UCF Crosses Into Big 12 Play with a W

On a sunny Saturday that featured a breeze in the center of the Sunshine State, the UCF Knights hosted the TCU Horned Frogs.

Both squads came into the match-up at 2-1, with this contest being the first Big 12 Conference game for each institution this season.

The Knights won the toss and decided to defer to the second half, kicking off to the Horned Frogs to start the game.

On the third play of the day, TCU sophomore wide receiver Ed Small would fumble, forced by redshirt-senior cornerback Jayden Bellamy and recovered by senior nickelback Braeden Marshall, which Marshall returned three yards to the TCU 43-yard line.

Six plays later, UCF would capitalize off of this created turnover when redshirt-freshman running back Taevion Swint would get out to the right and charge in from 13 yards out for a score that put the Knights on the board first, ahead 7-0 at the 10:27 mark of the first quarter.

On the first play of the second drive by the Horned Frogs, fifth-year quarterback Jaden Craig aired out to fifth-year wide receiver Jordan Dwyer for a 43-yard gain, moving TCU from their own 25-yard to the UCF 32.

This drive would conclude with the Horned Frogs' answer to the Knights, that being a one-yard run by junior running back Jeremy Payne to tie the game at 7-7 at the 6:48 mark of the opening quarter.

And as TCU equaled a touchdown with UCF, so, too, did UCF equal a fumble with TCU, when UCF senior quarterback Keyone Jenkins had the ball taken away by and recovered by senior cornerback Vernon Glover at the TCU 45-yard line.

However, the Knights' defense would hold strong, preventing points for the Horned Frogs, who punted the ball back to the Knights inside three minutes remaining in the first quarter.

UCF's offense would send the ball right back to TCU on a quick three-and-out.

The Horned Frogs would go for it on 4th-&-1 on the ensuing drive, their fourth possession of the game, but a false-start penalty would move them back five yards and they would elect, instead, to punt the ball away.

UCF would also stay on the field on fourth down on their fourth drive of the day, this being 4th-&-2. The fourth-down attempt would fall short when Jenkins got one of the two yards needed on a quarterback keeper, sending possession back to TCU on the TCU 48-yard line.

The Horned Frogs would cash in on the foot of senior kicker Nate McCashland who sent the ball through the uprights from the 29-yard line to give TCU their first lead of the game, 10-7, at the 8:30 mark of the second quarter.

UCF responded with a 19-yard pass-play from Jenkins to redshirt-freshman tight end Caden Piening who willed himself into the end zone, pulling his defender with him as he crossed the goal-line to give the Knights a 14-10 lead with 4:58 left in the first half.

On the second play of TCU's next drive, Bellamy would intercept Craig for his fifth interception of his collegiate career, placing UCF on the TCU 36-yard line with a little over four minutes on the first-half game clock.

The Knights would get all the way to the Horned Frogs' 10-yard line, but Jenkins would get sacked for a five-yard loss and fumble the ball amidst the loss of yards. Senior defensive tackle Ansel Din-mbuh forced the fumble and it was recovered by his teammate, senior nickelback Kylin Jackson at the Horned Frogs' 15-yard line with 1:17 left in the first half.

TCU, however, would not come up with any points off of the fumble recovery, punting it back to UCF to end the half with UCF getting out of the first 30 minutes still holding onto the lead, 14-10, despite the late blunder by the offense.

The second half would open with a quick three-and-out for the Knights, with the Horned Frogs getting the ball at the 13:10 mark of the third quarter.

After two first downs achieved on their second drive of the second half, TCU would move backward as a result of a sack by redshirt-junior defensive tackle Thomas Collins and redshirt-junior edge Isaiah Nixon for a seven-yard loss that placed the Horned Frogs at their own 42.

On 3rd-&-4 of this drive from the Knights' 24-yard line, Craig would find junior wide receiver Jeremy Scott for an eight-yard gain.

This, however, was followed by a false-start penalty, sending TCU back five yards to the red-zone entrance gate, at the UCF 20, for 1st-&-15.

A holding penalty followed, sending the Horned Frogs back again, this time for 10 more yards to the Knights' 30-yard line for a 1st-&-25 attempt.

After the penalties pushed them back, TCU was able to get something on the board with a 45-yard field goal by McCashland to make it 14-13 UCF with 3:25 left in the third quarter. This drive totaled 15 plays in nine minutes and 45 seconds, with the plays and the time both being the most by TCU on any scoring drive in the 2026-27 season to this point.

The Knights would gain back-to-back completions on their next drive courtesy of Jenkins through the air, first to senior wide receiver Josh Derry and second to Piening, getting the Knights into Horned Frogs' territory and down to their 36-yard line. This drive would carry out of the third and into the fourth quarter.

On 3rd-&-8 from the TCU 20, Jenkins sent the ball to the left sideline for an incompletion out-of-bounds, but TCU bailed UCF out with a pass-interference penalty on sophomore nickelback Julius Simms providing a new set of downs and moving them ahead to the Horned Frogs' 11-yard line.

The next play would feature another TCU penalty, this being unnecessary roughness on sophomore defensive end John Schobel, rolling UCF to the three-yard line of TCU with a 1st-&-3 opportunity.

Two plays later, the Knights would cross the goal-line thanks to a one-yard run by Landen Chambers to extend the Knights out to an eight-point lead, 21-13, with 12:25 remaining.

McCashland would attempt a 50-yard field goal that would not cross through the uprights, leading to possession returning to UCF at UCF's own 32-yard line with 8:02 left on the game clock.

Despite being on the own 20 on 3rd-&-10, the Horned Frogs would remain calm and Craig would send the ball downfield to Dwyer for a 29-yard gain right by midfield to the TCU 49-yard line.

Redshirt-senior safety Demari Henderson would look to take the wind out of the sails for the Horned Frogs when he sacked Craig for a nine-yard loss back to the Knight's 28 just ahead of the two-minute timeout.

Craig would be pressured on the next play and senior cornerback Antione Jackson would intercept Craig, taking the ball away from TCU and out of the UCF redzone to the UCF 26-yard line.

The Horned Frogs would call their third and final timeout after the Knights' first play of their ensuing drive, with 1:44 remaining.

UCF would run the ball three times and punt it away with 14 seconds remaining.

TCU ran out play and tried to lateral but lost the ball with UCF recovering to secure the win 21-13, elevating the Knights to 3-1 and 1-0 in the Big 12, while the Horned Frogs moved to .500 overall at 2-2 and began Big 12 play at 0-1.