Scott Frost doesn’t see a giant leap between what UCF has done through three games and what TCU has put on the field. To him, the matchup looks like two teams arriving at the same spot through a similar stretch of uneven but revealing results.
“Our season and TCU’s have been pretty close,” Frost said Monday. “We’ve both played a really tough game and lost a close one. We played an opponent we both had advantages over, did what we’re supposed to do, and played a pretty good Group of Six team.
“We’ve had similar paths to get to this point.”
That’s the backdrop for Saturday’s Big 12 opener at 3:30 p.m. on FS1, when UCF (2-1) hosts TCU (2-1) in the Knights’ first home conference opener since joining the league. The past three seasons, UCF opened league play on the road.
Both teams have already shown a little of everything. UCF blasted Bethune-Cookman 73-6, then dropped a tight 12-7 decision at Pittsburgh before grinding out a 44-30 win over Georgia State on Saturday. TCU opened with a 15-10 loss to North Carolina in Ireland, then rolled past Grambling 63-7 and handled Arkansas State 31-7 last weekend.
Frost called it a chance for both programs to keep climbing.
“Both teams want to continue improving and getting better,” said Frost. “We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
There’s a bit of history here, too. This is just the second meeting between the schools, and UCF won the first one, 35-34, at TCU on Sept. 14, 2024.
Still, Frost isn’t treating this as some grand turning point.
“It’s just another opportunity,” Frost explained. “Our team has a chance to earn it every week, earn some respect and earn what we want for our season. We’re not looking at anything except this week.”
That message has been echoing through the locker room. The Knights have spent the opening weeks fighting the outside noise, with most national outlets slotting them in the bottom half of the Big 12 preseason picture. TCU, coming off a 9-4 season and a ninth-place finish in the conference last year, was picked much higher.
UCF’s players have noticed. They’re not hiding from it.
Running back Duke Watson, who leads the team with 297 rushing yards, said the Knights are trying to show they’re not the same group people think they know.
“I really want to show the world what this team is,” said Watson. “We’re way different from last year.
We’re a different UCF. The offense is going to get more comfortable and the defense is always on.
If we have each other’s backs, we’ll go a long way.”
Safety Demari Henderson, who picked off two passes against Georgia State, said the Knights intend to bring their own identity for the full game.
“We’re going to play our brand of football for all four quarters from start to finish,” said added safety Demari Henderson, who had two interceptions against Georgia State.
Senior offensive tackle Preston Cushman sees the game as another chance to change the conversation around the program.
“As (Frost) said, it’s another game, another opportunity to put us on the map and just help us beat all the expectations, per se,” said Cushman. “People still have got us down, so we’ve got to prove to everyone and earn it. It’s like we say all the time, just earn it.”
That phrase is more than talk inside the building. It’s printed on shirts the players wear, including edge rusher Sincere Edwards.
“It’s a saying that we made this year, because we feel like we need to earn it, not for anybody else but for ourselves,” Edwards said.
In Other News...
TCU Gets Timely Boost As UCF Enters Big 12 Opener Shorthanded
TCU should get a useful lift in its Big 12 opener with wide receiver Jordan Dwyer expected back from a foot injury against UCF. The timing matters for a Horned Frogs offense trying to settle in for conference play, and it gives the passing game another option as the league slate begins.
UCF, meanwhile, heads into the matchup with a more immediate concern at quarterback. Starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III is expected to miss the game because of a hamstring injury, leaving Keyone Jenkins in line to start. Between Dwyers return and the change under center for the Knights, this opener already carries a different look than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
TCU Has A Big 12 Problem Starting To Look Very Real
Early-season tape is already sketching out the kind of Big 12 problems TCU may have to solve, and it starts with the leagues usual mix of tempo, athletic quarterbacks and games that can turn on one mistake. Around the conference, recent outings from teams like UCF, BYU and West Virginia have shown how quickly turnovers, special teams swings and a defense that loses leverage can change the entire feel of a game. For TCU, the takeaway is less about one opponent than the broader reality of what keeps showing up on film.
The Horned Frogs are heading toward a stretch where those details could matter even more, because the league keeps rewarding teams that can protect the ball and handle mobile quarterbacks without giving up chunk plays. The article points to several early examples of how offenses can stress defenses in different ways, and that creates an obvious test for TCU as it lines up its next Big 12 opponents. The question now is whether the Frogs can match that pace and physicality before the league starts exposing any lingering weaknesses. [Read more 🡒]
Big 12 Teams Are Already Separating In The Ways TCU Fears Most
Through three weeks of the 2026 Big 12 football season, the conferences early shape is already starting to tell a familiar story for teams trying to climb the standings. Kansas State has been the cleanest group so far when it comes to penalties, while Colorado has piled up the most, a split that says plenty about which teams are staying composed and which ones are spending too many snaps behind the chains.
Ball security has drawn an even sharper line. Cincinnati has built the leagues best turnover margin by giving it away only once and coming up with five takeaways, while Kansas has gone the other direction with more turnovers committed than forced. For teams like TCU, those are the kinds of habits that tend to matter long after the calendar turns from September. [Read more 🡒]