ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — UCF football will take on the four new teams joining the Big 12 for the 2024 season and will head to Gainesville to play the Gators, according to the schedule released by the program on Tuesday.
Colorado, coached by Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, will pay a visit to Orlando on Sept. 28, and Arizona, which finished last season ranked No. 11 in the AP Top 25 rankings, will be the Space Game opponent on Nov. 2.
2024 UCF Space Game 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/wcDefdNKcp
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) January 30, 2024
The Black Friday game is back, and the opponent this year will be Utah on Nov. 29. The Knights will travel to Arizona State on Nov. 9.
The Knights' matchup with the Gators will come Oct. 5 in Gainesville as five of their first six games will be played in the state of Florida. It will mark the first matchup of the teams since UCF defeated Florida for the first time, 29-17, on Dec. 23, 2021, at the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa. The Gators lead the all-time series 2-1.
The home schedule will feature seven games again this season. Most of those opponents will be making their first appearance at UCF, starting with New Hampshire on Thursday, Aug. 29 and followed by Sam Houston on Sept. 7. The two remaining games at FBC Mortgage Stadium will feature Cincinnati on Oct. 12 and BYU for Homecoming on Oct. 26, both teams that joined the Big 12 along with the Knights last season.
2024 UCF Homecoming Game 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/ipCubiMsPP
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) January 30, 2024
The Knights will head to TCU on Sept. 14, to Iowa State on Oct. 19, to Arizona State on Nov. 9 and to West Virginia on Nov. 23 to wrap up their road schedule. Arizona State is the fourth new member of the Big 12.
The schedule also includes bye weeks on Sept. 21 and Nov. 16.
The Knights also announced that their Spring Game will be played at 7 p.m. April 12.
UCF 2024 football schedule
- Aug. 29 vs. New Hampshire
- Sept. 7 vs. Sam Houston
- Sept. 14 at TCU
- Sept. 28 vs. Colorado
- Oct. 5 at Florida
- Oct. 12 vs. Cincinnati
- Oct. 19 at Iowa State
- Oct. 26 vs. BYU
- Nov. 2 vs. Arizona
- Nov. 9 at Arizona State
- Nov. 23 at West Virginia
- Nov. 29 vs. BYU
Kickoff times will be released at a later date.
The past week has been a busy one for UCF. Coach Gus Malzahn announced major changes to his coaching staff.
He brought back Tim Harris Jr. as offensive coordinator/running backs coach and shifted last year's sole offensive coordinator, former UCF quarterback Darin Hinshaw, to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Harris had been on UCF's 2021-22 football staffs and spent last season with the Miami Hurricanes.
He also brought in Trevon Reed to coach cornerbacks and Morris Henry Jr. as associate director of athletic performance for football. Reed played cornerback on Auburn's 2010 national championship team and in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers. Reed came to UCF from Auburn, where he spent the past three seasons as director of football and recruiting relations. Henry is a native of Orlando and previously was a strength and conditioning coach at Auburn.
Malzahn previously had brought in former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who he worked with on Auburn's national championship team, to the same role at UCF and moved last year's DC, Addison Williams, to co-associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator.