With a handful of future opponents and home-and-home series announced Tuesday, UCF’s commitment to its organization and strength of schedule is clear.
The Boise State Broncos – a Mountain West Conference team – will face the Knights at Spectrum Stadium during the first week of the 2021 season, UCF Athletics announced Tuesday. It will be the first time the two teams meet on the field.
The Knights will travel to Boise State during the 2023 season to matchup against the Broncos in Idaho, according to the news release.
“We are excited to have this series on the schedule and thrilled to be able to bring our fans another marquee game on The Blue,” Boise State Director of Athletics Curt Apsey said in a press release. “I believe this is a match-up that college football fans throughout the country want to see, and one that our student-athletes will be excited to play.”
Boise State was scheduled to play a home-and-home against the Rice Owls – first in Houston in 2021 and at home 2023 – but moved the games to accommodate the series with UCF to the 2025 season and the 2029 season, respectively, according to a Boise State Athletics press release.
Boise State – which opened its season at home with a 36-31 win over Florida State, and is 4-0 overall – landed the No. 16 spot in The AP Top 25 Poll and No. 15 in the Amway Coaches Poll released Sunday.
Unlike Boise State, the BYU Cougars and the UCF Knights have met twice before. In 2011, the Knights traveled to Provo, Utah, where BYU defeated UCF 24-17. When the Cougars came to Orlando in 2014 to finish off the series, the Knights defeated the Cougars 31-24 in overtime.
BYU, which has competed as an independent since 2011, has six bowl victories and 81 combined victories over a decade, according to the release. UCF will host BYU to kick off the home-and-home series between the two schools in November 2023, with the second game set in Utah for 2024.
“BYU and Boise State represent big-time strength-of-schedule games for our program based on their records and top-25 rankings in recent years,” UCF Director of Athletics Danny White said in the release. “We are committed to continue to schedule attractive, meaningful football games both for our fans and student-athletes. BYU and Boise State are both power programs, and we’re proud to play them.”
Looking at the first few weeks of the 2020 season, UCF will face UNC Chapel Hill – currently listed as “TBD/Week 1” – at home, followed by FIU on Sept. 12 at home, then Georgia Tech on Sept. 19 in Atlanta, according to the release.
The start of the 2021 season has Boise State at home, with the Knights on the road facing Louisville on Sept. 18 in Louisville, Kentucky, the release reads.
By the 2022 season, the Knights will have met their matches at least once. UCF will face FIU in Miami on Sept. 1, followed by Louisville at home on Sept. 10 and Georgia Tech at home on Sept. 24.
In 2023, UCF will face Boise State in Idaho on Sept. 9, and BYU at home on Nov. 11.
In 2025, UNC Chapel Hill is set to return to the Bounce House on Sept. 20, and in 2027, the Knights will hit the road to take on UNC in Chapel Hill on Sept. 11.
