{"id":432818,"date":"2026-10-20T07:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432818\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T07:46:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:46:32","slug":"ucf-hopes-bye-week-provides-spark-for-a-second-half-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432818\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF hopes bye week provides spark for a second-half push"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF<\/a> coaches and players hoped the bye week<\/a> would give the Knights much-needed rest and recovery.<\/p>\n

For a team that\u2019s dealt with its fair share of injuries through the first half of the season, a few days off was just what the doctor ordered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been part of a lot of bye weeks in the NFL and they say, \u2018See you in a week,\u2019\u201d said coach Scott Frost<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve been a part of college programs where you grind through a bye week and try to find a way to get a little better. We made the decision that the best way to help our team for the stretch run was to be fresh, so we gave the guys quite a bit of time off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knights did some lifting and running but held only one practice last week, according to Frost.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, this is going to help us have the stamina and put the players in the right place to play a really good back half of the season,\u201d Frost said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body feels the best it\u2019s been since probably the middle of fall camp, so more than six weeks,\u201d said offensive tackle Preston Cushman<\/a>, who returned home to Saint Petersburg to spend time with family and friends. \u201cIt really rejuvenated all the guys. I can\u2019t wait to hear the stories about the guys getting away and how they feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCF (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) entered the bye week hoping to get some injured players healthy before the second half of the season. The Knights have been missing a handful of starters, including quarterback Alonza Barnett III<\/a>, wide receiver Duane Thomas Jr., offensive linemen Jacob Maiava and Owen Spell and linebacker Lewis Carter.<\/p>\n

Barnett has been out since the second game of the season at Pitt, recovering from a significant hamstring injury. Frost isn\u2019t sure whether the senior or any of the others could return to action this week as No. 2 BYU (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) comes to Acrisure Bounce House Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure on the injuries yet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re really close to getting a lot of guys back. Some will probably be this week and some will probably be a week after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frost emphasized that Barnett is making good progress in his recovery, but wants to be cautious and not rush him back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing a lot of things. I want to make sure he\u2019s ready to go if we put him out there,\u201d Frost explained. \u201cThat\u2019s a position where you might not have to run for 10 plays or so and then you\u2019ve got to run away from some really big guys trying to get you. I just want to make sure that if he\u2019s out there, he won\u2019t get hurt again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frost praised Keyone Jenkins, who\u2019s started the last four games since Barnett\u2019s injury, despite the Knights\u2019 recent two-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cLightz (Jenkins) has been doing a really good job, so we\u2019ll make some decisions when (Barnett) gets back,\u201d Frost said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s (Jenkins) played better every game that he\u2019s played. It\u2019s more experience than understanding the offense at this point. We\u2019ve also gotten better at doing some of the things that he\u2019s better at and we feel good about how he\u2019s playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a difficult first half of the season behind them, Frost wants his team to finish strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played a pretty tough slate for six games and man, we\u2019ve battled,\u201d said Frost. \u201cI\u2019m happy with our team\u2019s fight. We need to play our best football going forward. I told the guys from the beginning that I don\u2019t want to peak in September; I want to peak in late October and November and play our best football.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a chance to write the narrative on the success of the season based on the last six games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Cushman: \u201cThis bye week let us take a deep breath and a fresh start to this next half of the season. We just played season 1-A. Now we\u2019re in season 1-B, so I\u2019m rejuvenated as ever to go kick some butt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram at @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. Sign up for the Sentinel\u2019s Knights Weekly<\/a> newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

What: UCF (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) vs. No. 2 BYU (6-0, 3-0 Big 12)<\/p>\n

When: 3:30, Saturday<\/p>\n

Where: Acrisure Bounce House Stadium, Orlando<\/p>\n

TV: Fox<\/p>\n

Favorite: BYU by 6.5 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCF coaches and players hoped the bye week would give the Knights much-needed rest and recovery. For a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,28,114,1335,139,141,140,76046,110,3865],"class_list":["post-432818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-sports","tag-ucf-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}