The fall of the UCF Knights was now quick, but the final nail in the coffin for the team further south just might have been who their head coach was. UCF hired Gus Malzahn back in 2021 after their former head coach, Josh Heupel, left with athletic director Danny White for Tennessee. Malzahn was supposed to come in and bring power conference experience to the Group of Five school and bring them into the Big 12.
Instead, UCF had its worst season since 2016, missing a bowl game for the first time since that same year, and now the program seems to be in shambles.