This week's picks

Big Al's CFB Lab

Data updated
Big 12

UCF

4–3 (2–2 Big 12). 2026 season, games through Oct 24, 2026.

SP+ rating4.057th of 138
SP+ offense26.081st of 138
SP+ defense22.140th of 138
PRIME6.339th of 138
Elo147772nd of 138
Week 9

Baylor at UCF

Fri, Oct 30, 7:30 PM ET. SP+ projects UCF 21, Baylor 24. Big Al's pick: Baylor (54%).

Full head to head

Offense

StatValueRank
Points per game32.745th
Yards per play6.3752nd
Success rate45.5%50th
Explosive play rate12.7%56th
Yards per carry5.2765th
Yards per pass attempt8.0152nd
Sack rate allowed4.7%50th
3rd down conversion43.2%52nd

Defense

StatValueRank
Points allowed23.059th
Yards per play allowed5.1122nd
Success rate allowed38.4%47th
Explosive plays allowed9.3%20th
Yards per carry allowed3.8310th
Yards per attempt allowed6.5044th
Sack rate4.4%108th
3rd downs allowed38.6%70th

Players

Duke Watson (RB), Joshua Derry (WR), Keyone Jenkins (QB).

Results

WeekOpponentResult
1vs. Bethune-CookmanW 73–6
2at PittsburghL 7–12
3vs. Georgia StateW 44–30
4vs. TCUW 21–13
5at HoustonL 17–27
6at Oklahoma StateL 28–42
8vs. BYUW 39–31

Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams. Stats from play-by-play; scoring counts FBS opponents only. Compare UCF with any team.

Site
Picks two teams at random. Any FBS team can come up.

How we picked it

Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. Big Al's pick is the team at least two of them like.

Where the game is won

Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.

What these mean

  • SP+ Bill Connelly's opponent-adjusted efficiency rating. Points better than an average FBS team on a neutral field.
  • PRIME A second opponent-adjusted rating, built from possession efficiency, on the same points scale. SOS is schedule difficulty; SOR is wins above what an average team would get against that schedule.
  • Elo A results-only rating that moves after each game based on the score and the opponent. 1500 is average.
  • Success rate Share of plays that stay on schedule: 50% of the yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, all of it on 3rd and 4th.
  • Explosive rate Share of plays that are runs of 12+ yards or completions of 16+ yards.
  • Defense rows What opponents did against the team. Lower is better except sack rate and interception rate.
  • Projection Rating gap, plus 2.5 points for the home team, and games usually land within about 14 points of it. A coin flip is 50%.

Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.

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