2025 UCF Football Predictions: Knights Ranked 74th in RJ Young's Ultimate 136

By RJ Young
Published

This isn't your average college football ranking.

My Ultimate 136 is a set of rankings that is fluid, but it's my job to look ahead and make a claim for all FBS teams based on what I know and why I know it. Here are the three pressing questions I started by asking when putting together this list:

  • Who do I think is good?
  • Why do I think they're good?
  • What are the chances they will finish above or below my expectations?

Here is a look at where UCF lands in my Ultimate 136.

UCF Knights ranking: 74
Last year’s ranking: 54 
Top player: DE Nyjalik Kelly: Spent two years at Miami before transferring to UCF last season; recorded 5.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles in his first year with the Knights.

[UCF's 2025 schedule]

RJ's take: The last time Scott Frost was the head coach at UCF, he led the Golden Knights to an undefeated season and a claim to the 2017 national championship. It took him just two years to create a 13-0 team. After five bad years at Nebraska and a short stint with the Los Angeles Rams, Frost has his work cut out for him in his return to UCF, when the entire sport has changed since he last coached it.

The team he takes over won just two games in conference play and finished tied for 13th. The four wins it had are its fewest since 2013. Frost has his work cut out for him in Orlando. And he's begun the makeover with 68 new players joining his program this season.

If UCF can win its first three games — including a Sept. 20 showdown with Bill Belichick’s UNC squad — that will put the program in position to finish the season with a bowl invitation.

[Check out RJ Young's Ultimate 136 College Football Rankings here]

UCF Win Total: Over 5.5 (-115) Under 5.5 (-105)

Have an issue with my rankings? Think your alma mater is too low, or your school's rival is too high? Get at me on X, @RJ_Young, and I'll select my favorite tweets and respond to them in a future article.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him at @RJ_Young.