We play college football today, and it feels like the culmination of a long fever dream that's been the last four years. We finally get to scratch the itch of "What if Scott Frost had never left UCF?"
There is a renewed energy and enthusiasm in the building, and I am excited to get the season underway. We're talking Javon Baker, all-white drip, a delicious hate slate of games this weekend, and buckling in for the ride this fall.
Baker's Dozen
Javon Baker, UCF's first All-Big 12 selection in school history, appears not to have made the 53-man roster in Foxborough with the New England Patriots. The Patriots drafted Baker in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, but he failed to live up to his rookie hype. He played in 11 games and accounted for only one reception for 12 yards. He did carve out a role as a special teams threat, but his impact remains to be seen. He could still make the practice squad. If the next level doesn't work out, does he still have college eligibility remaining? Imagine Javon in a Scott Frost offense.
White on White Crime
Game 1's theme is "First Frost 2.0," and the equipment team has laid out a stellar uniform combination. Jacksonville State brass was generous enough to let us wear the typical road team whites from head to toe, as they are set to don an all-black uniform for our 7:00 p.m. duel in the August Florida heat. I suppose when you're getting the kind of game check it takes to get a G5 team to play a road date like this, you just go along with the program. It should be a great contrast when lined up on the line of scrimmage.
First Frost 2 ❄️ DripU pic.twitter.com/xbFnyHQpZu
— UCF Equipment (@UCF_Equipment) August 26, 2025
Full On Hate Slate for Week One
Half the fun of college football is reveling in the demise of others. Week One is full of interesting storylines and fractured relationships that have a dotted line to UCF's program history. Here is an amuse-bouche to whet your schadenfreude for the season.
Boise State at South Florida, August 28, 5:30 PM
The cows take on the premier Group of Five team, the original BCS Buster national darling, during the traffic rush in Raymond James Stadium. I hope the Broncos suffocate special season aspirations early in Temple Terrace.
Nebraska at Cincinnati August 28, 8:00 PM
Unfortunately, Kansas City is not prone to sinkholes, so this game will undoubtedly be played. Rooting for the conference and Cincinnati, but it feels icky. How the Bearcats allowed Nebraska to make this a neutral-site game in Arrowhead Stadium is beyond me.
****Alabama** at Florida State, August 30, 3:30 PM**
A Gus Malzahn playbook. Tommy Castellanos. Mike Norvell in big games. It really doesn't get better than that, for a game I'm sure many UCF fans will have great interest in.
Just Enjoy This Season
It's been 272 days since UCF Football last took the field, coming off a loss on a drearily cold Black Friday, losing to the equally dismal Utah Utes. It felt like we were entering a long offseason with no clear answers on what was next and a program's identity that had lost its way. We all lost a little spark to close out last season, and it's not just the feeling of growing pains in a new conference or being spoiled by fans. A part of our ethos was missing, and we became what we had always mocked other middling power conference members for being when they never did anything of note: "check cashers."
Frost has reignited a fanbase and started his path on a redemption arc, along with other names on our staff, eager to show the world their past successes were no fluke. Mock us, ignore the high levels of success we've achieved over this century, and dismiss us in preseason rankings. Let us fly under the radar and rebuild ourselves.
Don't get wound up in the win and loss column this fall. Get excited for culture being molded, dynamic playcalling, red-zone efficiency, special teams being a part of the game plan, and seeing the best talent on the field, not the anointed. It will take a little time. Smile when you see the faces that grace your tailgates from August to November. Be welcoming to visiting fans, and be a good fan on the road. Try that new marinade, make your famous buffalo chicken dip, and smoke a cigar with your old buddy from freshman year. Instill a passion for this place in your kids and enjoy the twelve days of the year we get to do this. Find your joy again. It will zoom by faster than Adrian Killins taking one to the house.