The bye week could not have come at a better time for UCF. After two straight road losses to ranked opponents, the Knights get a chance to reset before welcoming No. 8 BYU to Acrisure Bounce House next Saturday.
That stretch exposed both the promise and the problems under Scott Frost. UCF showed it can line up with quality teams, but it couldn’t sustain that level long enough to finish the job against No.
20 Houston and No. 18 Oklahoma State.
At 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12, the Knights need to keep pace over the final six games if they want to end a two-year bowl drought.
One of the clearer bright spots has been Keyone Jenkins settling in at quarterback. Frost turned to Jenkins in Week 3 against Georgia State with Alonza Barnett III unavailable, and the senior’s first outing was uneven: 86 passing yards, one passing touchdown and two rushing scores.
Since then, the passing production has climbed. He threw for 160 yards the next week, then posted a season-best 265 against Oklahoma State.
The next step is cleaning up turnovers and trusting his arm strength to stretch the field vertically.
There’s been a strange flip on defense as well. In Alex Grinch’s first season coordinating the unit, UCF became a top-3 passing defense, allowing 185.1 yards per game.
The issue then was takeaways. This year, the Knights have been much better at creating them, piling up 10 turnovers and forcing one in every game except Week 2 against Pittsburgh.
But the tradeoff has been costly: the passing defense has slipped to 236.8 yards allowed per game.
The biggest issue, though, is what happens after halftime. UCF has scored just 14 second-half points while giving up 48 in losses to Houston and Oklahoma State.
Against Houston, the Knights went into the fourth quarter with a 17-point lead and let it slip away. Against Oklahoma State, they were tied at 21 at halftime and couldn’t keep up from there.
That’s the problem UCF has to fix before taking on BYU, which arrives in Orlando after knocking off No. 2 Notre Fighting Irish on Saturday. An upset here would do more than steady the season - it would ease some of the pressure on the Knights to win three of their last five and keep the bowl path alive.
In Other News...
UCF Homecoming Just Got Bigger Than Any Bounce House Test Yet
UCFs bye week has been anything but quiet, with the Knights staring down a homecoming showcase against No. 2 BYU on Saturday afternoon at the Bounce House. The 3:30 p.m. kickoff on FOX already gives the matchup a big-stage feel, and for UCF it comes with an extra layer of significance as the highest-ranked home opponent the program has ever hosted.
The Knights are still hoping to get starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III and linebacker Lewis Carter back in the lineup after the break, which would obviously help against a BYU team that just beat Notre Dame and arrives with real national momentum. The Cougars, though, will be without senior tailback LJ Martin because of injury, adding another wrinkle to a game that has quickly become much more than a routine conference Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Backcourt Battle Just Got Tougher For Johnny Dawkins
The backcourt picture at UCF just changed in a meaningful way, and it gives Johnny Dawkins one more proven option to sort through before the season. Veteran guard Riley Kugel is headed back to campus after a successful legal challenge cleared the way for another college season, adding another experienced piece to a guard group that already features recent transfers Dior Johnson and Lewis Walker.
Kugel brings a different kind of resume to the rotation after spending time in the professional ranks, including limited NBA experience, and he was UCFs top scorer a year ago. For Dawkins, the appeal is obvious, but so is the logjam. With three players all vying for meaningful minutes in the same part of the floor, UCFs guard battle suddenly looks a lot more complicated than it did a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Just Got A Late Boost That Changes Everything For Johnny Dawkins
Riley Kugel is back in the fold for UCF men's basketball, giving Johnny Dawkins a late roster lift as the Knights move deeper into their preseason preparations. After going undrafted in the 2026 NBA Draft and remaining unsigned following summer league, Kugel has rejoined the program and is expected to be part of the teams next stretch of work, a development that adds experience and talent to a group still taking shape.
Kugel's return comes after an Indiana Circuit Court judge granted him and other former college athletes an additional year of eligibility, a ruling that reopened the door for a second collegiate stop. Dawkins and several teammates have already shown clear excitement about having him back, and the timing matters with exhibition play approaching as UCF continues sorting out roles and lineup options. [Read more 🡒]