype.