kickoff set for 8 p.m.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA – UCF will host Utah in its season finale Friday at 8 p.m. from FBC Mortgage Stadium. Trent Rush (play-by-play) and Robert Smith (analyst) will have the call on FOX.

The game marks the first meeting between the programs, as UCF completes its slate of games against each of the Big 12 newcomers this season – the only team in the league to play all four.

UCF is looking for its 300th win in program history against Utah, as the Knights look to close out the season with a victory and earn three conference wins for a second consecutive season.

In UCF’s last outing, the Black and Gold couldn’t overcome a slow start at West Virginia and fell 31-21. The Knights outgained the Mountaineers, but WVU’s 37:50 to 22:10 edge in the time of possession proved to be the difference.

Friday’s game features UCF’s high-powered offense against Utah’s stout defense. The Knights rank among the top five of the conference in total offense (first), rushing offense (first), and scoring offense (fifth), while the Utes are top five in total defense (third), scoring defense (third), fourth in rushing defense and fifth in passing defense.

The Knights have now rushed for 2,804 yards with 32 touchdowns on the ground this season. UCF’s rushing yards average of 254.9 is nearly 30 more than the next-closest Power Four Conference team (Tennessee 227.5). The 254.9 rushing yards per game mark is 40 more than the next conference opponent (Kansas 211.5).

UCF is second in the nation in explosive running plays, as the Knights have recorded 93 rushing plays of at least 10 yards. Additionally, the Black and Gold lead the league and rank seventh nationally in most offensive plays of 20 or more yards with 67.

Running back RJ Harvey, a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award for the second consecutive season, leads the nation with 49 rushing plays of at least 10 yards, which is 12 more than the next Big 12 player. His 21 rushing touchdowns are the most in the conference and tied for the fourth most nationally.

Harvey enters Friday’s game with 46 total touchdowns scored, tied with UCF Hall of Famer Kevin Smith for the program record. With a score against Utah, Harvey will stand alone as UCF’s record-holder for career touchdowns scored.

Harvey has 42 career rushing scores and four receiving TDs, while Smith had 45 rushing touchdowns and one receiving TD. To that end, Harvey is just three rushing touchdowns shy of tying Smith for career rushing touchdowns as well. are the third most in program history, just three shy Kevin Smith’s program record 46. Harvey’s 40 rushing TDs are second in the UCF record books behind Smith’s 45.

Since the start of the 2017 season, UCF has accumulated 69 wins, the 13th-most nationally by an FBS program and the most by a team from the state of Florida. The Knights join Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Michigan, Appalachian State, LSU, Oregon, Penn State and Boise State as the only programs to win at least 69 games since 2017.

Utah heads into this weekend’s matchup with an identical overall record as UCF at 4-7 and 1-7 in conference action. The Utes came up short against 22nd-ranked Iowa State, 31-28, on senior day in their last game.

Now in his 20th season as a head coach overall and at Utah, Kyle Whittingham has compiled a 166-86 overall record during his tenure in Salt Lake City. Saturday’s contest will be the first meeting between Whittingham and Gus Malzahn as head coaches.

Heading into the final game of the season, Utah leads the Big 12 in third down (26.8%) and first downs (188) defense. Utah’s third down defense also ranks second in the FBS. The Utes lead the Big 12 in time of possession, spending nearly 32:31 on offense to rank 10th nationally.

Heading into Friday’s game, UCF running back RJ Harvey owns 46 total career touchdowns scored, which is tied with UCF Hall of Famer Kevin Smith for the program record. With a score against Utah, Harvey will stand alone as UCF’s record holder for career touchdowns scored.

Harvey has 42 career rushing scores and four receiving TDs, while Smith had 45 rushing touchdowns and one receiving TD. To that end, Harvey is just three rushing touchdowns shy of tying Smith for career rushing touchdowns as well.

UCF’s Xe’ree Alexander turned in his best collegiate performance in last Saturday’s game at West Virginia, as the sophomore linebacker tallied a career-best 17 tackles. That mark was a game high for both teams and is tied for the most by a Big 12 player this season.

That mark is also the most by a UCF tackler since 2021 and is the most in the program’s Big 12 Conference era. Alexander was all over the field Saturday night, recording 10 tackles in the first half and seven in the second half. In addition to his 17 tackles, he had a tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry and a pass breakup.

Alexander is now second on the team in tackles with 63 behind Ethan Barr’s team-leading 65. Deshawn Pace recorded his 300th career tackle in last Saturday’s game, as he is now one of just 19 active FBS players to reach the milestone. That mark is the second most in the Big 12 behind Baylor’s Matt Jones.

This season, Pace is fourth on the team with 54 tackles, including a team-leading 37 solo tackles.

HARVEY A DOAK WALKER SEMIFINALIST

For the second consecutive year, Harvey is a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award, presented annually to the nation’s best collegiate running back. The Orlando native is the first player in program history to garner the recognition twice or in consecutive years and is one of just three players nationally to be a semifinalist in 2023 and 2024.

The UCF standout is the first player since Marquette Smith (1994-95) and just the second in program history to record consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons after rushing for 1,416 in 2023.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE

UCF’s all-time record of 85-29 (.746) ranks in the top 15 in the nation for best win percentage in a current home stadium. The Knights earned win No. 80 against Villanova in 2023.

Since 2017, the Knights are 42-9 in home games at FBC Mortgage Stadium.

The Knights finished last season with a 4-2 home record and were undefeated at home in 2021, marking the seventh time in UCF’s FBS era, the ninth overall, and the fourth time in five years.

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The final game of the 2024 regular season is here.

For the University of Utah, there’s almost a sigh of relief that this year will soon be behind them.

Utah started the year with hopes of the College Football Playoff, but will end the season in Orlando with a losing record — just the third of the Kyle Whittingham era.

There was never an answer at the quarterback position after Cam Rising suffered a finger injury in Week 2 that kept him out for three games, then suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 6.

Isaac Wilson, a true freshman, was placed in an unfortunate position by having to start the majority of the games, and he just wasn’t ready yet. After suffering an injury against Iowa State that will keep him out for the finale, Wilson finished his first collegiate season with 167.8 passing yards per game (No. 98 in the nation), a 56.4% completion percentage (102), 10 passing touchdowns (103), and 11 interceptions.

Brandon Rose provided a spark against BYU, but suffered a Lisfranc injury. Sam Huard, who was QB4 and never saw the field, also suffered a season-ending injury.

Another year of below-par quarterback play and a run game that stagnated near the end of the season, partly because opponents were able to key in on the run due to the ineffective passing game, doomed Utah to one of its most disappointing seasons in program history.

Losers of seven straight, the only thing left to play for in Orlando is the chance to break a lengthy losing streak and head into the 2025 season on a somewhat positive note.

“Super important. I think even it carries momentum going forward with the boys in the spring ball and winter conditioning. I think ending on a good note is huge for momentum moving forward,” senior linebacker Karene Reid said.

Due to the aforementioned quarterback injuries, Utah is down to QB5, Luke Bottari, for the Black Friday matchup at UCF (6 p.m. MST, Fox).

In a quarter-and-a-half of action last week, Bottari surprised Iowa State with his legs, rushing for 56 total yards on a 10-play, 91-yard drive that gave the Utes a 28-24 lead with 5:51 remaining. He drove Utah to the Iowa State 36-yard line, but couldn’t advance the offense further, setting up a 54-yard field goal that Cole Becker missed.

“For a guy that started the season as the fifth-string guy and really didn’t have a whole lot of chance to play, just continued to keep himself ready every single week in case,” Whittingham said. “And last week was the week that he got his opportunity and really did some good things. He came in and really provided the spark for us. And so that was good to see Luke do that.”

There’s a lot of similarities between Utah and UCF this season, starting with the identical records — 4-7. The Utes won’t be going bowling for the first time since 2013, while the Knights are missing a bowl for the first time since 2015. Both schools have suffered lengthy losing streaks — Utah losing seven in a row and UCF losing five in a row, beating Arizona, and losing its last two — are are desperate to end the season on a positive.

Both programs have had their fair share of quarterback difficulties — Utah’s have been well-documented, while UCF has used three quarterbacks this season.

The Knights started the year with KJ Jefferson, who played in five games before being benched in favor of Jacurri Brown. During UCF’s 37-24 loss to BYU, Brown was sent to the pine and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk finished out the contest.

Since then, it’s been Rizk as the starter. He’s thrown for 797 yards, five touchdowns and an interception on 68% accuracy.

The star of UCF’s productive offense is running back RJ Harvey, who has rushed for 1,458 yards — fourth-best in the country — and 21 touchdowns. He will be a handful for Utah’s defense to try and contain.

UCF leads the Big 12 in yards per game with 454 and is scoring 31.9 points per game.

“It’ll be a challenge for our defense this week to face that, particularly that rushing attack,” Whittingham said.

Defensively, UCF is in the middle of the Big 12 pack statistically in terms of total yards allowed per game (352), but have generally been stout against the run, allowing just 123.5 rushing yards, though BYU and West Virginia were recently able to eclipse 200 yards on the ground against the Knights.

While Bottari was 5 for 9 for 55 yards through the air against Iowa State, the game plan for the Utes is going to try and find success on the ground first — something they haven’t done consistently in their last two games.

It’s the final game in running back Micah Bernard’s college career, and aside from contributing to a win, he’s trying to rush for 78 more yards, which would put him at 1,000 on the year.

“Man, I’m trying to check it off. I’m trying so hard to check it off. Lack of production lately, but 78 yards to go, I believe. I mean, I need to do it. I got to,” Bernard said.

Before the season, a cross-country trip on a short week — the Utes will fly to Orlando on Thanksgiving — was always going to be a challenging contest. Even though UCF’s season hasn’t gone the way the Knights imagined it would, this is still going to be a tough one for the Utes, who are currently 10-point underdogs, to win if they want to break the seven-game losing streak.

In case you missed it

Kyle Whittingham has a decision to make at the end of his 20th season as Utah’s coach. Whittingham will assess his future with the program following the season finale at UCF on Friday, but says he will do what’s best for the program, not what’s best for him.

From the archives

Extra points

• A new era, a thrilling finish: How Utah won Gavin Petersen’s unforgettable head coaching debut (Deseret News)
• Utah’s pick-six streak extends to an NCAA-record 21 consecutive years, but is little more than a footnote for team embroiled in seven-game losing streak (Deseret News)
• Mark Harlan’s $40,000 fine was not paid out of university funds (Deseret News)