After years of arguing their ability to compete at the Power Five level, the UCF Knights made the jump to the Big 12 last fall and put together a solid, if not spectacular, season. Heading into Year 2 in the conference, Gus Malzahn and his team want to compete at the top of a new-look Big 12, but does the UCF 2024 football schedule help or hinder their potential to be a contender?
UCF 2024 Football Schedule
- vs. New Hampshire Wildcats
Thursday, August 29, time TBA - vs. Sam Houston Bearcats
Saturday, September 7, time TBA - at TCU Horned Frogs
Saturday, September 14, time TBA - vs. Colorado Buffaloes
Saturday, September 28, time TBA - at Florida Gators
Saturday, October 5, time TBA - vs. Cincinnati Bearcats
Saturday, October 12, time TBA - at Iowa State Cyclones
Saturday, October 19, time TBA - vs. BYU Cougars
Saturday, October 26, time TBA - vs. Arizona Wildcats
Saturday, November 2, time TBA - at Arizona State Sun Devils
Saturday, November 9, time TBA - at West Virginia Mountaineers
Saturday, November 23, time TBA - vs. Utah Utes
Friday, November 29, time TBA
According to the CFN Strength of Schedule, the UCF 2024 football schedule is one of the easiest in the Big 12. The Knights rank 11th out of the 16 teams in the new-look conference. Ranked 48th in the country, the program also has one of the easier rides through the upcoming campaign amongst Power Four (plus the two remaining Pac-12) teams.
The UCF 2024 football schedule begins with two winnable out-of-conference games against non-FBS New Hampshire and second-year CUSA outfit Sam Houston. While the Bearcats were better than their 3-9 records suggested last fall, anything but a 2-0 will likely be viewed as a disaster. The Knights face a tougher task in their final non-Big 12 outing against the Florida Gators.
Hosting five games versus four road games this fall will help the Knights’ competitiveness in the Big 12. In those “Bounce House” games, they’ll face two teams that made the transition to the conference with them last fall—Cincinnati and BYU—while hosting the Utah Utes to end the season prevents a cross-country trip to Salt Lake City.
KEEP READING: 2024 Big 12 Weekly Football Schedule
They also welcome title-contending Arizona to Orlando and avoid the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma State Cowboys completely. While the UCF 2024 football schedule will see the Knights take on a strong West Virginia Mountaineers side and an Iowa State Cyclones team looking for a bounceback, the opportunities outweigh the challenges for Malzahn’s team.
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