This Saturday, as many UCF Knight fans have likely heard, ESPN’s College Gameday is rolling their bus into Orlando to set up shop next to the campus’s Memory Mall. Tickets were sold out this past Monday and the game is scheduled for an 8:00 pm primetime kick-off to be nationally televised on ABC.

As UCF’s future is concerned, this game is bigger than a rivalry game against USF, bigger than a game to achieve a win to assure bowl eligibility, bigger than a conference championship and bigger than a bowl game. Not only for everything that it could bring to the program, but for what it can take away as well.

While missing the CFP final four is all but assured on the national stage in 2018, this statement game could help UCF’s 39-year old program take the next step in achieving college football prominence. Should UCF shine and prove themselves worthy with a convincing win on what could be the biggest stage in the school’s history, it could lend them the public relations prowess to expand in ways to attract big programs to play on and strengthen their much-maligned schedule.

But victory is not a forgone conclusion. The Cincinnati Bearcats as fellow members of the American Athletic Conference’s East division have the sixth best defense in yards allowed per game. That all starts with an intense defensive line that has recorded 66 tackles for a loss. The standout player in that front is defensive tackle Cortez Broughten who as thrown down 17.5 tackles for a loss at this point in the season with 6.5 sacks. He is also tied for fourth highest on his squad in tackles.

Offensively, Cincy’s running attack goes through Michael Warren II who has 1,082 yards on 206 carries so far this year turning in 5.3 yards per carry. This makes them uniquely built to challenge the Knights.

UCF’s offense runs at a quick tempo through quarter back, McKenzie Milton. The key to stopping it is keeping the defense on the field while chewing up clock, then stopping Milton and company on the limited attempts in the contest that they do have the ball. This puts a lid on the Knights ability to put points on the board while also battering the defense into submission to control the field and the ability to light the scoreboard.

Should the Bearcats control the flow of the game as prescribed, that puts miles of pressure on every snap that Milton and the offense will take. After all, should UCF lose, they would have essentially proven the pundits of college sports right — fair or not. The talking heads that have answered a clear “no” are then justified as to whether or not this program in the middle of a 22-game win streak should also be in the CFP discussion.

When asked about the prospect of handling that magnitude of pressure, the Knights man under center subtly let his confidence in himself and his team shine.

“Pressure’s what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing.” -KZ The real work is being put in right now for Saturday ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/in6ZShmvYx — UCF Football (@UCF_Football) November 13, 2018

“Pressure is what you feel when you don’t know what you’re are doing”, Milton said. “We have confidence in what we are doing. We have confidence in the work we put in throughout the week. By the time Saturday comes, the game should have already been played out Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday when we put the work in”.

An appropriate response from player that Gameday analyst, Kirk Herbstreit says “seems to have an answer for everything” when he is on the field.

If UCF comes out on top, they will have clinched themselves as hosts of the AAC Championship game for the second consecutive year.

Kyle Nash, known as The Student of the Game, covers UCF Football for SportsMediaPass.com and is a special contributor for Break the Fourth. He’s a also a writer for the DolphinsWire of USA Today and co-host of the DinnerTime and Default Assault podcasts.