There’s really no reason for the Badgers to expect their Saturday game against the Golden Knights of Central Florida to be anything more than a walk in the park.

But, as the past has clearly established, no game is ever a “gimme” in college ball. Thus, here are five keys to victory against UCF:

1) Don’t call in the game: Overconfidence has plagued the Badgers early in the season before (look as far back as UNLV in 2003), and — with Central Florida’s occasionally respected head coach George O’Leary set to miss the game — there’s a good chance that UW head coach Barry Alvarez will have to deal with some flat footfalls from his stars in the early-going of Saturday’s match-up. O’Leary, who was named the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year in 2000 (while at Georgia Tech, before the whole Notre Dame fiasco), was really the only reason that anyone viewed UCF as anything in the proximity of a serious team this season. O’Leary brings the Golden Knights an element of old-school football discipline that was lacking in last season’s 3-9 campaign. Without his stern presence on the sideline, many will expect UCF to let up. The Badgers can’t afford to be counted as a part of that group. Anyone who thinks that an O’Leary-led team will loosen up in his absence has forgotten just how intimidating and frightening the man is. The Golden Knights will play a hard game. They may not feature anywhere near the talent of the Badgers, but if UW doesn’t come out strong, it may find itself in an early hole.

2) Run the ball: In the 2003 season, strong safety Atari Bigby and free safety Peter Sands ranked first and second (respectively) on the Golden Knights in solo tackles. That fact doesn’t exactly reflect positively on UCF’s linebackers or defensive line. If enough tailbacks are getting past the front seven that Bigby registered 80 solo takedowns and Sands registered another 70, a team is going to run into serious problems when it sees a guy like Anthony Davis (who will instantaneously become the most dangerous player in college football if he sees that kind of open field). In addition, UCF is looking to replace linebacker Antoine Poe — the only non-safety on the Golden Knights last season to register as many as 50 sacks. Davis could start the season off with a bang. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see him break away for three or four monster touchdown runs.

3) Shut down the passing game: The UCF air attack isn’t good by any standards. Steven Moffett started the final three games last season and managed to throw for just 168 yards, 30 of which came on one pass. That means that other than his career-long 30-yard completion, Moffett averaged 46 yards per game passing in his starts. This would be a great game for the talented, experienced and occasionally competent Badger secondary to establish itself as a force to be reckoned with. If Moffett throws for more than 100 yards (for the first time since high school), the UW secondary should feel like it got lit up.

4) Grab the loose balls: UCF fumbles the ball a lot — 29 times in 12 games last season (almost 2.5 times per game). O’Leary has probably done a lot of screaming in training camp in an attempt to correct this deficiency, but when a team ranks No. 117 in the NCAA in turnover margin (they turned the ball over nearly twice more per game than their opponents in 2003), it’s hard to expect too much improvement too quickly. The Golden Knights fumbled the ball three or more times in five games last season — including five in a single game against Kent State (the resulting 20-point victory was one of few bright spots for Golden Flashes). They also ranked last in the Mid-American Conference in turnover margin. If the Badgers jump on the fumbles, they can run the score as high as they want.

5) Make a statement: The most important thing for the Badgers in the first five games of the season is to show the rest of the country — and, more importantly, the rest of the Big Ten — that they are not a team to be taken lightly. If the Badgers hope to go into Columbus in week six (after playing UCF, UNLV, Arizona, Penn State and Illinois) and intimidate Ohio State, they can’t just win their first five games — they need to win those games decisively. And if that’s to happen, Stocco and the young corps of linebackers need to shore up what are seemingly the only two weak spots on a solid UW squad. If they do that, the rest is cream cheese.