ORLANDO, Fla. -- Just a few steps away from the room where UCF coach Scott Frost spoke to the media Monday stood the remnants from the biggest win in school history.
Fans stormed the field following a 39-31 double-overtime win over then-No. 2 BYU on Saturday night and, in the process, bent the metal structures that house end zone cabanas for a premium viewing experience. The bent metal roofs most likely will not be fixed in time for their Friday night game against Baylor. Instead, they serve as not only a reminder but a bit of a warning: The win felt great in the moment, but Frost knows the Knights cannot follow it up with a letdown.
"I don't think we'll have a letdown," Frost said. "I'm going to be on their heads to not feel any kind of way because we won one game. We've got a really good football team coming in here. I'm going to demand from these guys that they approach this game with the same intensity they did last week."
The Knights had been through their share of turmoil this season -- playing without injured starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III for the bulk of the season, plus several other key starters and multiple offensive linemen. They came close to beating Pitt on the road, had a 17-0 lead on Houston before losing and had Oklahoma State tied at the half before losing that one, too.
Everything came together in a wild finish against BYU behind backup quarterback Keyone Jenkins, who will start again Friday. Frost said Monday that Jenkins was being evaluated for a concussion following their offensive possession in the second overtime against BYU and may not have been cleared in time had the game gone to a third extra period.
But, as of Monday, Jenkins cleared protocol and will play. "He's the hot hand right now," Frost said. "I'm really pleased with Alonza's progress. I think he probably could play. I don't know if he's 100% yet."
Frost said UCF signed Jenkins from the transfer portal as an "insurance policy" knowing they needed an experienced signal-caller to back up Barnett, the most high-profile player they signed from the portal out of James Madison. After Barnett hurt his hamstring against Pitt, UCF turned to Jenkins, and he put it all together in the win over BYU.
"It's up to us to figure out if we're going to double down on what we did or take a step back," Frost said. "There's been a lot of teams that have won big games and not played as well the next week, so that's a challenge for us."
BYU among them. The Cougars were riding high off a win over then-No. 2 Notre Dame when they came to Orlando, so Frost does not have to look far to point out an example of letdown games to his team.
Frost was more reluctant to dive deeper into whether the win over BYU could help shift the direction of the program. He returned to UCF after leaving to coach at his alma mater, Nebraska, but last season ended in a 4-8 campaign. After the early part of this season, in which the wins also were not coming as quickly as fans wanted, there were questions about whether Frost was the right coach to lead UCF forward.
Some of those questions were answered Saturday night, as Frost delivered the highest-ranked win in program history. Frost now has the most wins over ranked opponents at UCF. The other three came during their 13-0 season in 2017, during his first stint as coach.
Asked whether the win over BYU felt reminiscent to 2017, Frost said, "I've been lucky to be a part of some really good games here. Probably four of the top 10 games in UCF history. There is a little bit of magic in this building. Things go your way at the right time in those games.
"It was a great win for us, and the players practiced hard and made plays at the end of the game. It isn't like Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders are going to show up and start playing for us tomorrow, and we're just going to springboard to something new. Our team has gotten better all year. Our kids have battled through a lot. I was really happy for them. They found a way to win that game, but now it's on to the next challenge."
Asked what UCF can do to build off the victory, Frost had a simple reply: "Play well this week."