Last December, one day after UCF beat Memphis in the AAC Championship to reach 12-0, I wrote this: "UCF Lost Scott Frost But Has the Talent and Schedule to Compete for a Playoff Spot in 2018." I was wrong; UCF has plenty of talent, but their schedule isn't playoff-worthy. They might have a better chance next year.
After opening with Florida A&M, they visit Florida Atlantic, who was supposed to be a résumé-building win for the Knights this year. The Owls, who are 3-4 entering Week 9, will lose several all-conference seniors, including offensive tackle Reggie Bain and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, along with, presumably, running back Devin Singletary to the 2019 NFL Draft. We could see a similar six- or seven-win FAU team in 2019.
UCF hosts Stanford in Week 3 and visits Pittsburgh in Week 4 for the first and latter halves of home-and-home series that began in 2015 and 2018, respectively. The Cardinal, like FAU, has underwhelmed this year, but despite departures of JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Bryce Love and other key seniors, they should be a top-25-caliber team in 2019. Pitt, meanwhile, continues middling in mediocrity under Pat Narduzzi, struggling to string together wins and avoid annual losses to bad teams. If the Panthers take even a small step forward, a road Power Five win would be a nice notch on the Knights' belt.
In addition to their AAC East foes, UCF gets Houston, Tulane and Tulsa from the West. Missing Memphis sucks. The Tigers are currently laboring through a .500 season in 2018 but should be near the top of the division again in 2019. UCF needs Cincinnati to continue taking steps forward under Luke Fickell and USF and/or Temple to make a run at 10 wins.
It's impossibly early to predict the strength of UCF's 2019 opponents. However, as of now, their schedule looks better and might be enough to put them in the playoff conversation.
