Big 12 team preview: Watch out for UCF, which has a bona fide QB and a favorable conference schedule

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Editor’s note: Fourth in a series previewing each team in the Big 12 in 2026.

Second-year UCF coach Scott Frost probably would have drawn up the Knights’ Big 12 schedule a bit differently if it were up to him, but he has to be happy with the way the latter half of October shapes up for a program that has underachieved in its three seasons in a power conference.

After a home game against TCU on Sept. 26, a game that Frost’s team absolutely has to win to get his second stint in Orlando jump-started, UCF has a couple of road games at Houston and Oklahoma. Then the Knights get an absolute gift from the Big 12 schedule-maker.

While BYU is tangling with Notre Dame on Oct. 17 in Provo and likely exhausting a month’s worth of emotion, UCF will be idle, and presumably preparing for the Cougars’ visit on Oct. 24.

“BYU’s game against Notre Dame is going to be crazy unreal,” said Brett McMurphy of On3.com. “For BYU, to go to Florida the next week (and not fall flat) is going to be the hardest coaching job of Kalani Sitake’s life.”

Also, UCF has been blown out by BYU in the last three matchups of the programs that entered the Big 12 at the same time; BYU crushed the Knights 49-23 in the 2020 Boca Raton Bowl, walloped the Knights 37-24 in a Big 12 showdown in 2024, and drubbed the Knights 41-21 on Senior Day last November in Provo.

That loss eight months ago at LaVell Edwards Stadium kept UCF out of a bowl game, as Frost’s crew finished 2-7 in the league, 5-7 overall. The season was marked by uncertainty at quarterback, along with other issues related to Frost taking over for Gus Malzahn late in the process, and after the transfer portal had opened.

“Last year was tough, because right when coaches were getting hired, the portal was open,” Frost said at the Big 12 media days. “When I showed up on campus, the portal was wide open. Our own players that I didn’t even know yet were trying to decide what to do.

“I didn’t have a staff, so people were going on visits and getting signed and deals were being made, and I didn’t even have a recruiting department, really,” he continued. “We were way more prepared this year. We were able to keep and retain the right guys and bring in some other really good ones around them.”

One of those key acquisitions was quarterback Alonza Barnett III, the 2025 Sun Belt Player of the Year after leading James Madison to the College Football Playoff. Barnett threw for 2,806 yards and ran for 589 yards for JMU in 2025. He accounted for 38 total touchdowns.

“We are excited to have the guy. We went in last season with a three-horse race at quarterback,” Frost said. “It is going to be nice and refreshing to have a guy that everybody looks to and knows that he’s the guy. Alonza has played a lot of football games, and won a lot of football games.”

Frost also brought in one of the better running backs in the transfer portal, Louisville’s Duke Watson. As a freshman in the ACC last year, Watson averaged 8.9 yards per carry. UCF also added Central Arkansas transfer Landen Chambers, who rushed for 1,273 yards last year at the FCS level.

“I think guys like that are going to give us a little bit of an easier path to hopefully some success,” Frost said.

Barnett, who didn’t participate in spring camp due to what Frost called some “very minor” injuries, should be surrounded by plenty of capable receivers. Duane Thomas Jr. caught a team-high 53 passes last year for 528 yards, while Waden Charles had 26 catches for 290 yards as a true freshman.

“I love our depth and our overall talent compared to last year,” Frost said. “I am just fired up to work with this team.”

Frost was also able to retain 10 of his 12 assistant coaches. He took some time in Frisco to honor former UCF offensive line coach Shawn Clark, who tragically died last September at the age of 50 following a medical emergency.

“We had to replace Shawn and a cornerbacks coach. Otherwise, our entire staff is back together,” Frost said. “That just helps so much, because everybody in the building understands the direction in which we’re trying to move and our process of trying to get there.”

Getting there hasn’t been easy. When UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston joined the Big 12 back in 2023, a lot of folks figured that UCF and BYU would make the biggest immediate impacts.

They were half right.

While BYU has soared after a rocky start in 2023 — a 5-7 record — UCF has mostly faltered, despite being in one of the country’s most fertile recruiting areas. The Knights went 6-7 in 2023 and 4-8 in 2024, and are a combined 7-20 in the Big 12 the past three seasons.

Frost, who was UCF’s coach in its glory days of 2016 and 2017 before heading off to Nebraska, acknowledged that there’s been a bit of a drop-off in talent. Part of it, he said, is that recruits aren’t tied to one state or area as much as they once were, thanks to NIL and the transfer portal.

“I certainly know the type of talent that exists in Florida and the type of talent that exists in Texas,” he said. “Recruiting is different now. I think more than ever kids are willing to go anywhere. It is hard to cast your net so wide that you look under every crock and in every corner for players, but we’re going to be willing to go anywhere in the country to get players, including Texas.

“I know Orlando is a really awesome place, and kids are going to want to be there,” he continued. “So I think we will have success when we do venture out of state.”

The Knights don’t have to play two of the other predicted top teams in the league, Texas Tech and Utah.

UCF Knights 2026 preview

• 2025 record: 5-7 (2-7 Big 12)

Utah ties

• Redshirt sophomore tight end Grayson Brousseau prepped at Lehi High before enrolling at Oklahoma State and then transferring to UCF

2026 schedule

• Sept. 3: vs. Bethune-Cookman
• Sept. 12: at Pittsburgh
• Sept. 19: vs. Georgia State
• Sept. 26: vs. TCU
• Oct. 3: at Houston
• Oct. 10: at Oklahoma State
• Oct. 17: Idle
• Oct. 24: vs. BYU
• Oct. 30: vs. Baylor
• Nov. 7: at Kansas
• Nov. 14: vs. Arizona State
• Nov. 20: vs. Iowa State
• Nov. 28: at Colorado

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