Forty-eight hours after the kind of win that leaves a stadium buzzing long after the final whistle, UCF was already trying to reset.
The Knights returned to work Monday with the remnants of Saturday night still visible around Acrisure Bounce House Stadium. Cleanup crews were out after UCF’s 39-31 double-overtime stunner over No. 2 BYU, and the scene told its own story: a field rush, thousands of fans spilling onto the turf, and the end-zone cabanas left damaged after students used them to reach the field.
Now comes the harder part.
UCF, sitting at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, has a short turnaround before hosting Baylor on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Scott Frost made it clear the challenge is less about reliving the upset and more about matching the same edge that produced it.
“We’ve got to play with the same intensity that we played with on Saturday,” Frost said Monday. “I asked the guys to find another level, to find a bit more and they did.
That can be a one-time thing, or it can set the stage for the rest of the season. We have to figure it out.
“There have been a lot of teams that have won big games and not played as well the next week. That’s a challenge for us.”
The message inside the program has been the same. Quarterback Keyone Jenkins said the Knights need to keep the bar where they set it against BYU.
“We’ve seen we could do it. I was about going out there, doing it every day, for real, and just proving to ourselves that we are who we are,” Jenkins said following the win.
Receiver Josh Derry framed the postgame mood in practical terms.
“You celebrate for 24 hours, and then you move on. That’s the part of the game. You can’t let you know one game obviously keep the momentum going to other games, but not let that emotion just drag on and turn to a letdown.”
Frost said he wanted his team to enjoy what it accomplished, but he also understood how quickly a huge victory can turn into a distraction. Social media has been full of videos, photos and memes from Saturday night, and even Frost found himself as part of the imagery after he was captured sitting on the field after the game.
“It’s not that dramatic. I was tired and I wanted to go home,” he recalled.
“We had some good friends in town, and they wanted to go back out on the field to get a picture by the scoreboard. … I was just sitting on the ground, just tired and wondering how long we were going to be there before we go home.”
The recognition has continued to roll in for the Knights, who earned Pop Tarts Bowl Team of the Week honors. Frost also received Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Week honors.
On the injury front, Frost confirmed Jenkins will start again Friday against Baylor. Jenkins has opened the last five games for UCF while filling in for injured Alonza Barnett III, and he just delivered the biggest performance of his season.
Against BYU, he threw a touchdown in overtime, followed it with the game-winning touchdown and then added the two-point conversion. He finished with a season-high 293 passing yards and also scored on a third-quarter run.
“He played a pretty special game Saturday. (He) made plays when we needed to make them. I thought playing the first overtime was elite,” Frost said.
Barnett is getting closer after rehabbing a hamstring injury he suffered late in UCF’s 12-7 loss at Pittsburgh on Sept. 12, but Frost said he is not sure the senior will be fully at 100% for Friday.
Baylor arrives with its own coaching shakeup. The Bears fired Dave Aranda on Sunday after a 25-24 loss to Kansas, and athletics director Doug McNamee promoted defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman to interim head coach for the rest of the season.
Frost said he has respect for Aranda and understands how quickly things can change in the league.
“Dave is one of the better guys in the business. He’s a really good football coach,” said Frost.
“That’s this business. They have the same record and the same conference record as we do.
“Everybody in this league is about the same. You can win any week and you can lose any week.
I feel for Dave. That’s tough.”
In Other News...
BYU Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious After That Finish
The frustration around BYUs latest Big 12 finish is not coming out of nowhere. The conference has now acknowledged officiating errors in recent games involving BYU, UCF and Notre Dame, a blunt reminder that the discussion around missed calls has moved well beyond one isolated moment. ESPNs Rece Davis added to the criticism by pointing to the repeated administrative mistakes that have started to define too many late-game conversations across college football.
For BYU fans, the aggravation is only sharpened by how these decisions can tilt a game at the exact point when every snap matters most. Davis cited specific breakdowns, including an incorrect 10-second runoff and a roughing-the-kicker call that stirred debate in a double-overtime game, while a separate Week 1 controversy in the Big Ten involving Western Michigan and Michigan showed the problem is hardly confined to one league. The bigger concern now is not just the individual miss, but how often the sport seems to be asking fans and teams to live with them. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Suddenly Faces A Secondary Test It Cant Afford To Fail
BYUs defense is about to get another look at its depth in the secondary, with cornerback Evan Johnson expected to sit out the upcoming game against Arizona State after getting hurt against UCF. Kalani Sitake said the injury is not season-ending, but the Cougars are planning as if Johnson will miss this week, which puts more pressure on a unit that has already had to adjust on the fly.
Arizona State brings its own uncertainty at quarterback, with Mikey Keene listed as questionable because of a leg injury. If Keene cannot go, freshman Jake Fette is expected to get the start, adding another layer of unpredictability to a matchup that already has plenty of moving parts for BYU to sort through on the back end. [Read more 🡒]
Utah Caught Heat Over A Rivalry Week McAfee Controversy
Rivalry week took an awkward turn for Utah after its Instagram page shared a video in which students took shots at Pat McAfee, calling him corny and creepy. The clip landed just ahead of his ESPN GameDay appearance, and McAfee made clear he was not amused by the school putting the moment out there on its own platform.
He later said the football program is strong and praised the student section, but the social media episode clearly left a mark. McAfee said the experience made him uncomfortable, and he went so far as to say he hopes never to return to the university, adding another layer of tension to a rivalry week that already carried plenty of edge. [Read more 🡒]