Knights aim to build on success
Midway through the college football season, new UCF football coach Scott Frost already has experienced the wild pendulum shifts that go with rebuilding a program for the first time.
Two weekends ago, he called the team’s last-second 26-25 homecoming loss to Temple “sickening.” He and several assistants said it was one of the most heartbreaking losses they’d been a part of.
On Saturday, Frost was dishing out the pain as UCF pulled off a 24-16 comefrom-behind victory during UConn’s homecoming. And it didn’t hurt that the Nebraska native’s beloved Chicago Cubs that same night happened to clinch a place in the World Series for the first time in 71 years.
“Coaching is funny. Someone on my staff told me it’s so binary, it’s so win-lose, zero over one, but that’s the game and we all love the game,” said Frost, 41. “Being able to compete and measure yourself as a coach, as a player, as a team every week, that makes it exciting. If you love competition, you wouldn’t want anything else.”
UCF has been making a slow but steady climb back toward becoming an American Athletic Conference heavy-hitter again after going 0-12 last season. The Knights (4-3 overall, 2-1 AAC) will look to continue that journey of improvement at Houston (6-2 overall, 3-2 AAC) Saturday.
While UCF’s progress has been slow and steady, Houston’s growth has been fast and hard. The Cougars jumped from a middle-ofthe-pack conference team under Tony Levine to a national star in 2015 with firstyear coach Tom Herman, who previously served as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. He guided the Cougars to a 13-1 finish and continued Houston’s explosive rise with a signature victory over then-No. 3 Oklahoma to start the season.
But the Cougars have struggled to get back on track since Navy knocked them out of playoff contention on Oct. 8. SMU further derailed Houston with a 38-16 loss Saturday that knocked the Cougars out of the Associated Press Top 25 rankings for the first time this season.
“I was shocked, but SMU came out and played hard, so I know they’re gonna want to play their best game against us to make a statement,” UCF defensive lineman Tony Guerad said. “So we have to come with it.”
Most UCF-vs.-Houston matchups have been decided by less than a touchdown.
But the programs’ last meeting in 2015 ended in a 51-10 UCF loss and kicked off a series of events that ultimately led to coach George O’Leary’s retirement and brought Frost to the Knights.
UCF still has leaps to make before it can challenge for a conference championship. But considering that two of the Knights’ losses were decided by just a few plays, that leap might be more of a small hop.
“I told them after the game, and before the game, think about where they were in January and then think about where they were in March when we started spring ball and when we finished spring ball. It’s a different team,” Frost said. “I thought we took a big step forward Saturday again. There’s been improvement every week. Seeing the passing game click like that is a big part of what we need going forward. One of these games we’re gonna put it all together offensively, running game, passing game, everything and explode on somebody.”