Looking forward: Previewing the 2012 season

The Knights open their 2012 campaign on the road to face the Akron Zips Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.

While the Zips have garnered a little buzz around the college football world by hiring Terry Bowden, son of legendary former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, as their head coach. That aside, Akron won only one game last season and doesn’t look to be much better this coming season.

Offensively, the Zips were average at best. Starting quarterback Clayton Moore threw for nine touchdowns and nine interceptions and completed less than 50 percent of his passes. Sophomore tailback Jawon Chisholm will have every opportunity to take control of the offense, as he averaged 4.4 yards per carry as the featured back in the Akron offense, an impressive feat for a fresham.

What to look for:

Look for Knights quarterback Blake Bortles to get off to a good start early, likely out of the game by the middle of the third quarter. The Knights likely will try to get running back Storm Johnson a good amount of touches, since he hasn’t appeared in a game since 2010. True freshmen Breshad Perriman likely will also be established early on in the game.

Defensively, the Knights’ secondary will be challenged by a quality starting pair of receivers for Akron. Of their 12 passing touchdowns on the season, the Zips’ starting receivers accounted for nine of those scores.

The UCF pass rush, looking to assert its dominance early in the season, will come out firing and should get its fair share of open shots at the quarterback.

The buzz:

Week One should provide the Knights with a glorified scrimmage to prepare themselves for perhaps the biggest out-of-state, out-of-conference game in program history in Week Two when UCF travels to Columbus, Ohio, to face Ohio State.