Three Things UCF Coach Scott Frost Said Ahead of the Knights’ Trip to Stillwater

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After the Cowboys went to Orlando in two of the past three seasons, the Knights are finally making the return trip.

Oklahoma State hosts UCF at 11 a.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium. UCF coach Scott Frost met with reporters Monday to preview the game. Here are three things he said.

1. Barnett Sounds Doubtful

UCF brought in Alonza Barnett III from James Madison to be the Knights’ quarterback this season, but Barnett hasn’t played since UCF’s Week 2 loss to Pitt because of a hamstring injury.

It looks like the Knights will be without Barnett again in Stillwater.

“I don’t think it’ll happen this week,” Frost said. “We got a bye week coming up after this, and we gotta pour everything into this one. Hopefully that gives us time to get a lot of guys some more time to get healthy.”

FIU transfer Keyone Jenkins has been playing in Barnett’s place. Jenkins has completed 70% of his passes this season for 541 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He has also ran for three scores.

2. On Mestemaker, OSU

It never takes too long in these press conferences for Drew Mestemaker to pop up.

“This guy’s a good player,” Frost said. “… Drew’s a special guy. He’s gonna be a draft pick. When you’re playing a guy like that, you really gotta be on your game.”

There was also quite a bit of talk about the migration of players from North Texas to Oklahoma State. Frost made note to credit OSU coach Eric Morris for finding that talent at North Texas in the first place.

As good as OSU has looked the past three games, there is still that wart of the loss to Tulsa. Frost was asked how he’s seen the Cowboys progress since that loss to the Golden Hurricane.

“Defensively, they’ve played pretty well all season,” Frost said. “… They didn’t score a lot of points in the first game, and then they’ve been lighting it up since. Usually it takes offense a little longer to get going, and with the guys they have, I’m not surprised that they got it turned up.”

3. On Getting Over the Hump

The Knights are 3-2, but both of their losses came on the road to team currently in the AP Top 25.

UCF lost to Pitt 12-7 on a woeful weather day in Pittsburgh, which was also the game the Knights lost Barnett. Then this past weekend, UCF found itself up 17-0 on Houston in the third quarter before the Cougars stormed back and won 27-17.

“We put ourselves in position to have a chance to win two games against really good opponents on the road,” Frost said. “We’re gonna play another one this week, and we gotta try to do the same thing and then find a way. I don’t think it’s anything about the mentality of the team. I think they showed up and played hard against Pitt on a tough day. I think we played really well for a considerable amount of time against Houston. We didn’t finish those. Had a chance to and didn’t.”

Between their two losses, the Knights beat Georgia State 44-30 and picked up a Big 12 win by beating TCU 21-13 in Orlando. Scott noted how the feel of a season can flip quickly — just ask OSU.

“This league is funny, you look at them and everybody kind of counted them out after getting beat by Tulsa, and all of a sudden they beat Oregon and look really good in every game since,” Frost said. “Sometimes it takes a while to catch your footing. I think across the board it’s hard to win on the road in this league, and I think everybody in the games I’ve watched has had an advantage and played a little better at home than they have on the road. We get another road opportunity this week.”