A week after a memorable (and controversial) win over Notre Dame, BYU’s time as the No. 2 team in the country has already come to an abrupt end following one of the wildest finishes to the college football season.
In a back-and-forth thriller, unranked UCF earned a shocking 39-31 double-overtime win for its first win over an AP Top 5 team in program history. That doesn’t begin to tell the story of the final two minutes of regulation and two overtime periods. Screenwriters around the world are wondering how they could come up with better plot twists than the closing moments of this game.
Scott Frost’s 4th down decision backfires
With the score tied 24-24, UCF would score on a chip-shot field goal to take a 27-24 lead inside the two-minute period. Instead, head coach Scott Frost opted to go for it on fourth down, presumably with the idea that they would either force BYU to punt a touchdown or back them up at the 1-yard line in the event of a fumble. A fumble ensued as Keyrone Jenkins stopped inches short of the goal line on a QB sneak. A 7-minute drive to take the lead resulted in no points.
The Cougars quickly went three-and-three (running the ball on 3rd-and-6 when UCF still had two timeouts) and soon gave it back to UCF, and the chaos reached stratospheric heights.
BYU’s fumble recovery is reversed and the penalty puts UCF in field goal range
For a brief moment, BYU’s Keanu Tanuvasa recovered a Keyone Jenkins streaky sack down the sideline. When watching the play in real time, it looked like Jenkins threw the ball away while under pressure, and the replay correctly overturned the incomplete pass call. There was no intentional grounding, but Tanuvas was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the game for pushing offensive lineman Brady Wayburn’s helmet back onto the field. The penalty would have been called either way, but instead of going back 15 yards because of BYU’s offense, UCF found itself in game-winning field goal range.
Will Stone’s field goal is blocked, but UCF can strike again! Or not! And they should be!
UCF wasted a few seconds with a jump (it didn’t even look like that on first down) and a fumble, giving kicker Will Stone a chance to be the hero on third down with just 11 seconds left. Stone’s 46-yarder was blocked, but he returned to it and ran several yards before his helmet was dislodged. Officials initially flagged a facemask penalty, which would have given the Knights another try, but they raised the flag and ruled there was no foul.
There was still time, though, and because Stone fumbled the ball on third down and recovered (and advanced) the fumble that never crossed the line of scrimmage, UCF would get a punt on fourth down and another chance to win the game.
In college football, a player with a dislodged helmet must leave the game for at least one game. Since it was under two minutes and UCF had no timeouts, a 10-second stream was required. UCF was poised for another blowout and instead had to settle for overtime.
But wait a minute! We have another loop! There’s more we discover after the fact. Rules analyst Terry McAulay confirmed that UCF should not have suffered a 10-second run because Stone’s helmet dislodgement was not the only reason the clock was stopped. UCF should have attempted a field goal on the next play, the clock starting at the snap. Another brutal moment for Big 12 refereeing.
Bear Bachmeier and Keyone Jenkins trade explosive overtime
BYU scored first on a 3rd-and-13 overtime pass by fourth-down Bear Bachmeier to Legend Glasker. It took all of one play for Jenkins to respond, firing a running Josh Derry shot to send the game into double overtime.
A controversial foul penalty turns a UCF field goal into a touchdown
The Knights started the second overtime on offense, stopping at BYU’s 8 in a goal-to-go situation. Will Stone’s forward was good, but this time Stone would take a penalty which certainly raised eyebrows. BYU’s Kendal Wall was called for roughing the snap after bowling over a UCF offensive lineman. Both players fell to the Stone as the ball split the posts and the flag was thrown.
UCF took full advantage of the new downs, with Jenkins throwing a touchdown to rarely used Utah commit Grayson Brousseau for just his second catch (and second touchdown) of the year. The ensuing two-point conversion was caught on a slide play by Tyren Hornes, making it 39-31 UCF.
UCF’s goal line stand provides a popular concern
Bachmeier and company had to answer with 8 points of their own to force a third overtime (and therefore a two-point conversion shot). After Bachmeyer drove to the UCF 8 on first-and-goal at the 4-yard line, he threw three straight incomplete passes, the last of which fell short to Walker Lyons on fourth-and-goal. No more flags, no more drama, no more undefeated seasons for BYU.
It’s already been a memorable year for big upsets in the AP Top 10, and UCF’s win over BYU is about as crazy as we’ll see in 2026.