The new season of college football is nearly upon us, and while Arizona State is seeking to repeat as Big 12 champions, the rest of the conference will have something to say about that. In anticipation of the new season, we're breaking down each of the 15 other schools and where they stand heading into the year. You can find previously released breakdowns below.
Oklahoma State
Houston
BYU
Colorado
Cincinnati
Arizona
West Virginia
Kansas
Today, we look at another program who brought back a former head coach, as Scott Frost is back with UCF.
What happened last year
The Knights came in with reasonably high expectations last year. Gus Malzahn posted consecutive nine-win seasons in Orlando and then managed to lead his Knights to a 6-7 record in 2023, the only one of four new Big 12 teams to make a bowl game that year.
With superstar running back RJ Harvey and dual threat transfer quarterback KJ Jefferson, UCF was building some hype as a potential dark horse team. After starting out 3-0, including a narrow victory over TCU, it looked like all the hype was justified.
Then the bottom fell out. The Knights lost their next five games, and Malzahn fired his defensive coordinator midseason. A win over the dreadful Arizona Wildcats preceded three more losses, with UCF finishing 4-8. It was a massive disappointment given all the talent on the roster.
What's new this year
Malzahn refuted reports he was planning to retire, but the 59-year old coach did leave to take the offensive coordinator job at Florida State, opening up UCF for a necessary chance to hit the reset button. They did just that in hiring Scott Frost.
Frost, some will remember, is a legend in Orlando. He coached under both Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich at Oregon before taking the UCF head coaching gig in 2016. Aftr going 6-7 his first year, Frost led the Knights to a 13-0 season. He then left to coach his alma mater, trying to turn around Nebraska, but was fired after four years and some change.
His tenure with the Cornhuskers has seriously damaged his reputation, but Frost turned UCF into a recognizable brand and set the program on the path to joining the Big 12 in the first place. He spent last season on Sean McVay's Los Angeles Rams staff, learning from one of the best head coaches in the NFL.
He does, however, inherit a pretty bare roster. The Knights had 42 players transfer out, on top of losing multiple starters to the NFL Draft. Frost has enacted a near-total facelift of the roster as he tries to establish a new identity for the program.
Reasons for optimism
Most of the hope for this year in Orlando stems from Frost having led this program to new heights before. If anyone can turn this program around, surely it's the guy who's already done it before. Even still, Frost needs a lot of players to step up in 2025 to have an instant turnaround.
At quarterback, Frost has three transfers competing for the starting job, with many keeping their eye on former Indiana quarterback Tayven Jackson. A former 4-star Tennessee commit, Jackson has the sheer potential to power UCF to new heights in Frost's offense.
Reasons for skepticism
This roster doesn't look good on paper, mostly due to the fact that it features so many new and unproven faces. Any time a team has this much turnover, it's hard to bank on them doing much right away. This is very much the first year of a rebuild for Frost.
There's also the question of whether or not Frost has lost his fastball. He hasn't coached in a game since September of 2022, and hasn't had a winning season 2017. College athletics has changed radically since then. Is Frost prepared?
Realistic expectations
Somebody has to finish last in the Big 12, and UCF certainly looks like a candidate to do so. Expectations shouldn't be high for the Knights, especially with road trips to Texas Tech, Kansas State, Baylor, and BYU.
Between a litany of questions on the depth chart and Frost needing to get reacclimated to being a head coach (and offensive play-caller), UCF could easily finish at or near the bottom of the conference this year. That shouldn't be cause for concern, though, as Frost is only getting started in building his program.