The Maryland football team opened up as a nine-point favorite over UCF in advance of the teams’ matchup in Orlando this Saturday, according to OddsShark.
The Terps are coming off a 41-14 smashing of Florida International in Miami, and are in a much better spot than they were coming out of Week 2 last season, when they lost badly to Bowling Green at home. Maryland was favored by 11.5 points before gametime against FIU, and covered that spread three minutes into the second quarter. The Terps put up 17 unanswered points on the Golden Panthers, and 17-7 was as close as it would get the rest of the way.
The Knights are coming off of an 0-12 season and a 51-14 loss at Michigan in Week 2. As of last week, Bill Connelly’s S&P+ model projected Maryland to win by a touchdown, and gave the Terps a 67 percent chance of victory.
The two teams will kick off at 7 on CBS Sports Network. This is Maryland’s last nonconference game, as the Terps have a bye in Week 5 before opening Big Ten play against Purdue in Week 6.