UCF keeps finding the wildest possible way to finish games.
Two weeks after the Knights pulled off one of the season’s most chaotic endings against BYU, they were back in another late-game mess Saturday at Kansas - and this one ended with UCF walking out of Lawrence with a 33-32 win.
For most of the afternoon, it looked like the Knights might finally get a Big 12 road game under control. They had Kansas down 26-7 by the 9:52 mark of the third quarter and seemed to have the Jayhawks bottled up on both sides.
Then UCF’s offense went cold at the worst possible time, going three-and-out on back-to-back possessions and losing 6 yards combined. That opened the door, and Kansas stormed through it with two straight touchdown drives and a field goal to cut the lead to 26-24.
Kansas wasn’t done there. After Atticus Bertrams delivered a booming punt, the Jayhawks took over at their own 5-yard line with 2:27 left and needed only a field goal to complete the program’s largest comeback since 2010.
Instead, they ripped off 11 plays for 95 yards in 81 seconds and finished the surge with a Dylan Edwards touchdown run with 1:06 remaining. Suddenly Kansas was ahead 32-26.
That should have been enough time for UCF to feel the pressure. Instead, it was enough time for the Knights to stage their own rescue act.
Quarterback Alonza Barnett III, back in the lineup for his first start since a hamstring injury in Week 2, shook off a rough start to the final drive and started attacking downfield. He hit Tyren Hornes for 20 yards on third-and-10, then found Chase Hinshaw for another 20 and Josh Derry for 19 more, moving UCF to the Kansas 15 with 13 seconds left.
The Knights then went for the knockout punch. Barnett threw to the back of the end zone, where Derry came down with a juggling catch while falling backward.
The official signaled touchdown on the field, but replay showed Derry had not secured the ball before landing out of bounds. The ruling was overturned, and UCF had eight seconds left.
The next snap still didn’t produce a touchdown, but it did draw pass interference and move the ball from the 15 to the 6. That set up one more shot.
Barnett kept his eyes left at the snap and waited for tight end Caden Piening to break toward the sideline. He fired, Piening dove for the ball, and the official signaled touchdown again.
This time, the decision went to replay. After a lengthy review, the replay center ruled there was no evidence to overturn the incompletion.
Touchdown, UCF.
That left the Knights tied at 32-32 and sent kicker Will Stone out for the extra point. Stone had already missed one PAT earlier in the game, but this time he drilled it, and UCF escaped with the 33-32 win.
Barnett finished with 251 passing yards and two touchdowns, while also adding 36 rushing yards as he extended plays. Derry was his top target, piling up a season-high 143 receiving yards on eight catches and helping set up the winning drive with a 19-yard grab.
The 33 points were UCF’s highest scoring output in regulation in Big 12 play this season. The win also snapped the Knights’ 12-game road losing streak, giving them their first victory away from home since Sept. 14, 2024, when they came back from 21 points down at TCU.
UCF is now 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12, matching its win total from the 2025 season. The Knights have three games left to lock up bowl eligibility, with Arizona State, Iowa State and Colorado still on the schedule. All three are currently below .500.
UCF still hasn’t finished a season with a winning record since joining the Big 12 in 2023. But after surviving another finish that belonged in the “Cardiac Knights” file, the door is open for that to change.
In Other News...
UCF Finally Ended Its Road Misery In A Wild Kansas Finish
A trip to Lawrence finally gave UCF something it had been chasing for a long time, and it took every bit of drama to get there. The Knights snapped a 12-game road losing streak with a 33-32 win over Kansas at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, turning a frustrating stretch away from home into a much-needed breakthrough in the closing seconds.
Alonza Barnett III helped steer the comeback, finishing 18 of 31 for 251 yards and two touchdowns as UCF kept finding answers late. The finish was wild even by college football standards, with the Knights punching in the winning score with three seconds left and then adding the extra point to complete a victory that could matter well beyond one Saturday afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Finally Ended Its Road Misery But One Problem Still Lingers
UCF finally broke through away from home with a 33-32 win at Kansas, a result that snapped a 12-game road losing streak and put the Knights one victory from bowl eligibility. The finish came in the kind of game that can change the tone of a season, with quarterback Alonza Barnett III helping engineer a late comeback and the offense finding just enough rhythm to survive in a place where UCF had struggled for far too long.
The relief, though, comes with another concern attached. The Knights are still sorting through injuries in the backfield, and that matters for a team trying to build on a breakthrough road win and keep its postseason path intact. Scott Frost had reasons to be encouraged by the way his team closed, but the health of the running backs now hangs over what should have been a clean celebration. [Read more 🡒]