UCF will play its first Big 12 conference game at reigning champion Kansas State in Week 4 before hosting Baylor on Sept. 30 for its first home league game as a Power Five team. Those are among the highlights of the Knights’ 2023 football schedule, which was released Tuesday by the Big 12.
The Knights will travel to Oklahoma on Oct. 21 to face their former quarterback, Dillon Gabriel. They will not, however, play the Big 12′s other biggest brand, Texas.
UCF is moving from the American Athletic Conference to the Power Five league this summer. Because of that change, there’s one notable absence on the schedule: the War on I-4 against USF. Non-conference schedules are set years in advance, so a Bulls-Knights matchup became logistically hard, if not impossible, to pull off. Both sides, however, have expressed optimism about resuming the series eventually.
Instead of closing with USF, the Knights’ regular-season finale will be at home against Houston, another team moving from the AAC to the Big 12. UCF also has a notable game at Cincinnati on Nov. 4, sandwiched between home games against West Virginia and Oklahoma State.
The Knights open with a Thursday game against Kent State before an enticing non-conference game at Boise State.
UCF 2023 football schedule
Aug. 31 (Thursday): vs. Kent State
Sept. 9: at Boise State
Sept. 16: vs. Villanova (family weekend)
Sept. 23: at Kansas State
Sept. 30: vs. Baylor
Oct. 7: at Kansas
Oct. 14: off
Oct. 21: at Oklahoma
Oct. 28: vs. West Virginia (homecoming)
Nov. 4: at Cincinnati
Nov. 11: vs. Oklahoma State
Nov. 18: at Texas Tech
Nov. 25: vs. Houston
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