What a difference a month makes for the UCF Knights.
After a 3-0 start to the season, the Knights along with head coach Gus Malzahn were riding high as their second season in the Big 12 was set to get underway.
Unfortunately for the coach and the team, the bottom fell out. After closing nonconference play with a loss to in-state rival Florida Gators, UCF started Big 12 play by losing their first four games (and counting) to fall to 3-5 on the season.
The latest loss came Saturday, when the No. 11 BYU Cougars made easy work of the Knights, winning 37-24 at FBC Mortgage Stadium.
As the time expired, UCF fans sent the team to the locker room with loud “Fire Gus” chants, referring to fourth-year head coach Malzahn.
Knight Nation has seemingly turned on Gus Malzahn #ucf #ucfknight pic.twitter.com/uDfDbrJdOY
— UCF Knight News (@UCFKnightNews) October 26, 2024
The Knights are 9-12 overall in the year and a half since joining the Big 12, and they’re just 4-10 in conference play.
Malzahn took the UCF head coaching job before the 2021 season after spending 2013-20 as the head coach of the Auburn Tigers. The head coach went 86-35 with the Tigers and took the team to a bowl game in each of his seven seasons at the helm. In Malzahn’s first season at Auburn, the team lost to the Florida State Seminoles in the 2014 BCS National Championship.
UCF signed Malzahn to an extension before the 2023 season.
