Kickoff: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Line: UCF -17

Winners of five in a row, No. 17 UCF will look to extend that streak Thursday night when it hosts a Rutgers team still competing for a bowl bid despite losing three of its past four games.

Despite winning five in a row SU, the Golden Knights are just 2-3 ATS in this stretch with two straight ATS defeats. Still, they are 5-3 ATS this season and 3-1 ATS at home. Rutgers, meanwhile, is coming off a three-game home stand in which it lost two of three and barely eked out a win against a poor Temple squad tabbed as a double-digit underdog. The Scarlet Knights may be happy to return to the road, where they are 2-0-1 ATS, even if they are only 1-2 SU. These teams have played just once in recent memory, when Rutgers whooped UCF 45-24 for an easy SU and ATS win in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl. Now they’re in the same conference, and UCF head coach George O’Leary is 27-14 ATS at home against conference opponents since taking over the reins with the Scarlet Knights. His team is also 25-11 ATS in home games when playing on six days or fewer of rest. However, Rutgers is 17-6 ATS in road games off one or more straight Overs since 1992.

Can UCF keep its win streak intact with a lopsided win on Thursday? For the answer, connect to College Football Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2013 regular season and bowl season. The four experts are a combined 54% ATS (105-91-7) in college football Best Bets for the season, led by StatFox Dave who is 59% ATS (32-22-2) in Best Bets this season, including 70% ATS (19-8-1) during a run of eight straight weeks of .500 or better. StatFox Brian is also 59% ATS (30-21-1) in college football Best Bets this year, including a 63% ATS (19-11) surge over the past five weeks. StatFox Gary is 53% ATS (17-15-1) in college football Best Bets for the season, and is coming off a perfect 2-0 ATS week.

Rutgers QB Gary Nova has been inconsistent this season, completing 57.2% of his passes for 2,052 yards, 18 TD and 13 INT. The junior has struggled lately with 9 INT and only 5 TD in his past four games. His main target has been Leonte Carroo (27 catches, 469 yards, 9 TD) while Brandon Coleman (28 catches, 403 yards, 3 TD) and Tyler Kroft (25 catches, 356 yards, 3 TD) have also been serviceable weapons. A two-headed rushing attack of Paul James (651 rush yards, 6.7 YPC, 6 TD) and Justin Goodwin (457 rush yards, 4.8 YPC, 4 TD) spearheads the ground game. James is the primary ball carrier though, and is back in action after missing four games in the middle of the season. The concern for Rutgers is often its defense, which has yielded 50 or more points three times this season and gives up 329.4 passing yards per game. However, the rush defense is solid, giving up only 3.3 YPC this season.

UCF’s defense has actually been quite good this season, giving up only 20.6 PPG and never allowing more than 40 points in a contest. The unit gives up 4.1 YPC, but only 240 passing yards per game. Offensively, QB Blake Bortles has been fantastic, completing 68.1% of his passes for 19 TD and 5 INT, including 8 TD and 1 INT in his past three games. He can also use his legs a little bit, running for two more scores. But the guy they really count on for rushing production is Storm Johnson (841 rush yards, 5.4 YPC, 9 TD), who is coming off back-to-back, 120-yard rushing performances. Johnson also has three receiving touchdowns, while WRs Rannell Hall (639 rec. yards, 3 TD), Breshad Perriman (567 rec. yards, 1 TD) and J.J. Worton (500 rec. yards, 7 TD) all have at least 500 receiving yards this season.