UCF football fails to score TD for first time since 2015 in road loss at Baylor
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WACO, Texas — Scott Frost described his team’s pregame mood at the hotel as the “most ready” to play away from home all year long. The results, however, said otherwise as UCF’s road woes continued despite having an extra week to prepare and facing an opponent on the precipice of freefall.
The Knights mustered just 225 yards of offense, converting only once on 14 third- and fourth-down attempts, and failed to score a touchdown for the first time in 121 games in a 30-3 loss to Baylor at McLane Stadium on Nov. 1.
Prior to Saturday, the last time UCF finished a football game without finding the end zone was Nov. 26, 2015 — a 44-3 loss to rival South Florida that closed the book on an 0-12 campaign in which George O’Leary retired.
”That was as frustrating an offensive performance as I’ve been a part of,” Frost said. “It was a lot of things. The game started out the wrong way, and we’ve got to take a look as coaches if we had too much in and if our guys couldn’t handle it, if it was the noise on the road, whatever it was. We didn’t play well.”
Sawyer Robertson, the nation’s leader in passing yards, threw three touchdowns — one apiece to Michael Trigg, Josh Cameron and Kole Wilson. Baylor (5-4, 3-3) scored on each of its four trips into the red zone, ending a two-game slide and temporarily easing pressure on embattled head coach Dave Aranda.
UCF (4-4, 1-4) dropped to 0-3 on the road this season, averaging a meager 11.3 points per game away from the Bounce House. In total, the Knights have lost 11 of 14 on the road since joining the Big 12 ahead of the 2023 season.
Tayven Jackson went 18 of 33 for 154 yards and two interceptions. Duane Thomas Jr. had 85 scrimmage yards on nine touches, and Noe Ruelas prevented an outright shutout with a 45-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.
Here are three takeaways from UCF’s most dismal showing, thus far, during Frost’s second tenure.
Role reversal for UCF, Baylor in 1st quarter
Baylor scored more first-quarter points (14) than UCF had allowed in its previous seven contests combined (seven) as Robertson and the Bears’ talented cast of pass-catchers went to work.
On its opening possession, Baylor converted on third downs spanning six, five and 12 yards. Wilson gained 27 on the last of those third-down pickups, and Trigg snagged a 13-yard touchdown pass two plays later.
UCF followed suit with a three-and-out, and the Bears cashed in again with a short field.
Caden Knighten kept the drive alive by leaning forward on a fourth-and-one, Trigg made a highlight-reel, one-handed catch at the UCF 2 and Cameron polished off the drive on a 2-yard slant.
“They just had some really good catches; that’s what you could say,” said redshirt senior defensive end Malachi Lawrence, who had his second straight two-sack game. “You’ve just got to give them their credit. But I wish we could have started faster, for sure.”
Baylor developed a habit of slow starts over the first two months of the season, outscored 48-23 in seven previous opening quarters against Power Four opposition. The Bears fell into a 24-0 hole just a week ago at Cincinnati.
UCF unable to take advantage of Baylor’s woeful run defense
Baylor entered the week 117th in the nation against the run, allowing 190.5 yards per game on the ground. Yet, UCF was unwilling to test the Bears’ front early and unable to generate much across four quarters.
Tayven Jackson launched three passes on the Knights’ opening drive, underthrowing DJ Black on a deep second-down crossing pattern that nearly resulted in an interception. UCF’s second drive showed more promise as Thomas ran for eight yards, and Jackson scrambled for nine to reach the Baylor 13.
However, a season-long issue — moving the ball when needing one yard — crept up over the next two snaps.
On third down, Myles Montgomery ran into the back of a pulling interior lineman and could not stretch past the marker. Frost dialed up a playaction pass on fourth down, but Jackson could not find an open receiver and overshot his fourth read — backup tackle Connor Meadows, who lined up as an extra blocker at tight end.
“I don’t think we’re good enough to run simple stuff like a few (other teams) have and just move the ball down the field in the run game,” Frost said. “A lot of our big plays in the run game have been creative things that have helped the guys. But maybe we should have stayed simple, I don’t know. I want to look at tape before I really answer that.
“What’s weird is that, in practice, they executed all the stuff great. When we get into the games, and the look is just a little different or a guy’s lined up just a little different, or we identify it wrong, or go to the wrong guy, or we don’t handle a movement, it’s a lot of little things. And then the penalties just kill you.”
UCF committed six pre-snap penalties on the day, running its season total up to 26. Preston Cushman was guilty of the most impactful one, halting momentum with a false start on second-and-six from Baylor’s 8 in a 20-3 game. The Knights walked away from the drive emptyhanded.
“We made a lot of mistakes today,” Thomas said. “We seemed focused during pregame, seemed ready. The energy was there. I think we started off very slow. The first couple drives, myself, I had a drop. That killed a drive. It was a lot of the small things, penalties. We had a setback.”
UCF enters short week in preparation for Space Game vs. Houston
UCF may well need another dose of Space Game magic if it wants to go bowling, especially considering its last two road trips are visits to Big 12 championship contenders Texas Tech and BYU.
The Knights will have a short week to prepare and a national spotlight cast upon them when Houston visits the Bounce House at 8 p.m. on Nov. 7. Ranked No. 22 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll, Houston fell Saturday to West Virginia at home in a somewhat stunning upset, 45-35.
Since beginning the tradition in 2017, UCF is 8-0 in its annual Space Game with an average margin of victory of 30.8 points. The dominance has only increased as a Big 12 member; UCF drilled then-No. 15 Oklahoma State 45-3 two years ago and snapped a five-game losing streak with a 56-12 romp past Arizona last November.
“The fans come out to show out,” Lawrence said. “Just that energy carrying over into this Space Game, I feel like it’s going to be good. We’ve just got to go out and do our job because we know, with the previous Space Games, what we’ve done.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football takeaways from blowout road loss to Baylor
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