Let’s all be reasonable here. There is no way that the UCF Knights final regular season game against the USF Bulls at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium will draw as much national notoriety as the Knights’ victory last week over the Cincinnati Bearcats. ESPN’s College Gameday won’t be there and the American Athletic Conference’s East division isn’t on the line. But this game is still plenty big for both programs.

While either team has nothing to play for in terms of AAC standings, the Knights need for a win is simple — continue the streak to 24 in front of a large sold-out crowd on national television to bring more national love to the program. Meanwhile, the four-loss Bulls are still campaigning for an invitation to a bowl game. With seven wins under their belt thus far, they are bowl-eligible and looking to repeat last year’s postseason success beating Texas Tech in the Birmingham Bowl.

While South Florida has faced their woes defensively on the year, they have gotten excellent output from their quarterback, Blake Barnett. When Quinton Flowers was drafted last year, he left a huge gap to fill in USF’s offense. Barnett has done nicely replacing throwing for nearly 250 yards per game putting him third in the AAC overall. The prospect of a third-ranked passer in the conference facing off against the American’s top man in passing yards per game, UCF’s McKenzie Milton, should make for an entertaining shootout.

With 12 weeks in the books, here are the #AmericanFB passing leaders heading into Week 13 action. pic.twitter.com/CjUS0PGve1 — American Football (@American_FB) November 20, 2018

As the season closes out, it has become more and more important for UCF to go “1-0” on Friday. Should the team fail to live up to head coach Josh Heupel’s mantra, they will find themselves letting the wind out of the of their campaign for CFP consideration. Not just for 2018 (which likely won’t happen anyway), but for the next season as well.

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.