UCF Football in the Big XII, What a Full Schedule Will Look Like

Examining the options for UCF Football’s scheduling once it reaches the Big XII in 2023.

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Jan 25, 2022 4:56 PM EST

ORLANDO - Much will change once the Knights start flying west to touch down in the Lonestar State. Different teams, different players, and literally a different conference with the Big XII. With those changes also comes a vastly different schedule, and some big decisions about out of conference scheduling.

Before going all-in on the actual framework of the schedule, a couple of housecleaning notes. Texas and Oklahoma may in fact be gone in 2023, as they attempt to move to the SEC. For this exercise, the premise will be that neither the Longhorns or the Sooners are involved with the conference any longer (just one man’s guess because there are many changes that could take place).

Further, the design is that all the other Big XII schools currently included in the conference, will continue to be, plus UCF, Cincinnati, BYU and Houston, the four new members.

Conference Schedule

Will it be a schedule of 10 games, perhaps nine? That matters. In fact, it’s huge. That greatly changes how UCF or any other conference member schedules games outside of the Big XII, as well as attempts to continue to bring in rivalry games from outside the conference. So here we go…and let us begin with the idea of a 10 game slate inside the Big XII, just as an example, with two out of conference games remaining thereafter.

Note: all conference games are projected, sans the 2023 BYU game which was already scheduled and now both teams are joining the Big XII.

Sep. 2 Kent State (already scheduled)

Sep. 9 at Boise State (already scheduled)

Sep. 16 at Kansas

Sep. 23 Oklahoma State

Sep. 30 at Iowa State

Oct. 7 Baylor

Oct. 14 Bye

Oct. 21 at TCU

Oct. 28 at Texas Tech

Nov. 4 West Virginia

Nov. 11 BYU (already scheduled)

Nov. 18 at Cincinnati

Nov. 24 (Friday) Houston

Notes

**The last three games would be against teams also joining the Big XII at the same time as UCF, and there would be some familiarity. That would be cool. Perhaps Houston could be UCF’s new rival from the Big XII members in the state of Texas?

**The wear and tear on the bodies of the players will be hard enough going to the Big XII, but what about the extra travel? In the above proposed schedule, UCF Football would travel west of the Mississippi River five times. That’s a lot of travel miles. It’s also a reason for the next point.

**Recruiting matters more than ever. To win against a tougher level of opponent, there needs to be more speed, more size, and more depth. That’s why UCF Head Football Coach Gus Malzahn consistently mentions recruiting during his press conferences. It’s not for show.

**With a young big-time coach like Dave Aranda leading the Baylor Bears, plus Oklahoma State having Head Football Coach Mike Gundy, UCF’s coaching staff will be butting heads with some of the best coaches in the business. That’s only two of several really good coaches as well. Once reaching the Big XII, there will be some great chess matches no matter which team is across the field from the Knights.

**This schedule will provide UCF fans a chance to travel to some really cool locations. Playing at TCU, which is very close to Dallas, will be a big favorite for many fans that visit there. “Big D” is one of the coolest cities in the country to visit (insider’s tip: eat the brisket there!).

**With the above schedule, as noted in an earlier article on Inside The Knights from earlier today, there may not be room to continuously play USF. Perhaps the Knights could play the Bulls two years out of six, but that’s likely about it. If it’s a nine game slate, different situation. Just something to think about.

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