UCF, mired in 10-game road losing streak, hopes to seize opportunity at No. 20 Houston

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As UCF coaches put together game-film snippets to prepare for No. 20 Houston on Saturday, the Knights didn’t have to look far to find motivation.

Last year, the Cougars came into Acrisure Bounce House Stadium fresh off a stunning 45-35 loss to West Virginia. Houston fell behind 10-0 and trailed 24-17 at the half before rallying to pull out a stunning 30-27 win, ending the Knights’ undefeated streak in space games.

“You obviously add that game to your cut-ups on the week because it’s a pretty good look at how they are going to attack,” said UCF defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. “It’s also one Saturday, so that’s how they attacked us based on the personnel that we had at the time.”

This week, UCF (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) heads to Houston (3-1, 0-1 Big 12), hoping to turn the tables. The last time the Knights started a season at 4-1 was back in 2022, just before they joined the Big 12 in 2023.

Adding to the challenge, UCF is mired in a 10-game road losing streak, last winning away from home against TCU on Sept. 14, 2024. The streak stands as the fourth-longest in the nation and the longest in the Big 12.

Coach Scott Frost isn’t willing to dwell on the past.

“You guys (media) are going to talk about road record, but this team has nothing to do with the team last year or the team two years ago,” said Frost, who arrived in 2025. “We played really physical and battled on the road against a good team a couple of weeks ago.”

UCF lost to Pitt, 12-7 on a stormy Saturday in Pittsburgh on Sept. 12.

“We’re going to get another opportunity to do something cool and special and I hope our guys keep looking at it that way,” Frost added. “These are opportunities for us.”

The Knights face a difficult stretch over the next four weeks, with back-to-back road games at No. 20 Houston and No. 19 Oklahoma State next week followed by a bye week and then a home contest against No. 10 BYU on Oct. 24.

“It’s a challenging stretch. Those are three really good football teams, but we’ve been improving, and we’ll see if we’re up for those challenges,” said Frost.

Frost believes that to win on the road, a team must have an attitude when it steps onto an opponent’s field.

“You’ve got to have a little bit of chip on your shoulder when you go on the road,” he explained. “Some guys embrace that kind of hostile crowd to have an opportunity to go somewhere else and fight and see if you can get it done.

“Teams aren’t going to give it to you on the road. So if you’re going to win one on the road, you got to go, just beat them.”

Along those lines, Houston asked UCF to wear their home jersey (black) on Saturday as the Cougars were planning a blue-out event for the game. The team is wearing their light powder blue jerseys.

Frost said he politely declined.

“I don’t want to wear black jerseys at 11:00 a.m. on the road in Houston, Texas,” he said. “I apologize to them, but it wasn’t malicious by any means. I just want to give our guys a chance to stay as cool as they can.”

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram at @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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