The curtain is about to lift on the 2025 college football season, not with a whimper, but a spectacle. Dublin, Ireland, will host the Aer Lingus Classic, where Iowa State and Kansas State ignite the year in a clash brewed for high drama on August 23rd. Just five days later, back on home turf across the Atlantic and beneath the sweltering Florida skies, another story beckons. The UCF Knights are set to storm the Acrisure Bounce House, opening their campaign in front of an expectant home crowd against Jacksonville State.
Excitement is already palpable ahead of the new campaign, especially considering the stacked cast of national championship contenders. Ohio State was the one that claimed the crown last term, and they will be gunning for glory again, as will heavyweights such as Texas, Georgia, and Alabama. But the 2025 college football season isn’t the only thing sports fans should be excited for at the moment.
The release of the highly anticipated LuckyRebel.la site will be launching in the coming weeks, and its release is expected to coincide with the beginning of the CFB campaign. As such, fans will have their number one stop for all things college football, bringing them closer to the field than ever before. But what story will the new outlet be telling of UCF in 2025? Well, here are the biggest talking points as the new campaign rears its head.
The Return of Scott Frost
Few coaching moves have carried such narrative heft. Scott Frost, who in 2017 scaled the rarest of college football peaks with UCF’s perfect run, returns not as a savior, but as a battle-tested leader—humbled by Nebraska, rejuvenated in the NFL, and hungry to once again make Orlando the epicenter of gridiron chaos. This is not the wide-eyed wizard of seven years ago. Frost now commands a richer, grittier understanding of the modern coaching crucible. His deal runs through 2029, but the urgency is immediate.
UCF’s last two seasons delivered a cold reality: 6–7 and 4–8 records, each marred by late-game collapse, defensive breakdowns, and an identity crisis that saw the program adrift. Enter Frost, handpicking two high-octane coordinators in Steve Cooper on offense and Alex Grinch on defense. Both bring philosophies tailored for speed, discipline, and defensive bite—an antidote to the statistical hemorrhaging of 2024. If year one of Frost 2.0 proves anything, it will be whether he can fuse nostalgia with necessary innovation, forging a blueprint built for the Power 4 era.
Rebuilding in the Big 12
The transition to the Big 12 has been a trial by fire—and there’s no sanctuary in sight. Gone are the days of AAC comfort. Instead, UCF now wages a weekly war against programs flush with history and resources, fighting recruiting battles written in both dollars and promises. Frost and AD Terry Mohajir are candid, fully aware that they hold the reins of a program growing into its own ambitions.
But here’s the kicker—the Knights are finally playing with a full stack. Their first year with the Big 12’s full $20+ million TV share is more than just a financial footnote; it’s operational oxygen, empowering facility upgrades, staff expansion, and competitive recruiting war chests. Yet, in a league now synonymous with parity—43% of conference games decided by a single score last year, every misstep is magnified. For UCF, the 2025 campaign is more than a season; it’s an audition for long-term relevance.
Offensive Overhaul
The departure of RJ Harvey—a rock at running back, the school’s all-time touchdown leader, and a relentless chain-mover now suiting up for the Denver Broncos—leaves behind a crater. Replacing his productivity won’t be one man’s job.
Instead, UCF enters camp with a three-headed monster at quarterback: Tayven Jackson, the Indiana transfer boasting size and tantalizing upside; Cam Fancher, a dual-threat from Florida Atlantic/Marshall with a knack for improvisation; and Jacurri Brown, familiar with both the playbook and the program’s pulse. This positional battle as a defining subplot for the Knights and suggests the starter will inherit both opportunity and pressure, with a rebuilt offensive front and a cadre of new skill weapons—like tight end Max Drag—ready to seize spotlight moments.
The new OC, Steve Cooper, must fast-track cohesion. Explosiveness is there in theory; execution must come in practice. How this group gels by Week 1 could be the lever that tilts the season toward triumph—or turbulence.
Schedule: Hope or Hardship
The 2025 schedule could be interpreted as three tales rolled into one. UCF’s opening act seems favorable—three straight non-conference games at the Bounce House: Jacksonville State – freshly wrenched out of the FCS – NC A&T, and a higher-stakes test against North Carolina. This is the runway: start hot, recalibrate, and establish a winning rhythm.
The next sequence is harrowing: road tilts at Kansas State, Cincinnati, Baylor, Texas Tech, and BYU—each a program that finished ahead of UCF in SP+ last season. These games are not just hurdles; they’re potential season-defining crucibles. Home clashes with Kansas, West Virginia, Houston, and Oklahoma State don’t offer respite—they serve up make-or-break moments in the pursuit of bowl eligibility.
And then, there’s November’s Space Game—the annual orbital spectacle now as much a psychological anchor as a campus tradition. UCF’s 8–0 all-time record in that game is more than a coincidence; it’s a statement of identity, an embrace of the unique, and potentially a springboard to late-season momentum.
Projections
Preseason projections offer a cocktail of skepticism and hope, pegging UCF at 61st in preseason SP+ and handicapping the win total between 4 and 7. It’s a wide band, and the variables loom large: can one quarterback emerge with real command? Can Alex Grinch’s defensive overhaul patch the dam long enough to give the offense a runway? And perhaps most importantly, does Frost possess the adaptability, humility, and tactical edge to manage a roster where turnover is the rule, not the exception?
There are no UCF names on preseason All–Big 12 ballots, no heady projections of a championship chase. Yet, this is a program built on defying odds—see: 2017, see: every time the national spotlight overlooked Orlando, only for the Knights to engineer another improbable surge. Now, the aim is to somehow rekindle that magic again.
