Boise State at UCF 9/2/21 College Football Picks and Predictions

Boise State faces Central Florida (UCF) on Thursday, September 2nd at Bounce House for a Week 1 college football matchup. 

Boise State finished the regular season with a 5-1 record in 2020 before losing to San Jose State in the Mountain West Championship game. Boise State has made it to the MWC four years in a row and will look to make it five in the 2021-22 season. Boise State is led by first-year head coach, Andy Avalos. Avalos was a student-athlete at Boise State and also was an assistant coach and defensive coordinator. Boise State returns nine offensive starters, including quarterback Hank Bachmeier, who played the majority of snaps at QB for Boise State in 2020. Boise State also returns eight starters on the defensive side of the ball, ranking them 59th in the country in terms of total returning starters. The bar is set high yet again for the Broncos as they enter the season as the Mountain West favorites. This will be a big test for Boise State right away, as this is a non-conference road atmosphere that Boise State is not necessarily used to. 

UCF always carries a lot of pride in its football program, and that remains true leading up to the 2021-22 campaign. UCF finished 2020 with a record of 6-3 before losing to BYU in the Boca Raton Bowl by the final score of 49-23. UCF took losses to Memphis, Tulsa, and Cincinnati in the regular season. UCF also has a new head coach in the form of former Auburn HC, Gus Malzahn. Malzahn was the head coach of Auburn from 2013 to 2020 and he was the offensive coordinator for Auburn when it won the National Championship in 2010. UCF returns eight starters on offense, including star quarterback Dillion Gabriel. This was a UCF offense that scored 42.2 points per game last year, and it will look to do more of the same this season. UCF returns nine starters on defense as well and looks to be better off defensively heading into this season.