As the final stretch of the season approaches, UCF is fighting to keep its postseason hopes alive after being bowl ineligible last season.
The Knights currently sit at 4-5 (1-5 Big 12). An under .500 record is dangerous territory for teams who want to have a bowl game. A team must win six games to become eligible for a postseason appearance, meaning UCF needs to win two of its next three games.
Here are the team's next three opponents: No. 8 Texas Tech this Saturday, Oklahoma State on Nov. 22 and No. 12 BYU on Nov. 29. The ranked matchups are away games, which is a weakness for the Knights. They are winless on the road, and must pull out a miraculous win to increase their postseason chances.
It would be the second-straight year of bowl ineligibility for UCF if the team fails to win six games, which would be the first time in a decade. The last time the Knights failed to make the postseason was in 2015, when they yielded their worst season going 0-12.
UCF made the postseason eight-straight times after the winless 2015 season. The program has a 3-5 record in bowl games and its opponents have outscored them 249-175. The opposing teams have almost a margin of victory of 10 points, as the Knights allow 31.1 points while they score 21.9 points in bowl games.
The Knights' first bowl was against Arkansas State in 2016 AutoNation Cure Bowl in coach Scott Frost's first year. They lost 31-13. It was a disappointing start in Coach Frost's postseason appearance, but he would return the following year and win gloriously.
Frost lead his team to a perfect 13-0 record in 2017 and faced then-No. 7 Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. UCF defeated the War Eagles 34-27 to end a cinderella season and the season would be remembered by the team's recognition as the co-national champions.
After Frost's departure to his alma mater, the Knights would swap wins and losses in the following bowl games. UCF lost to LSU in the PlayStation Fiesta bowl (2018) and beat Marshall in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (2019). Then they lost to BYU in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl (2020) and defeated Florida in the Union Home Mortgage Bowl (2021). The Knights dropped back-to-back bowl games against Duke (2022) and Georgia Tech (2023).
Now coming off a season of bowl ineligibility, Coach Frost and his team aim to make a postseason appearance this year. Safety Phillip Dunnam hopes the team ends the season with a bang and get a bowl game.