Scott Frost: ‘As frustrating an offensive performance as I’ve been a part of’
WACO, Texas — Scott Frost was candid in assessing UCF’s 30-3 loss at Baylor, calling it one of the most difficult offensive outings he’s experienced as a coach.
Speaking after the defeat, which was the first time UCF failed to reach the end zone since 2015, Frost said the offensive performance was “as frustrating as I’ve been a part of,” pointing to a lack of execution, costly penalties, and recurring short-yardage struggles that once again proved costly on the road.
Here’s everything he had to say:
On coming off a bye week and not being able to score a touchdown
“Yeah, that was as frustrating an offensive performance as I’ve been a part of. It was a lot of things. The game started out the wrong way. We’ve got to take a look as coaches. If we had too much in and our guys couldn’t handle it, if there was a noise on the road, whatever it was, we didn’t play well.
“And what’s weird is going into the game at the hotel, everything, man, guys were dialed in, excited to play. I thought that was the most ready we were to play, and it certainly didn’t play out that way on the field.”
On Baylor’s prior struggles on run defense
“Yeah, that’s all stuff we need to do in the postmortem. I don’t think we’re good enough to run simple stuff like a few people have and just move the ball down the field in the run game. A lot of our big plays in the run game have been kind of creative things that help the guys.
“But maybe we should have stayed simple. I don’t know. I want to look at the tape before I really answer that.”
On the disadvantage of not being able to rely on simple things in the run game
“Well, what’s weird in practice, man, they executed all this stuff great. And we get in the games and it looks just a little different or a guy’s lined up a little different and we identify it wrong or we go to the wrong guy, we don’t handle a movement. It’s just a lot of little things.
“And then the penalties just kill you. We’ve got to be able to win more in one-on-one matchups on the perimeter. We’ve got to block a little better.
“And we’ve got to eliminate those penalties. It’s frustrating to see all those things happen three times in a row on the road.”
On Baylor being successful against UCF’s defense on third and fourth down
“No, I just thought their guys made a lot of good plays. I’m being honest that we’re right there on the first touchdown and their guy just made a play. They made some guys miss, thought the running back broke tackles and extended plays, the quarterback scrambled a couple times and got the first down.
“We’ve got to do those things. We’ve got to be able to do those things. Hindsight’s 20-20, but if you go back and maybe just try to grind it out against them, I don’t know, but we found ourselves down 14 pretty fast and you’re not in a game where you can do that as much.
“So, you know, the game didn’t start well. We had a chance to get off the field a couple times on defense on third and 11, third and eight and didn’t get off the field. Another one on the second drive.
“And then the offense drives down and can’t get a third and one, fourth and one. So, you know, that thing could have been different, but, you know, we didn’t play well enough to win. I thought their guys made a lot of good plays.”
On UCF’s difficulties getting one yard
“Yeah. You know, I’m not dismissing it because when it’s happened as much as it’s happened this year, it starts to be an issue and we can’t run from that or hide from that. We’ve got to address them, you know.
“At the end of the day, I don’t want to have to get too creative in those situations. We’ve just got to be able to earn a yard and we tried to do that on third down and then tried to sneak somebody out on fourth down because we’re not confident enough in that. But that’s low pads, that’s attitude, that’s just getting a yard.
“And we’ve got to do that better. That’s on us as coaches and players and everybody to make sure that happens.”
On QB Tayven Jackson struggling after putting forth a solid performance in the last game vs. West Virginia
“Yeah, I got to watch the tape. You know, I thought Tay was really prepared. I thought he did his best job studying the game plan and getting ready.
“We just didn’t make plays for whatever reason. I’m ready to ride with him. We’re going to ride with him next week. I know what kind of game he can have.
“We didn’t play well offensively tonight and that’s not always on the quarterback. Usually the head coach and quarterback take it all on the chin and we’ll watch the tape, but it’s usually not all the quarterback’s fault.
“And I want to take a look at the tape before I answer that too much. But Tayven’s talented enough to lead us to a lot of good things on this team.”
On the extra bye week practices and whether those helped in the game
“I did all week in practice. I didn’t see much of it today if I’m being honest. And I’m not sure why that is.
“Again, at the hotel, man, there was an energy around the team. They were excited. Had a chance to go on the road and win one. We’ve got to earn one on the road. It’s not going to be given to us. And we’ve got to play a lot better than that to do that.”
On having a short week to prepare for Houston next Friday night
“Yeah, I mean, it’s going to be good and healthy for me and the coaching staff. That’s frustrating and disappointing. I told the guys we’re going to have another great opportunity in six days.
“And it’s a special game at UCF. I don’t want anybody hanging their head, pointing fingers, even feeling bad about this one. We’ve just got to turn the page fast and try to play better next week.”
On not being able to carry momentum after beating West Virginia and having a bye week to prepare
“I don’t know. Like I said, I thought the guys practiced great all week. And a lot of the things that we didn’t execute out there on the field, we executed really well Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
“So we’ll have a conversation about that. And like I said, it seems to have happened on road games more than home games. So we’ll certainly talk about that.
“But it’s also not time to hit the panic button. If we’re doing the right things, the things we’re doing well, we’ve got to keep doing. And if we can find ways to adjust to give the guys a little more help, we will.”
On the lack of explosive plays
“A lot of things. Some of the runs that I thought would pop for good gains for us kind of got capped off at seven, five, six, seven yards. So we’ve got to look at the reason for that.
“I didn’t think we were open downfield as much as I would have liked to have been. Pass protection probably wasn’t quite good enough to take the time to look downfield.
“You know, we’re a young, learning, growing team. And sometimes, I’ve said this, sometimes we look like a million bucks and sometimes we don’t. I’m certainly not happy with how we look today.”
On the play call on the early 4th-and-1 where Connor Meadows lined up as a tight end
“Well, he was the fourth read on that play. And, yeah, when people call those plays and they work, everybody’s excited about it. We thought with that personnel on the field, maybe we could surprise them with the pass.
“They did a good job covering down a few things. Connor was open early, and we didn’t get him the ball. He was supposed to stay a little flatter on that, and I think we would have had a chance.
“But, again, it shouldn’t have been in that situation. We should have had the first down on second or third.”
On whether there’s a greater sense of urgency with only four games left
“No, I hope the guys have urgency every week.”
On whether he felt his team had a sense of urgency this week
“Yeah, I did. That’s what’s surprising. This game is more surprising to me than any of them. Man, we had a ton of energy at the hotel this morning. Guys were ready to go pregame. I thought it felt great.
“You know, we just didn’t execute very well, and the penalties just kill us, and it’s killed us on the road. Whether it’s a communication thing or playing in a tough environment, we’ve got to be able to get over that hurdle. I know the guys have played better at home, and I hope that happens next week.”
On Owen Spell starting at left tackle, and Paul Rubelt playing a little, and whether Spell will start on Friday
“I don’t know. Owen’s done a good job in relief of Paul. We certainly need Paul back. He was ready to play, but not 100%, so I hope that gets better next week.”
On his message to the team
“You know, I’ve said this a bunch, and I really like our team, and our team really likes football, and they like each other. Are we there yet? No. There’s going to be a growth process.
“But, yeah, we don’t have guys that are going to quit. They’re going to keep coming to work and working hard, and so is the coaching staff.
“And we’ll make whatever adjustments we need to do to give the guys a chance to play better next week. And I’m excited about the game.”
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