Jacksonville State vs UCF Prediction 8/28/2025 Today’s College Football Picks

The Jacksonville State Gamecocks and the UCF Knights meet in week 1 college football action from the FBC Mortgage Stadium on Thursday. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Jacksonville State Gamecocks vs. UCF Knights prediction.

Jacksonville State Gamecocks Team Preview

The Jacksonville State Gamecocks will try to maintain status quo in 2025 after finishing 2024 with a 9-5 overall record including a 7-1 mark in Conference USA play. Jacksonville State won the Conference USA title game over Western Kentucky by a final score of 52-12. The Gamecocks would get invited to the Cure Bowl, where Jacksonville State would fall to Ohio by a final score of 30-27. There’s a lot of question marks with a new regime, and it starts at QB with Gavin Wimsatt who transfers in from Kentucky and will battle Cade Cunningham who comes in from Memphis. Michael Pettway is back to be the new leader of the receivers after finishing second with 25 catches while Brock Rechsteiner comes back as well. Cam Cook comes in from TCU to lead the backfield but Andrew Paul brings some continuity to Jacksonville State’s offense. On defense, Jawaun Campbell is back after logging 47 tackles last season while Jacob Cruz transfers in from Georgia Tech to sit in the middle of the linebacking group.

UCF Team Preview

The UCF Knights will be hoping to shake off a frustrating 2024 campaign where UCF finished 4-8 including 2-7 in Big 12 conference play. Scott Frost comes back home after Gus Malzahn bolted for the OC Job at Florida State, and the battles start at the top. Tayven Jackson has experience from Indiana but so does Cam Fancher from his time with FAU and Jacurri Brown has plenty of upside after finishing second on UCF in rushing last year. UCF lost RJ Harvey from their backfield to the NFL, but Myles Montgomery is back as more of a pass-catching back and Jaden Nixon transfers in from Western Michigan to give UCF some depth. There’s a lot of moving pieces at receiver, but Marcus Burke is a walking home run threat and there are lots of subdivision receiving options eager to get their crack at the FBS level. On defense, there’s a lot of transfers coming in, but Nyjalik Kelly is back after logging 5.5 sacks and 9.5 TFLs to lead UCF last season. The linebackers are full of transfers and the UCF secondary retains the services of Demari Henderson after missing all of last year because of injury.

Jacksonville State Gamecocks vs. UCF Knights Prediction

I’m going to ride with Jacksonville State and the points. I just think this is still a case of too many points with a UCF team that has turnover of their own within the roster, and this to me feels like a two-score matchup like a 31-17 or even 34-17 kind of game. Give me the Gamecocks and the points here.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Jacksonville State +18.5