UCF will conclude its regular football season with a game against No. 11 BYU on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. MT). The matchup will be broadcast on ESPN2 and is also available on FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game for radio listeners.
A win in this game would make UCF bowl eligible for the ninth time in the last ten seasons and mark their first victory in Utah. It would also be their first road win over an AP Top 25 team since defeating Tulane in 2022 and their eighth win over an AP Top 25 opponent since 2017.
Last week, UCF overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat Oklahoma State 17-14. Tight end Dylan Wade led the team with a career-high 145 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Kicker Noe Ruelas secured the win with his first career game-winning field goal from 34 yards out with less than a minute remaining.
Wade is now close to setting a new program record for receiving yards by a tight end during UCF’s FBS era, needing just 24 more yards to surpass Jordan Akins’ record of 515 yards set in 2017.
EDGE rusher Malachi Lawrence has moved into the top ten all-time at UCF for career sacks, reaching 20 total. He is currently ranked ninth among active FBS players and second among active Big 12 players in career sacks.
Defensively, UCF holds the second-best passing defense in the Big 12 Conference and ranks twentieth nationally, allowing only 175.6 passing yards per game. This figure would be the best for UCF during its FBS era if maintained through the end of the season.
The Knights need a victory against BYU to secure bowl eligibility this year, joining nineteen other teams seeking bowl spots in their final games of the season with ten slots available.
UCF’s defense has been particularly effective in fourth quarters during Big 12 play, surrendering only thirty-nine points total in that period this season.
Kicker Noe Ruelas was named one of twenty semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award on November 18 and was recognized as Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance against Oklahoma State. Ruelas set a school FBS record with three field goals from fifty or more yards this season and had an eleven-field-goal streak earlier this year.
Since the start of the 2017 season, UCF has recorded seventy-four wins—more than any other Big 12 team during that span—and is tied for sixteenth nationally in victories since then.
This season, UCF finished undefeated against teams led by new or interim head coaches, winning all five such matchups at home by a combined margin of 181-53 points.
The Knights have produced fifteen scoring drives of seventy-five or more yards this year, including multiple drives exceeding ninety yards against West Virginia—a feat last matched by UCF in October of 2019.
“UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida’s preeminent athletic program representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as ‘Orlando’s Hometown Team’. To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.”
