The Knights’ no-show against Baylor
BY Adam Eaton | Sons of UCF
The refrain of the 2025 UCF Knights football season has been one of patience. After all, Scott Frost took over a team that was 4-8 the year prior and had to put together a new roster and coaching staff with very little lead-up time. Frost also lost a handful of talented players to new destinations, in most cases for more NIL dollars. When these factors exist, it is usually the recipe for a rebuild.
The early parts of the season brought that recipe to bear, with the Knights showing themselves to be an inconsistent football team prone to missteps and blunders. Through the struggles, there have also been signs of life – performances that make you think they might be ahead of schedule.
As evidence, the Knights looked potent in their last game out, pitting lights-out defense with timely offense to beat West Virginia, 45-13. That result, plus some much-needed rest during a bye week, had Knights fans pointing the momentum arrow upward in anticipation of a road contest against Baylor.
However, what happened was anything but upward, with the Knights getting worked all over the field en route to a 30-3 loss. It wasn’t just that the Knights lost that was surprising; after all, they were about a 3.5-point underdog coming in. It was the way they lost—and the talk after—that truly shows the depth of the rebuild attempt.
Is there cause for concern heading into a matchup against Houston? Let’s examine the themes that have emerged throughout the season.
Same old mistakes
The Knights are averaging 7.3 penalties per game, ranking them tied for 109th-worst in the nation. Against Baylor on Saturday, the Knights were flagged for eight penalties, and the offense committed all but one (delay of game on a punt). What’s more, of the seven penalties on offense, over half are truly mental or schematic errors that cost the team yards, including one delay of game, one illegal formation, and three false starts. The Knights are not a good enough offensive team to overcome this list of mental errors, and, as it did on Saturday, the by-product of these penalties is a stalled offense.
Jekyll and Hyde QB
It’s not revolutionary for a quarterback to be more productive at home than on the road, and that has undoubtedly been the case for the Knights in 2025. Looking at the primary starters for each game, the Knights QBs (namely Tayven Jackson or Cam Fancher) are averaging almost 214 yards passing, one passing TD, and close to one rushing TD a game when playing at home. On the road, those numbers dip to 162 yards passing, zero passing TDs, and one INT per game. Simply put, the Knights cannot get consistent enough QB play on the road to win games, and while the home stats look better, having six TD passes through eight games doesn’t exactly strike fear in the opponent. Another factor in this equation has been the health of the QBs, with Jackson, Fancher, and Jacurri Brown each missing a game or leaving early due to injury. For now, Jackson appears to be the starter, but his health is also still a concern.
Note: Third string QB Jacurri Brown threw one TD pass at Kansas State while briefly replacing an injured Tayven Jackson
Frosty in Orlando
Scott Frost’s second tenure at UCF brought back some good memories of a time when the Knights were in the upper crust of college football. And while many fans have chosen a patient approach due to the scale of the challenge, there are some areas where Frost will need to evolve or improve. First, there have been no signs of resolving the penalty issues, particularly the self-inflicted or mental-mistake kind. Next, the UCF offense has struggled all season on third- and fourth-and-short-yardage plays, highlighted by the 1-14 performance in such situations against Baylor. Frost would be better served evaluating his strategies on short-yardage situations, including when to settle for field goals. Lastly, Frost needs to help the UCF offense establish an identity and strength. While there are certainly benefits to being multiple, this version of the Knights hasn’t found its footing in any one area. Some, if not most, of this can be attributed to roster construction and the available players, but fans are starting to get antsy, looking for signs of life.
Up Next
The Knights will celebrate their annual Space Game on Friday, welcoming the Houston Cougars to Orlando. A yearly celebration of the partnership between UCF and NASA, the Space Game features specialized uniforms and a rebrand as the Citronauts, the school’s original mascot upon its opening in 1963.