The UCF Knights take on the Kansas Jayhawks. Check out our college football odds series for our UCF Kansas prediction and pick. Find how to watch UCF Kansas.

The UCF Knights are struggling in their first football season as a member of the Big 12 Conference. In a year when UCF has entered the Big 12 alongside three other new schools — Houston, BYU, and Cincinnati — the Knights have not made the strong first impression they hoped for. This team has been shredded on defense and has given up points in bunches.  Coach Gus Malzahn is living through a miserable start to the Big 12 schedule. His Knights gave up 44 points to Kansas State a few weeks ago. Then UCF coughed up a 35-7 third-quarter lead against Baylor, losing 36-35 as a result of giving up 26 points in the fourth quarter. UCF didn't score a point in that same quarter and absorbed a humiliating, embarrassing defeat. Can UCF mentally regroup after that disaster? It's the most salient question one can put forth in connection to this game.

The other really big story of this game is at the quarterback spot. Kansas starter Jalon Daniels is out, to be replaced by Jason Bean, who has had several games over the past two seasons in which he has started in relief of an injured Daniels. Kansas is not as good without Daniels, but Bean is a competent backup and someone who can do a reasonably good job running the offense. KU faces a downgrade at the quarterback position, but only to a modest degree. The Jayhawks' offense won't be incapacitated without Daniels. UCF hopes that Day 1 starter John Rhys Plumlee — out since Sept. 9 — can return to the lineup. An official decision had not been made as of Friday afternoon, but Plumlee did return to practice this week, so that would suggest he will play.

Here are the UCF-Kansas College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Football Odds: UCF-Kansas Odds

UCF Knights: -1.5 (-114)

Kansas Jayhawks: +1.5 (-106)

Over: 63.5 (-110)

Under: 63.5 (-110)

How To Watch UCF vs. Kansas

Time: 4:00 pm ET / 1:00 pm PT

TV: Fox

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why UCF Could Cover the Spread

Kansas is without its best quarterback, Jalon Daniels, and UCF could very possibly get its best quarterback, John Rhys Plumlee, back under center. That's a pretty big pair of developments if indeed Plumlee can play and play reasonably well. Daniels is a gifted quarterback. Kansas will miss his speed and agility combined with his downfield passing. If Plumlee can play well, he is one of the fastest quarterbacks in the country, someone who will be an instant and constant headache for the Kansas defense.

Why Kansas Could Cover the Spread

The Kansas offense will still score without Daniels. That's partly because Jason Bean is an experienced player who knows how to run coach Lance Leipold's offense. Bean knows how to play with his KU teammates. This is not a typical situation in which a starting quarterback gets hurt and the offense has to drastically simplify everything with the backup filling in. This is a situation in which the backup has started several games and won't need a hugely reduced playbook to be able to run the offense. KU can still throw a lot of different looks at UCF. Given how bad the UCF defense has been, one should still expect Kansas to score enough to win.

We also don't know if John Rhys Plumlee will be effective. He might very well play, but he could be rusty.

Final UCF-Kansas Prediction & Pick

The quarterback situations are very fluid and uncertain. You should stay away from this game.

Final UCF-Kansas Prediction & Pick: Kansas +1.5