Thursday, Sept. 1 - South Carolina State
Friday, Sept. 9 - Louisville
Saturday, Sept. 17 - at FAU
Saturday, Sept. 24 - Georgia Tech
Saturday, Oct. 1 - SMU
Saturday, Oct. 8 - BYE WEEK
Thursday, Oct. 13 - Temple
Saturday, Oct. 22 - at ECU
Saturday, Oct. 29 - Cincinnati
Saturday, Nov. 5 - at Memphis
Saturday, Nov. 12 - at Tulane
Saturday, Nov. 19 - Navy
Friday, Nov. 25 or Saturday, Nov. 26 - at South Florida
-Nine of 12 games will be played inside the state:
7 home games
at FAU
at usf
As we know, UCF fans dominate those stadiums so it's practically like nine home games in terms of atmosphere.
-Only two previously-unknown weekday games, both at home - Friday vs. Louisville and Thursday vs. Temple. We already knew there was a high probability of SC State opener on a Thursday and War on I-4 has always been on Black Friday (though this year it could be Saturday). Frankly, I'm surprised there weren't more. No weekday road games? I was expecting Memphis or maybe ECU on a Thursday/Friday night. Surprising.
-Playing the FCS opener on a Thursday is always smart... gives you two extra days to rest/heal/prepare for a big OOC game vs. Louisville, which visits Syracuse the week before on Saturday, Sept. 3.
-Georgia Tech hosts Ole Miss a week before coming to UCF. Their OOC is tough - Ole Miss, UCF and Georgia.
-With the front loaded home non-conference schedule, I would have preferred going on the road early in conference play but UCF plays their first two AAC games at home which backloads the away slate with with three of the last four games on the road. I would have liked to see one more home game in November, but oh well.
-The bye week comes at a good time, the week before a Thursday game vs. Temple. So no short weeks.
-Cincinnati has a brutal two-game road set, at SMU (Oct. 22) before coming to UCF (Oct. 29).
-Memphis has a bye week before hosting UCF. They actually play another home game (Nov. 10 vs. Tulsa) the following Thursday after playing UCF.
-UCF has to play cut-blocking Navy the week before usf, but it is what it is. Navy was going to be on the schedule at some point.
-Just like last year, Houston somehow avoids BOTH UCF and Cincinnati in AAC play (same opponents as last season) so it's almost like you can prebook them for the AAC Championship Game.
-For the first time in years, War on I-4 could possibly be on Saturday and not on Black Friday. From the AAC release:
One game will be selected for Black Friday (Nov. 25) among a group of three games in the final week of the regular season. The Black Friday selection will come from UCF-South Florida, Tulane-Cincinnati and Tulsa-Houston. That selection will be made by Oct. 3.
