Scott Frost Assess UCF's Place In Big 12 After Texas Tech Game

After getting blown out, 48-9, by national title contender Texas Tech, Scott Frost compares the program position of the Knights to the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech's Romello Height sacks UCF quarterback Tayven Jackson during a Big 12 Conference football game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders proved why it was the highest-ranked team in the Big 12 on Saturday after demolishing the UCF Knights, 48-9.

The Red Raiders, led by coach Joey McGuire, have become the poster child of a team and donor base that reached deep into its pockets for its roster, $25 million deep, according to a New York Times article published the week of the game. A big reason it became such a national example is because of how well it worked. This season, Texas Tech reached the Top 10 for the first time since 2008 and leads the Big 12 as the season enters its final weeks of the regular season.

"I don't want to give them too much, but yeah, they got my respect," linebacker Keli Lawson said after the game. "They got the team's respect. They came out there. They knew what they wanted. They knew what it took to win."

While coach Scott Frost still touted the parity of the Big 12, he acknowledged the Red Raiders' position at the top of the conference following Saturday's game.

"You know, they're kind of the target right now of where we want to be, and it's going to take us a while to get there," Frost said.

However, he was not all doom and gloom about the Knights' position.

"This team might be a little bit of an outlier because of the talent they've been able to accumulate, but, you know, we're not at the bottom of the mountain," Frost said. "We're partway up the mountain, and I think we've climbed quite a bit in year one, and we just got to make sure that we do the things to be even better next year."

Offensive lineman Cameron Kinnie had a similar sentiment, crediting the Red Raiders' success on their execution, rather than the pedigree of their players.

"You look at that team like, 'Okay, so how can we get on that level, and how can we execute the way that they executed?'" Kinnie said. "It's not that they have, like, the best athletes or whatever the case may be; they just went out there and executed better than we did today. So, just how can we, play in and play out, execute down by down by down, and then just go from there."

The Knights have the chance to improve on their execution on Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. as they welcome Oklahoma State to the Acrisure Bounce House for their last home game of the season.

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