The good vibes from UCF’s double-overtime win over then-No. 2 BYU didn’t survive the trip into Friday night’s annual Space Game.
Instead, the Knights ran into a Baylor team that hit them hard from the opening quarter and never let up, rolling to a 41-9 win that left UCF with a season-low point total and no touchdowns for the first time since a 30-3 road loss to the Bears on Nov. 1, 2025.
UCF (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) managed only 281 yards and got pushed around on both sides of the ball. Baylor, fresh off firing head coach Dave Aranda on Sunday and playing under interim coach Joe Klanderman, piled up a season-high 501 yards and turned the night into a long one for the Knights. UCF now has to reset quickly for a road game at Kansas next Saturday.
Scott Frost spent the week trying to keep his team grounded after the emotional high of beating BYU, and he said after the game that UCF simply didn’t bring its best.
“I said after last week we’re good enough to play with and beat anybody in the league,” said Frost. “We’ve got to play our best. I don’t think that was the best version of us out there tonight, and we got whipped by a good team that played really well.”
The players echoed that the message didn’t translate into performance.
“College football is a weird game,” said defensive tackle Horace Lockett Jr. “Those guys are also on scholarship, so they made many more plays than us, so we’ve got to get better.”
“It’s definitely not the outcome we wanted,” added receiver Josh Derry. “We started off slow and we just didn’t play our brand of football.”
The quarterback situation remains unsettled, and Friday only made it messier. Keyone Jenkins completed 14 of 21 passes for 82 yards before leaving in the third quarter after re-aggravating an ankle injury he had suffered a few weeks ago. Alonza Barnett III, back after missing the previous five games with a hamstring injury, took over and went 8 of 16 for 133 yards before being replaced late in the fourth quarter by freshman Rocco Marriott.
Frost didn’t have an update on Jenkins after the game and wouldn’t say whether a change was coming for Kansas.
“It seems like it’s been a season and a half here where we’re kind of playing musical chairs with quarterbacks,” Frost said. “I feel good about whoever is in there.
“He (Barnett) did some good things, made some good throws. Whoever is playing quarterback, it’s going to be hard if we don’t block better and create a running game.”
That was the story of the night up front. Baylor came in leading the Big 12 with 27 sacks and added seven more, the most UCF has given up since allowing five against Utah on Nov.
29, 2024. Eight different Baylor players were credited with at least a partial sack, and the Bears repeatedly collapsed the pocket against a UCF line that was already short-handed.
The Knights had given up just 11 sacks through their first seven games, but that protection disappeared in a hurry. Center Jacob Maiava exited with a hyperextended knee and did not return, according to Frost. Conner Meadows moved to center, and Laparka Langston filled in at guard.
Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway was just as efficient as the Bears’ pass rush was disruptive. He finished 16 of 25 for 319 yards and matched a season high with four touchdown passes while also rushing for 23 yards on 11 carries. Frost credited him for making the plays Baylor needed.
“He’s a really good player. He made all the throws and all the plays tonight,” said Frost. “We didn’t play well enough to put him in a situation where he might make a mistake.”
UCF’s defense also came up empty in the takeaway department. Baylor entered the weekend second in the Big 12 with 13 takeaways and added another when it intercepted Jenkins in the first quarter, a turnover the Bears turned into an early touchdown. The Knights did not force a turnover for only the second time this season.
The one clear bright spot for UCF was Will Stone. The kicker accounted for all nine of the Knights’ points, drilling field goals from 35, 39 and 57 yards.
The 57-yarder set a school record, topping the previous mark of 55 yards shared by Ed O’Brien on Sept. 7, 1985 and Colton Boomer on Sept. 9, 2023.
Stone’s previous career long was 40 yards, which he set against Georgia State on Sept. 19.
“I’m probably the most confident one on the field when it comes to believing in myself at the position of kicker,” said Stone, who is 9-for-11 on field goal kicks this season. “You just have to be that way.”
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The win also felt broader than one standout performance, because different position groups kept showing up in ways Baylor has been waiting to see. The defensive line piled up seven sacks, special teams held up its end, and the overall effort had the kind of balance that can make a team feel different even before the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]