Bianchi: UCF escapes, Scott Frost exhales and reality sets in

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The first season of the Scott Frost Homecoming Tour came to an end Saturday evening in UCF’s  Bounce House finale. Not with fireworks. Not with the soundtrack of 2017 echoing from the rafters. Not with the frenzied energy that accompanied his return in December.

It ended with a sigh of relief.

It ended with a win, yes — a come-from-behind last-minute 17-14 victory over a truly terrible Oklahoma State team that has spent the season auditioning for the role of Worst Team in the Power 4. But it was a win nonetheless and it kept UCF’s slim hopes of a bowl game alive heading into next week’s regular-season finale at 11th-ranked BYU.

It’s certainly not a stretch to say that the romance of Scott Frost’s return in December now has turned to reality. And maybe that’s the story of this game. Not that Frost’s Knights won, but that the novelty of his return has worn off — and the long, slogging truth of a rebuild has settled over Knight Nation like a damp, unwelcome fog.

Frost’s demeanor after the game wasn’t that of a coach who had just rallied from 14 down in the second half and recorded a dramatic victory on a 34-yard-field goal from kicker Noe Ruelas with 57 seconds left. No, it was the look of a coach who knows he still is at the foot of Mount Everest and aware that the real climb has just begun.

“It’s been what it is; it’s been a fight,” Frost said of his first season at UCF. “When you get 70 new guys in the portal and try to teach them offense and defense when you don’t even know the [existing] guys on your team, much less the guys you’re bringing in, we’ve had some unusual circumstances this year.

“I love UCF and I love coaching here,” he added, “but I hate losing and we’ve lost more than I wanted to this year. Once that gets fixed, I’m going to be really happy.”

Saturday was supposed to be a celebration — Senior Day, the home finale, and a golden opportunity to rechristen UCF as something more than a Big 12 speed bump. Oklahoma State came in at 1-9, fresh off firing longtime coach Mike Gundy earlier this season, and sporting the type of résumé normally associated with teams that are transitioning back to FCS.

If there was ever a game to pump optimism back into the bloodstream of the fanbase, this was it. But whenever you come thisclose to losing at home to a team that hasn’t won a conference game in two years, it certainly puts a damper on the celebration.

Knight Nation entered the year drunk on Frost’s return, but this season has certainly sobered up the fans.  They’ve stopped dreaming of Camelot, and now they’re living in the real world — the world where UCF has been injury-riddled and depth-depleted and clawing its way uphill in a conference filled with teams that recruit with richer wallets and deeper rosters.

The glow of Frost’s December hiring has given way to the harsh glare of the field lights Saturday night that illuminated all the cracks — roster cracks, depth-chart cracks and the discipline lapses that keep drawing penalty flags.

But at least — on this night — they beat the worst team in the Big 12.

The Knights didn’t need magic, miracles or Frosty the Showman’s pyrotechnics. They needed something simpler.

They just needed a win.

And they got exactly that, albeit a sloppy, unspectacular victory over a bad opponent. Still, it was the type of game rebuilding programs absolutely must win if they want to prove they’re making progress — no matter how incremental.

The Knights didn’t dominate by any means, but they made the big plays they needed to make. Trailing 14-0 at halftime, UCF opened the second half with an 83-yard touchdown pass from Tayven Jackson to Dylan Wade. UCF then tied the game with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter when Jackson found Wade again in the end zone on a fourth-and-goal at the 2.

Meanwhile, UCF’s defense allowed Oklahoma State only one first down and 27 total yards in the second half after yielding 201 yards of total offense in the first half.

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t euphoric.

But it was a win.

A win that gives UCF something to cling to. Something that could still become quite meaningful next week.

Believe it or not, UCF still has a chance — however faint — to make a bowl game.

Yes, that UCF.

Yes, the same UCF team that got face-planted by Baylor and outclassed by Texas Tech.

Yes, the same UCF team that has spent most of the season limping from quarterback injury to the next.

If Frost can take a 4-8 roster, hemorrhaging talent and held together by baling wire, and get it to six wins — including a road win at ranked BYU — then that is nothing short of a miracle.

It would validate the foundation Frost keeps talking about.

It would give the offseason a jolt of momentum.

It would give the fans a reason to believe the rebuild may be slow — but it’s real.

And even if the odds of a bowl game are long, the mere possibility injects life into a fanbase that has spent the month wading ankle-deep through despair.

And even if they fall short in Provo, the win over Oklahoma State still mattered.

It mattered because it prevented rock-bottom.

It mattered because it showed UCF is at least slightly above the basement of the Big 12.

It mattered because winning, even ugly winning, creates belief.

And belief is the currency Frost is trying to rebuild.

But let’s not pretend everything is sunny in the Kingdom of Camelot. Frost knows what he inherited. He knows how far this program has fallen. And he knows that starting next season he will start being measured by results instead of nostalgia.

But the Knights won on Saturday and still have a chance to make the postseason. That’s at least a step upward.

A small step.

A quiet step.

But a step.

And to get anywhere — in football and in life — you have to take a small step before you can make major strides.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my new radio show “Game On” every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen

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