As George O'Leary often points out, scheduling at UCF can be a frustrating process.
The Knights have always strived to line up at least one marquee home game per season, but when options failed to materialize for the upcoming 2015 slate they were forced to settle with an FCS opponent, Furman.
"We have trouble getting games," O'Leary said last year. "It's just very difficult. People don't want to come to our place. It's a tough place to play. Fans should be clapped on because they've made teams do some thinking on that. It's hard to get games."
In 2016, UCF has a Power Five home opponent lined up with Maryland visiting Bright House Networks Stadium for the beginning of a home-and-home series. UCF is also scheduled to go on the road to play Michigan and FIU.
But the Knights are still in search of another home game and pickings are getting slim if they want to avoid another FCS opponent.
According to FBSchedules.com, 27 teams in other leagues are still in search of one or more games to fill out their 2016 slate. But only five schools appear to have to flexibility to travel for a road game: Boston College, Miami, Kansas State, Marshall and Texas A&M.
UCF has a history with four of those schools.
Boston College - The Knights and Eagles played a pair of games in 2008 (Boston) and 2011 (Orlando) with the home team winning each one. UCF was rumored to be in talks with BC for a 2015 game that would have been in Orlando, but they chose to play two FCS games instead. BC already has two home games (UMass, Buffalo) and are in search of a third non-conference home game to offset their Ireland "home game" with Georgia Tech, but they would have the ability to go on the road for at least one game.
Miami - Could it finally happen? The Hurricanes went 2-0 in the home-and-home series played in 2008 (Miami) and 2009 (Orlando). Rumors of a subsequent series have been circulating for more than a year. Several months back, a UM beat writer said the two schools were hoping to come to an agreement soon. But then I heard the folks at Florida Citrus Sports got in the middle and convinced Miami they needed to play at the Citrus Bowl, not on campus at UCF, which put everything into a stall. Regardless of whether you think it's a good or bad idea for UCF to ever play a game at their former home, the fact remains UCF needs a home game otherwise they'd be left with five on the 2016 home schedule.
Kansas State - The home-and-home series that became a one-and-done. UCF visited Manhattan in 2010, but KSU bought out of the 2012 return game that would have been in Orlando. The Knights replaced them with Missouri. Playing a nine-game Big 12 schedule, the Wildcats have one spot open but it's more likely they look for another home patsy to maintain seven home games.
Marshall - UCF owned Marshall in Conference USA, winning eight consecutive games between 2005-2012. It's probable the Herd would demand a home-and-home series and I'm not sure UCF would see much value in going back to West Virginia. Besides, there may be other opportunities to play Marshall again as the American has several bowl agreements with C-USA.
Texas A&M - The Aggies have a trio of non-conference games scheduled, all at home: UCLA, New Mexico State and UTSA. When they have gone on the road, they typically stay within Texas or nearby, though they do have a home-and-home with Clemson later in the decade. Does a trip to Florida for a series with UCF make sense for A&M? Not sure, but I could certainly see Florida Citrus Sports making a play for an A&M-Miami game at the Citrus Bowl. But they may want another home game to guarantee seven as this year they'll be the "home team" for their Arlington game vs. Arkansas, leaving them only three other SEC games in College Station.
If a deal with Miami can't come to fruition, it may be difficult to avoid another date with an FCS team.
UCF's future non-conference games
2016
Sept. 10: at Michigan
Sept. 17: Maryland
TBA: at FIU
2017
Sept. 9: at Texas
Sept. 16: Georgia Tech
Sept. 23: at Maryland
TBA: FIU
2018
Sept. 22: FAU
2019
Sept. 7: at FAU
Sept. 14: Stanford
2020
Sept. 19: at Georgia Tech
