The UCF Knights have been on a fantastic run – no question. Since I began covering them in 2017, they have amassed 16 straight games won, a Chic-Fil-A Peach Bowl victory over the Auburn Tigers, and an NCAA National Championship by way of the Colley Matrix. Despite a coaching change bringing in the Josh Heupel era, the success keeps coming after four weeks into the college football season.

In 2018, UCF is the only team in the American Athletic Conference who is nationally ranked in the Top 25 as they currently sit ranked 13th in the AP poll. Their record is 3-0 and while their next opponent, the Pittsburgh Panthers are at 2-2. Fresh off of an upset to the hapless North Carolina Tarheels in a conference contest, Pitt finds themselves a 15-point underdog heading on the road to Spectrum Stadium Saturday at 3:30pm EST.

That’s not to say victory is assured for the Knights on their quest to move the streak to 17. The Panthers are a team that averages 212 yards per game on the ground. Coach Heupel and players alike have called them the thickest front they’ve faced in the trenches on both sides on the ball.

“We’re going to be ready to play no matter who we’re playing.” – Coubs More from Coach and the guys at today’s presser 👇 pic.twitter.com/ooEZPGoXgV — UCF Football (@UCF_Football) September 24, 2018

“Thick. Strong. Physical.” was how Heupel described the Pittsburgh. He continued on to say, “Extremely big . . . the biggest defensive front we’ve seen so far. On the back end, [Pitt] is good at contesting. Safeties play lower to the box. They’ll load it up and make it difficult to run the football”.

The main weapon on the offense is running back Qadree Ollison. At 6’2” and 225 pounds, Ollison so far averages 6.2 yards per carry with 4 touchdowns. If he can rise to that rate on his touches against UCF’s speed-based squad, Pitt could find themselves controlling the pace of the game. This would keep quarterback McKenzie Milton and his offense on the sideline demanding perfection in performance. Fewer times on the field means a quarter with a lull in scoring has far greater impact.

Defensive lineman A.J. Wooten was confident that the Knights defense will rise to the task of slowing Ollison and that offense’s attack. “[The Pitt O-line] is all 300+ and that can be a problem when it comes to doubling teaming and stuff like that, but if we run our keys and watch splits and see tips before plays that happen that can helps us, then we should be fine”.

Wooten and the Knights defense should be licking their jobs as Pittsburgh averages nearly two turnovers per game. If UCF can take advantage of that, it would dent effort to control time of possession for the #UCFaster offense. Fans of the Black and Gold would like that as failing to get the 17th straight win against the Panthers would be the pits.

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.