UCF's 2020 football schedule dropped on Tuesday and it looks like a mostly favorable setup for a team expected to contend for the American Athletic Conference Championship.
Friday, Sept. 4 - North Carolina
Saturday, Sept. 12 - FIU
Saturday, Sept. 19 - at Georgia Tech
Thursday, Sept. 24 - at ECU
Saturday, Oct. 3 - Tulsa
Saturday, Oct. 10 - Bye Week
Friday, Oct. 16 - at Memphis
Saturday, Oct. 24 - Tulane
Saturday, Oct. 31 - at Houston
Saturday, Nov. 7 - FAMU
Saturday, Nov. 14 - Temple
Saturday, Nov. 21 - Cincinnati
Friday, Nov. 27 - at South Florida
Saturday, Dec. 5 - AAC Championship Game
-The news all UCF fans were waiting for - how many non-Saturday home games? Just one: The Friday season opener opener vs. UNC (which was already known). The other six home games will be played on Saturdays. With Halloween falling on a Saturday, it's a positive for attendance that UCF is on the road that weekend (at Houston) and not at home.
-There's only one back-to-back road sequence and the second game will be on a short week. After UCF visits Georgia Tech on Saturday, Sept. 19, they will open AAC play at East Carolina on Thursday, Sept. 24. That's really the only complaint one could make about the schedule.
-The non-conference home game against FCS FAMU was originally scheduled for Oct. 10, but it's been moved to Nov. 7. The bye week is now Oct. 10. UCF trounced FAMU to the tune of 62-0 in the 2019 season opener, so perhaps this could be a game to rest some starters in the second half, giving players a little breather as UCF gears up for the final stretch. The calendar doesn't allow for two bye weeks like it did the past two years.
-UCF has already slated the Oct. 3 home game vs. Tulsa as Family Weekend and the Oct. 24 game vs. Tulane is Homecoming.
-UCF doesn't leave the state in November. And given the fact UCF's support inside Raymond James Stadium of late has matched or surpassed fans of South Florida, you could argue UCF ends the season with four straight home games. Regardless, that's a very favorable scenario to make a late run knowing there should be zero cold-weather games on the schedule.
-Remember, with UConn bolting for independent irrelevance, the AAC is down to 11 football teams and will no longer field divisions for the foreseeable future. The conference championship will feature the "two top teams." The league said tiebreaker guidelines will be decided at the upcoming spring meetings.
-Based on last season's results, the league frontrunners should undoubtedly be UCF, Memphis, Cincinnati, Navy and SMU.
The Knights take on the Tigers in Memphis on Friday, Oct. 16, following a bye week. Memphis has the same bye week as well.
Just like 2018, UCF will host Cincinnati in the next-to-last game of the regular season. It's the tail end of a trio of home games for UCF (Temple being the previous Saturday, FAMU the week before). Cincinnati will have two extra days to prepare as their previous game is Thursday, Nov. 12 vs. ECU, a home game.
Cincinnati will play their final two games on the road: at UCF and at Temple.
For Memphis, three of their last four AAC games will be on the road which includes a Nov. 14 game at Navy. They also have the distinction of facing every team that had a 6-2 or better league record in 2019: UCF, Cincinnati, SMU and Navy.
Both UCF and Cincinnati avoid Navy on the schedule. UCF also avoids SMU.
-As is now tradition, UCF and South Florida will play on Black Friday.