UCF remains focused on the overall process despite recent stumbles
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Nobody wants to see UCF football succeed more than Scott Frost.
It’s one of the reasons that Frost left the obscurity of an analyst job in the NFL to step back into the spotlight of being a head football coach again. To return to a program that he previously led to the mountaintop, only to leave prematurely.
And while things haven’t gone as well as some would have liked, Frost isn’t worried.
“When you go into a process like this, you can’t ever assume it’s going to be easy. Nothing worth having is ever easy,” he said on Monday.
UCF (4-5, 1-5 in Big 12 play) is coming off a tough 30-27 loss against Houston last Friday, a loss that significantly hurt their chances for postseason play.
The Knights now face a crucial challenge: to become bowl eligible, they need to secure wins in two of their last three games, starting with Saturday’s road matchup against No. 8 Texas Tech.
“I like our team,” Frost added. “The one thing I took out of the Houston game, as disappointing as it was, is how much fight there was in our guys. I never want us to lose that.”
The Knights face overwhelming odds this week when they hit the road to face the Red Raiders, an early 24-point favorite. It’s the largest opening odds since UCF was a 35-point underdog at No. 5 Michigan on Sept. 10, 2016 — Frost’s first season.
This weekend’s matchup is truly David versus Goliath in every sense.
Texas Tech reportedly spent nearly $30 million upgrading its roster in the offseason, thanks to the help of billionaire booster Cody Campbell, who facilitated the acquisition of players from the transfer portal, all in the hopes of chasing the program’s first Big 12 title.
The defensive line alone reportedly received a nearly $7 million upgrade, adding players such as David Bailey, Romello Height, Skyler Gill-Howard, A.J. Holmes Jr., as well as former UCF tackle Lee Hunter.
Few schools, including UCF, could compete financially on the same level.
Still, the Knights are making preparations for their attack this week, as they have every week.
“We’ve just got to keep getting better and we haven’t played up to our capabilities on the road yet this year,” Frost said. “Whatever that capability is, then I want to play it at a closer rate to what our best is and that means a good week of practice and the right mentality going into the game.”
Adding to the difficulty is the fact that UCF enters Saturday’s showdown as a battered and bruised team. The Knights already lost players such as defensive tackle Horace Lockett Jr., edge rusher Sincere Edwards and running backs Stacy Gage and Taevion Swint for the season.
Five things we learned about UCF’s loss to Houston
But also saw key contributors such as edge rushers Malachi Lawrence and Nyjalik Kelly, running back Myles Montgomery, safety Braeden Marshall, and linebacker Jordan McDonald all exit Friday’s game with apparent injuries.
Their statuses remain uncertain as of Monday.
“I admire our guys’ fight the other night and a lot of guys got called into duty that would normally be in that situation,” said Frost. “We seem to have a rash of more of them than you would typically want or have in a typical year, but that’s football.”
Quarterback Tayven Jackson also left the game with the Cougars with what Frost termed a hamstring issue. Davi Belfort replaced him and his status is also uncertain.
Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1 Big 12) is coming off an impressive 29-7 win over BYU on Saturday. The Red Raiders forced three turnovers and limited one of the Big 12’s best rushing teams to just 67 yards on the ground.
The last time UCF defeated a top 10 opponent was Auburn in the 2017 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl — which would be Frost’s last game as the Knights’ coach before leaving to take the head coaching job at Nebraska.
Fast forward to this week, and while there is clearly disappointment about this season and several missed opportunities, Frost knows that better days are ahead for the program. It’s all part of the overall process. A process that players observe daily.
“You’ve got to believe it. If you don’t believe it, then you don’t belong here,” said senior offensive lineman Paul Rubelt. “There’s no other way other than keep going and trying to improve. If you’re a winner, you’re willing to do that every week, regardless of the outcome of the last game, whether you win or lose. It’s always a process.”
While reflecting on the challenges of this season, Frost recalled something defensive coordinator Alex Grinch shared with him.
“When you’re going through a process like this, where you’re rebuilding, maybe deep down, you’re hoping that there’s an easy way that it’s just going to happen without the hard work, without the trials, without some setbacks,” Frost said.
“Nothing good ever happens without those things happening. You’ve got to go through the hard to get to the good.”
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
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