UCF’s double OT takedown of BYU was the most chaotic upset of the college football season

One week after a memorable (and controversial) victory 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 absolute wildest endings of the college football season.

In a back-and-forth thriller, unranked UCF pulled off a shocking 39-31 double overtime win for their first victory 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 the two overtime periods. Scriptwriters around the world are wondering how they can conjure up better plot twists than the closing moments of this game.

Scott Frost’s 4th down decision backfires

With the score tied 24-24, UCF could’ve kicked a chip-shot field goal to go up 27-24 inside of the two-minute timeout. Instead, head coach Scott Frost opted to go for it on fourth down, presumably with the idea that either they would force BYU to score a touchdown or have them backed up at the 1-yard line in case of a failure. Well, failure happened, as Keyrone Jenkins was stopped inches short of the goal line on the QB sneak. A 7-minute drive to take the lead resulted in no points.

The Cougars quickly went three-and-out (curiously running the ball on 3rd and 6 when UCF still had two timeouts) and soon punted it back to UCF, and that’s when the chaos reached stratospheric heights.

BYU’s fumble recovery gets reversed, and a penalty puts UCF into field goal range

For a fleeting moment, it looked as if BYU’s Keanu Tanuvasa recovered a Keyone Jenkins strip-sack fumble on the edge of field goal range. Looking at the play in real time, it seemed as if Jenkins was throwing the ball away while under pressure, and replay review correctly overturned the call to an incomplete pass. There was no intentional grounding, but there was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Tanuvasa for shoving offensive lineman Brady Wayburn’s helmet back to the turf at the end of the play. The penalty was going to be enforced either way, but instead of 15 yards backward for BYU’s offense, UCF found themselves in game-winning field goal range.

Will Stone’s field goal is blocked, but UCF can re-kick! Or not! And they should have!

UCF wasted a few seconds with a spike (which didn’t seem to be the plan on first down) and a throwaway, giving kicker Will Stone the chance to be the hero on third down with only 11 seconds remaining. Stone’s 46-yarder was blocked, but it bounced back to him and he ran for several yards before his helmet was dislodged. Officials initially threw a flag for a face mask penalty, which would’ve given the Knights another attempt, but they picked the flag up and ruled there was no infraction.

However, there was still time on the clock, and because Stone kicked the ball on third down and recovered (and advanced) a kick that never crossed the line of scrimmage, UCF would have a re-kick on fourth down and another chance to win the game.

Except!

In college football, a player whose helmet is dislodged must leave the game for at least one play. Since this was inside of two minutes and UCF had no timeouts left, a 10-second runoff was required. UCF was ready to put in another kicker, and instead they had to prepare for overtime.

But wait a minute! We have another twist! There’s somehow still more that we’ve found out after the fact. Rules analyst Terry McAulay confirmed that UCF should not have been subject to a 10-second runoff, because Stone’s helmet dislodging was not the only reason the clock was stopped. UCF should’ve had another field goal attempt on the next play, with the clock starting on the snap. Another brutal moment for Big 12 officiating.

Bear Bachmeier and Keyone Jenkins trade explosive overtime touchdowns

BYU scored first in overtime on a beautiful 3rd-and-13 throw by quarterback Bear Bachmeier to Legend Glasker. It took Jenkins all of one play to respond, firing on the run to Josh Derry for a tying touchdown to send the game into double overtime.

Controversial roughing penalty turns UCF field goal into a touchdown

The Knights began the second overtime on offense, stalling out in a goal-to-go situation at BYU’s 8. Will Stone’s go-ahead kick was good, but this time Stone would draw a penalty that certainly was an eyebrow raiser. BYU’s Kendal Wall was called for roughing the kicker after bowling over a UCF offensive linemen. Both players fell into Stone as the ball split the uprights, and the flag was thrown.

UCF took full advantage of the new set of downs, with Jenkins throwing a touchdown to the seldom-used Utah native Grayson Brousseau for only his second catch (and second touchdown) on the year. The subsequent two-point conversion was caught on a sliding play by Tyren Hornes to make it 39-31 UCF.

UCF’s goal line stand secures a famous upset

Bachmeier and company had to respond with their own 8-point possession to force a third overtime (and therefore, a two-point conversion shootout). After Bachmeier scrambled on first-and-goal at the UCF 8 down to the 4-yard line, he threw three straight incomplete passes, the last of which skipped short of Walker Lyons on fourth-and-goal. No flags, no more drama, and no more undefeated season for BYU.

This has already been a memorable year for the sheer volume of upsets in the AP Top 10, and UCF’s win over BYU is about as crazy as we’ve seen in 2026.