UCF left its opener with a statement win, but the real stress test arrives fast.
After rolling Bethune-Cookman 73-6 on Thursday, the Knights are heading into Saturday’s road matchup at Pittsburgh with a very different kind of challenge in front of them. The Panthers are 8.5-point favorites, and this one comes with the added wrinkle of UCF trying to snap a nine-game road losing streak that stretches back to the 2024 season.
Coach Scott Frost liked what he saw in the opener, but he was quick to put it in perspective.
“Overall, it was a pretty good performance,” Frost said Monday. “It’s what we asked them to do. They played hard and fast and the execution was pretty good.”
UCF’s numbers from that first game were eye-catching. The Knights matched a school record for points in a game, set the program mark for largest margin of victory at 67 points and piled up 560 yards of total offense. Six different players scored rushing touchdowns in the blowout.
Still, Frost wasn’t interested in handing out any credit beyond the locker room.
“We did what we were supposed to do last Thursday and nothing more,” he said. “Our chances to go out and earn anything are still ahead of us.”
That mindset is about to be tested against a Pitt team that opened with plenty of firepower of its own. The Panthers crushed Miami of Ohio 59-14 on Saturday, with quarterback Mason Heintschel tying a school record with seven touchdown passes. He finished 31 of 41 for 453 yards, and Pitt rolled up 646 total yards in all.
For Frost, the jump in difficulty is obvious.
“This will be one of our toughest tests all year, so we’re going to have to be ready to play at a really high level, and we’re going to need a higher level of execution than we had last week,” said Frost.
Pitt’s offense wasn’t the only thing that flashed. The Panthers also held Miami to 14 points, all in the first half, and 289 total yards. They limited the RedHawks to 28 rushing yards on 21 carries, a 1.29 yards-per-carry average.
That’s the sort of defense Frost expects from a Pat Narduzzi team.
“I’ve coached against Coach Narduzzi’s teams a few times. They’ve been unbelievable games and good battles.
They do a great job on defense. We’re going to have to try to find some things that can work,” Frost said.
UCF will need to lean on its ground game if it wants to leave Pittsburgh with a win. Against Bethune-Cookman, the Knights ran for 360 yards on just 38 carries and averaged 9.5 yards per attempt. Landen Chambers was part of that surge, finishing with 56 rushing yards and touchdowns on runs of 27 and 2 yards.
“We’ve just got to stick to what we know. Stick to all the things that coaches have prepared for us and go out there and do it,” Chambers said.
Defensive tackle Horace Lockett said UCF is ready for the physical side of the matchup.
“We’ll be ready for them in the trenches,” said the redshirt senior. “We’ll be ready to play five quarters.
However long it takes. It doesn’t matter if it’s eight or nine overtimes.
We’ll be ready.”
The Panthers’ opener was historic in its own way, too. Their 646 yards against Miami of Ohio were the most by a Pitt team since Sept. 24, 2021, when the Panthers posted 707 yards in a 77-7 win over New Hampshire.
For UCF, though, the headline is simpler: the first test is over, and the next one is a lot harder. TV: ESPN2
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