Wildcats spoil Scott Frost’s Big 12 debut as Knights fall on the road
UCF Coach Scott Frost glances up at the scoreboard during a game against Kansas State Saturday September 27, 2025 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Knights are searching for answers after falling flat on the road, and their head coach is eager to resolve those issues before they resume Big 12 play.
After all, Kansas State dominated UCF in the trenches, exposed glaring weaknesses on both sides of the ball, and won the game 34-20. Opening up conference play on a sour note isn’t ideal for Frost, but he wants his players to learn from the adversity, and build on the positive aspects from the loss.
Although the Knights trailed the entire contest, and fell behind by as many as 21 points in the second half, they still battled back, regardless of what the scoreboard displayed. That showed heart in Frost’s eyes, and encouraged him for the tough journey ahead.
“I don’t think this team will ever give up, we can lose three or four-straight, and this team won’t give up,” Frost said. “We’re starting to develop a bond, but you gotta go through some success and some hard things in order to really come together as a group.”
The Wildcats hurt two of the Knights’ quarterbacks. Tayven Jackson took a blow in the second quarter from Kansas State edge rusher Cody Stufflebean, and was on the sidelines for the remainder of the first half. Jacurri Brown came in for Jackson, and threw an 82-yard touchdown to DJ Black, but later hurt his hand. Jackson returned in the second half, but it was obvious he wasn’t the same.
UCF’s offense ran the ball well though, and finished with 205 yards on the ground. Not to mention the Knights averaged 6.2 yards per carry. Running back Myles Montgomery only carried the ball 10 times, but ended up with 119 yards. Frost understands having an efficient ground attack will go a long way as the Knights navigate through the Big 12 gauntlet.
He wanted his team to start off fast, and unfortunately, falling behind early forced Frost to adjust his game plan, especially on defense.
“Going into the game we expected them to use tempo, try to go fast and run the quarterback, which is what happened and because of that we wanted to try to control the ball and time of possession,” he said. “It completely went against our plan to begin with, and in their defense we left our defense out there too long.”
Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards did a lot of damage to UCF’s defense. He dashed through the Knights’ front seven like a hot knife through butter, and outran the secondary. Which is why Edwards ended up eclipsing the century mark in rushing, and his 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was the most explosive play of the game. UCF had no answer for Kansas State’s physicality on both sides of the ball, and that frustrated Frost.
“We just sputtered in the first half, and couldn’t get any momentum going,” the 50-year old said. “In the second half we started to, and some of the runs we expected to hit, we hit, and made a couple of good adjustments for how they were playing our different formations.”
Jackson completed 12 of his 24 passes for 115 yards and an interception. Brown threw the Knights’ only touchdown. Running back Jaden Nixon generated UCF’s only touchdown on the ground. Wideout Duane Thomas had a team-high, four receptions for 55 yards. Frost is demanding more consistency out of his offense though.
Once the smoke cleared, Kansas State (2-3) led UCF in total offense, rushing yards, first downs, plays, third down efficiency and time of possession. Frost knows those type of numbers won’t get the job done. The Wildcats didn’t give Frost a warm welcome back to the Big 12, but they did provide him a measuring stick of where his team stands approaching week six.
On the bright side, kicker Noe Ruelas nailed both of his field goal attempts, including one from 53 yards out. Defensively, Antione Jackson tallied a team-high, eight tackles. Malachi Lawrence provided the only sack for the Knights. Braeden Marshall, Phillip Dunnam, and Lewis Carter each added six stops.
Now Frost is going to put this loss in the rearview mirror, and keep his players grinding. UCF (3-1) will resume conference play back at home against Kansas, and in the meantime Frost intends on ironing out all of the wrinkles, and correcting the mistakes. Most importantly, Frost gives credit to Chris Klieman and his staff for showing him the speed and coaching it’s going to take to succeed in the league.
“They gave us their best shot, so congratulations to them.”
