UCF Football: Can Knights repeat undefeated season?
By Zach Bigalke
2018 UCF Schedule and Predictions
| WEEK | DATE | SCHOOL | OPPONENT |
| 1 | Aug. 30, 2018 (THU) | UCF | @ Connecticut |
| 2 | Sep. 8, 2018 | UCF | vs. FCS South Carolina State |
| 3 | Sep. 15, 2018 | UCF | @ North Carolina |
| 4 | Sep. 21, 2018 (FRI) | UCF | vs. Florida Atlantic |
| 5 | Sep. 29, 2018 | UCF | vs. Pittsburgh |
| 6 | Oct. 6, 2018 | UCF | vs. SMU |
| 7 | Oct. 13, 2018 | UCF | @ Memphis |
| 8 | Oct. 20, 2018 | UCF | @ East Carolina |
| 9 | Oct. 27, 2018 | BYE | WEEK |
| 10 | Nov. 1, 2018 (THU) | UCF | vs. Temple |
| 11 | Nov. 10, 2018 | UCF | vs. Navy |
| 12 | Nov. 17, 2018 | UCF | vs. Cincinnati |
| 13 | Nov. 23, 2018 (FRI) | UCF | @ South Florida |
2018 looks like another prime opportunity to run the schedule for UCF. Opening the season on Thursday night at Connecticut, the Knights get a conference game out of the way as their warm-up for tougher tests later in the year. The home opener against South Carolina State the following week offers a chance to tweak things further ahead of the big tests.
The trip to North Carolina will set the tone for the year. Win in Chapel Hill and UCF could be staring at another unbeaten run and a genuine threat to the College Football Playoff. Six days later, a Friday-night showdown with defending C-USA champion Florida Atlantic will determine which Sunshine State school will threaten for a New Year’s Six berth. Then Pitt comes to Orlando as UCF gets a second test against Power Five competition.
Leading up to their bye week, SMU comes to Florida to face the Knights in a tough conference test. Then UCF travels to face Memphis in a rematch of last year’s AAC championship game. East Carolina hosts the Knights on the third weekend of October, before the bye week reprieve concludes the month.
Home games against Temple, Navy, and Cincinnati offer a chance to warm back up out of the bye. Once again, the division could come down to the Black Friday battle in the War on I-4. UCF travels to Tampa this year to face South Florida, and once again that game could decide the division title.
What’s next for UCF?
The temptation will be there for UCF to begin looking ahead to their prime opportunities against North Carolina and Pitt. But the first order of business is the trip to East Hartford to face UConn on the gridiron. The Knights cannot take this test lightly, even if the Civil ConFLiCT never really became a thing outside Bob Diaco’s imagination. A loss in Connecticut would snap UCF’s undefeated run and end a shot at the New Year’s Six before it could really even start.
Prediction: 12-0 (8-0 AAC)
This year’s battle for the Group of Five’s berth in a New Year’s Six game will probably come down to fine details. Boise State and the Knights could be on a collision course to make the College Football Playoff selection committee’s job as difficult as possible. Josh Heupel lucked into the best possible situation to start his head coaching career. Look for UCF to extend its nation-leading 13-game winning streak to 25 games by the end of the regular season.
Next. Top 25 projections after spring practices. dark
Then it all comes down to whoever UCF faces in the AAC championship game. Win that game, and it would be hard to leave out a Knights team on a 26-game winning streak. The bigger question of whether they would merit a top-four spot would depend on how well UNC, Pitt, and FAU fare in 2018. Strength of schedule could ultimately be all that separates Boise State from UCF in 2018.