I harbor no personal resentment toward the University of Central Florida Knights. Way back before I knew my now-wife in 2012, she was completing her master’s degree from Iowa State and was shopping for doctoral programs. She received advice that changed the course of my life forever: “Go wherever will give you the most money.” She narrowed her list to UCF and TCU. Luckily for me — and our three children — the rest is history because Texas Christian is great at shelling out that sweet cash.
Saturday marked the very first Big 12 matchup of the new-look conference, and both teams are in that “might be good” category. Both the Knights and Frogs fell short of .500 last season, thanks to several close losses. UCF fell in three games by a combined four points. TCU lost as many by nine. Both members have also achieved undefeated seasons in the last 15 years, but despite all their similarities, these teams are constructed for starkly different purposes.
TCU’s passing attack took center stage Saturday night as sophomore quarterback Josh Hoover tossed for 402 yards and four touchdowns. Jack Bech continues to be the unexpected breakout receiver, accumulating 200 yards and a score, and he’s averaging more than 115 yards per game. Hoover was on fire through the first half, using his talented receivers to threaten the perimeter as a makeshift run game and hitting down-the-field throws as well. The Frogs were incredibly efficient in the first half, scoring touchdowns on three of their four drives to carry a 21-7 lead into the locker room.
UCF fields a big, bullying, bruising rushing attack with a talented offensive line and beefy backfield, including their quarterback. The Knights came into Amon G. Carter as the nation’s top rushing team but were slow out of the gates. Coach Gus Malzahn’s squad punted twice during the first half but managed three long drives: one for a touchdown, the other two ending with blocked field goals. Everything went the Frogs’ way through the first two quarters and even to open the third as a pass interference call against UCF, and a pair of short completions, led to a 50-yard connection to Bech and a 28-7 lead.
I’ll admit it. Things felt comfortable at that point. Words to the wise: Never sleep on Florida. Or Floridians. That’s when they attack, “they” being sinkholes, alligators, or just “a Florida man.” Purple fans began to trickle out to begin their victory celebrations early, and it seems Andy Avalos’ defense might have started to do the same. Despite scoring only seven points, the Knights gained 258 yards in the first half. Staring down a three-score deficit, UCF responded with consecutive 75-yard drives for touchdowns, led by efficient rushing and 20-plus-yard passes.
The Hypnotoad vibes were vacant from then on. TCU cobbled a nice drive in between Knight scores but stalled in the red zone and settled for 3. The Frogs would fail to find the end zone again, kicking another red-zone 3 during the fourth quarter, this time having reached the 1-yard line only to suffer a false start and incomplete pass and resigning themselves to a 6-point lead with the Orlandans seemingly driving the ball at will. UCF took their first lead of the game by 1 point with 36 seconds remaining. Hoover commanded his team 35 yards with the remaining seconds into position for a 58-yard kick attempt by freshman Kyle Lemmermann. It was long enough but wide right.
TCU’s defense was hapless overall against the Knights. UCF avoided negative plays and put themselves ahead of the down marker via their rushing attack. Frog defensive linemen were simply outmuscled by the white-and-gold big bodies. Despite being a run-first team, UCF ended up balanced with 289 yards on the ground and 230 through the air, which was really the linchpin of their success. TCU’s secondary was exposed as unimproved from last season, and future opponents have already taken note. Malzahn’s game plan to use the run to open up the pass (which is how non air-raid football has been built for 100 years) worked masterfully. JaTravis Broughton, a transfer from Utah, struggled all night at his cornerback position, but he certainly wasn’t the only one. Avalos’ group surrendered 519 total yards, and without three blocked kicks, the score wouldn’t have seemed as close.
It’s difficult to label an offensive performance of 34 points and 460 yards as poor, and it isn’t — a team with those stats should be winning whichever hypothetical game in question. In my heart, I’d like to blame offensive coordinator Kendal Briles in some convoluted way, but the more times my DVR hums and stat lines I pore over, it just isn’t there. The offensive shortfall, if there really is one, was 62 rushing yards on 16 attempts and only 11 by Cam Cook, who seems to be TCU’s only hope for a prominent back this season. Despite a monstrous first half, the TCU run game was never truly established. Briles called only three runs during the third quarter and five runs in the fourth. Cook successfully carried TCU to the 1-yard line, but the false start penalty that stalled the drive might have proved to be the difference in this razor-thin matchup. The lack of a threatening rushing attack left Hoover tossing three consecutive passes short of the first-down sticks during the drive that could have iced the game. The Knights would have simply flattened their backs and run it down our throats, but we’re not built to do the same.
In the end, UCF was the better team in an entertaining game of wild momentum shifts. Neither team committed a turnover or was heavily penalized. TCU stole 7 points from Central Florida’s kicking phase, but the Frog defense was exposed both in the trenches and especially in the secondary. Dykes and company had chances to close this game, and I think we’ll witness UCF finish in the Top 4 of conference squads this year as their slate appears very manageable save for Iowa State and Utah.
TCU will have a chance to regain swagger as they fight to keep the Iron Skillet when they travel to face SMU this weekend. The Ponies haven’t beaten the Frogs since 2021, and Sonny Dykes is perfect against his former team so far. SMU is fresh off a bye week and are undoubtedly hoping to capitalize on the defensive holes in Fort Worth after failing to score a touchdown in their five-field-goal loss against BYU. Dykes’ emphasis in practice this week will be no different than it’s been all offseason: score touchdowns in the red zone and finish games. Every keyboard Chicken Little will proclaim this season to be over, but undefeated was the pipiest of dreams to begin with. A small part of my lizard brain was furious over the Frog faceplant on Saturday evening, but the mature part of me appreciated what an entertaining game this really was. I didn’t go to bed angry on Saturday because, after all, UCF lost my wife to TCU, but I suppose it’s OK for the rest of you to be pissed off a while longer.
