Scott Frost Press Conference: UCF preps for Big 12 road test at Baylor
Coming off their most complete performance of the season in a 45-13 rout of West Virginia, and with the benefit of a well-timed bye week, UCF head coach Scott Frost met with the media Monday to preview the next challenge: a road trip to Waco to face Baylor.
Frost touched on a wide range of topics, including how the team used the open week, the health of the quarterback room, early thoughts on Baylor, how his offensive philosophy has evolved, and more.
Here’s everything Frost had to say:
Opening statement
“We had a bye week. I think we needed it for health and just getting rested up. Now we got a fun five-week stretch to see what we can accomplishe as a team, starting with a road game at Waco. Ready to get back to work with the guys.”
More on how they used their bye week
“We had three practices last week, shorter, really focusing on identifying some just technique and fundamental things that we thought we could improve on. We spent two days on that, and kind of one bonus day for Baylor.”
On the importance of finishing strong in their final five games
“It’s important. We’re just going to focus on this game right now. I’d love to see these guys finish this season in a way where everybody’s happy and they feel like they’ve accomplished a lot.
“This team’s made a lot of strides and the tough thing is we were close to winning another one or two and making this a completely different year, but now we got a chance down the stretch to see if we can win some of those close games.”
On whether the goal is to make a bowl game
“Yeah, right now our focus is on Baylor and seeing how well we can play this week there. Big picture things, you know, when we come up for air, we’ll look at those.”
On what he liked about their performance vs. West Virginia and what he hopes carries over
“We still didn’t play a great game. We played well enough to win that one. We created more big plays and I was talking about that before the game, so that needs to keep happening on both sides of the ball. I thought those kind of plays happened.
“Our consistency still needs to get better and just overall execution. It’s gotten better over the course of the year, but in order to sustain drives on offense and not give up big plays on defense, you’ve got to be consistent a whole game and we still need to be better there.”
On the play of UCF’s defensive line despite having injuries
“Yeah, I mean, talking big picture, we’ve got some guys hurt and I’m mostly just sad for them. We’ve had some other guys step up and do some pretty good things. We had to pretty much completely rebuild this roster and one of the things I think we did pretty well at was giving ourselves some depth, and that depth has paid off at a few different positions. D-line being one of them.
“It’s tough. The losses that we have of good players and guys that were contributing a lot, but we have enough depth that other guys are able to step in, so I think the recruiting department and other guys did a good job making sure the cupboard wasn’t empty when we lost one or two.”
On the injury status of Paul Rubelt, Marcus Burke and Stacy Gage
“Stacy had surgery, so we’re gonna be without him for a while. I don’t know completely the timetable on that yet. The rest of the guys, I think, are gonna be up and ready to go. The bye week came at a good time for some of them.”
On how they used the bye week to prepare for Baylor’s offense
“Well, we practiced. You know, it’s good and bad when you got extra time to look at a team because you can go too deep into the rabbit hole and and overthink things. At the same time, you get a lot more time to study them and really get to know them and try to put your your team in the right place on both sides of the ball to win, so we’ve definitely spent a lot of time on that.
“But like I said last week, we spent more time than anything on just trying to do little things better and we picked one or two things on at each position that we thought we could improve at and and we saw some improvement.”
On the health of the QB room
“Yeah, our quarterbacks, you know, it’s been a little rough. Tay’s in the back. I think he’s good now. Jacurri’s been coming along. Cam had the ribs and I think he’s he’s getting close, so we’ll see. You know, the more guys we have up and ready, the better.”
On what impresses him about Baylor
“They’re a talented team. They’ve lost some close games and momentum is a powerful thing. Sometimes when you have it, those close games come and when you don’t have it, they don’t. But I know that they’re a really talented team and probably one of the most talented teams in this league, and we got to go to their place and and play the best game we can.”
More on the QBs and how nice it’s been to have Tayven Jackson back
“When Tay came in the first time, he was hot. Weren’t you, Tay? Right away. You know, then he got banged up and we had to go a different direction and now he’s back and, you know, continuity there does help. So having him up and ready to go with a whole week to prepare, knowing he’s the starter, I think that’ll pay dividends for us.”
On Baylor scoring 26 points in the fourth quarter to beat UCF in 2023, and what his message to the players was
“When was that? (2023). Okay, yeah, I wasn’t really paying attention then. I don’t think that has much to do with us, but I do know Baylor has some really good weapons and can be really explosive on offense, so we got to do our best to slow it down.”
On what they need to do to win on the road
“We made a couple adjustments at Cincinnati and I thought we played well to start the game. The energy was there. The focus of the players was good. We just had our chances with explosive plays on offense and didn’t make them and gave up a couple plays on defense. Otherwise, I thought our team fought really hard against a Cincinnati team that’s turning out to be a pretty good team.
“We’re gonna stick with the same thing. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, and really you win or lose the game based on how your preparation is early in the week, and so that starts tonight and through Tuesday, Wednesday, and we’ll get the guys to Waco and shoot our shot.”
On whether the players had an extra bounce in their step during the bye week coming off a big win
“Absolutely, but I give this group credit. You know, they’ve come to work every week regardless of the result, and I expect the same. We gave them some time off, so we’ll be fresh, but we’re gonna have to shake the rest off tonight and make sure we have a good Tuesday and Wednesday.”
On how his offensive philosophy has evolved since his first stint at UCF, whether now it’s more based on overall talent level and defensive considerations
“Yeah, I think first of all, you got to always be evolving schematically or you’re gonna fall behind. You know, college football has changed, too, and I remember early in my coaching career, if you ran something unique, it was kind of yours for a while. Now, if it’s on tape, everybody’s gonna run it the next week, so there’s fewer secrets in scheme anymore.
“Also, with how college football is now, there’s talent on every team, so really it’s a little more like the NFL now. It really comes down to how well you execute that week, how good of players you are, how well your quarterback plays, and those are really the different differentiators.
“I think you can still do some unique things with scheme and try to create an advantage, but those opportunities are a little less now than they were five, ten years ago.”
On the coaching carousel and coaches being fired
“This is a tough business. Maybe politics is tougher. Otherwise, you know, there’s very few lines of work where there’s that many people watching and critics. I just feel bad for those guys. I’ve been through that myself, and there’s a lot of guys that have been let go lately that I know are really good coaches and have won a lot and won in other places, and sometimes it’s just not in the cards. Everything doesn’t come together.
“It’s a tough business. You know, that doesn’t make them bad people or bad coaches. It just doesn’t work, and you know, it’s gonna be a heavy, heavy year for that, and I don’t really have a comment on anybody else’s program other than I wish the best for all those guys. A lot of them or most of them will find their way back again.”
On how the defense has performance under Alex Grinch
“Yeah, I think he’s done a great job. It’s one of the reasons I hired him is he’s been elite as a defensive coordinator before, and he went through something like what we’re talking about with the head coaches where it doesn’t work, and not necessarily all his fault, but you take it on the chin, and I knew he was hungry for another opportunity.
“I think he’s done a good job evolving and adjusting. Our defense has been a strength for us, so really happy for him, and expect it to keep getting better and give us a chance to win down the stretch.”
On what Frost did during the bye week to relax
“I did a lot of work this past week, but I spent a lot of time with Ashley and the kids, too. Got to go to a Little League baseball game or two, and just play in the yard with the kids a little bit, and that helps me get centered. Just getting away a little bit and being a normal human being for a while kind of helps you recover.”
On watching football on Saturday
“Yeah, you know, when I watch games on TV, it’s hard to watch it as a coach. You can a little bit, but it’s hard to see schemes and everything on TV. RJ, my son, likes to watch, so I sat there with him and watched a little bit, but sometimes it’s just good to get away, too, so I wasn’t glued to the TV or anything.”
On whether they went out recruiting during the bye week
“Yeah, it’s been good. We sent quite a few coaches out on Thursday and Friday. We went to some high school games. We’re kind of finding our way through this new environment and how we want to approach high school recruiting. We’re recruiting kids from a lot of places, but there’s a lot of kids right here near us in Florida and in Central Florida that are good enough to help us win, and those are the kind of kids that we need in the program, so we’re spending a lot of time there.
“We’re going to try to do a good job evaluating talent and character to make sure we get the right people in here.”
On whether or how their recruiting approach has changed since he arrived back at UCF
“That’s a big question. You want to build your team with local talent and with guys you can develop within the program. That’s just harder to do than it ever has been, so you have to offset that with transfer portal, and you got to have the right balance there.
“You certainly, in my opinion, can’t go all transfer portal, or you don’t have a lot of loyalty in people that you’re developing in the program. If you go all high school, you’re going to be really young and probably not ready to compete, so there’s got to be a balance there, and as much as you want to have a plan for all this, every decision really becomes a one-off decision with high school kids, transfers, junior college kids, everything else, trying to build your team on a year-to-year basis, so we’re navigating it the best we can.”
On he’s been emphasizing to his players in practice about Baylor
“We haven’t talked a lot about Baylor yet. We were talking about us last week. We spent one walk-through kind of doing an early install for Baylor, and then I haven’t seen the guys for a couple days, so we’ll get them back in this afternoon and start really turn our attention to Baylor.”
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