The road to a repeat is officially set for UCF Football, as the 2018 schedule was released on Tuesday morning.
The Knights, who finished 13-0 with an AAC title, a Peach Bowl victory and a claimed national championship in 2017, are entering their first year under new coach Josh Heupel. The new era officially gets underway on Aug. 30, when UCF opens its AAC Championship defense on the road against UConn.
UCF will play its home opener on Sept. 8, hosting South Carolina State. The Knights picked up a 38-0 win over the Bulldogs to open Scott Frost’s head coaching tenure in 2016. A road matchup with North Carolina (Sept. 15) and home games with FAU (Fri. Sept. 21) and Pittsburgh (Sept. 29) will wrap up non-conference play. The first AAC home game of the season for the Knights will come on Oct. 6, when they host SMU at Spectrum Stadium.
AAC play continues on Oct. 13, when UCF travels to Memphis for a rematch of the 2017 conference championship game. The Knights continue a two-game road stretch the following weekend, taking on East Carolina.
After a week off, UCF will play three consecutive home games, hosting Temple on a Thursday (Nov. 1), Navy for homecoming (Nov. 10) and Cincinnati (Nov. 17).
After 2017’s thrilling installment of the War on I-4, UCF will look to make it two straight wins over USF when the two teams square off in Tampa on Black Friday (Nov. 23).
Overall, the Knights will play seven regular season home games. Read the full schedule below:
Aug. 30: at UConn
Sept. 8: vs. South Carolina State
Sept. 15: at North Carolina
Sept. 21: vs. FAU
Sept. 29: vs. Pittsburgh (Family Weekend)
Oct. 6: vs. SMU
Oct. 13: at Memphis
Oct. 20: at East Carolina
Oct. 27: BYE
Nov. 1: vs. Temple
Nov. 10: vs. Navy (Homecoming)
Nov. 17: vs. Cincinnati
Nov. 23: at USF (War on I-4)
Dec. 1: American Athletic Conference Championship Game
