UCF adds future home-and-home series with Northwestern, Pittsburgh

UCF has added a nonconference home-and-home series to its future football schedule with Northwestern and Pittsburgh.

The Knights will travel to Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sept. 12, 2026, and the Panthers will return to Orlando on Sept. 15, 2029. The programs have met three times, with the most recent game coming in 2019 as UCF dropped a close road contest, 35-34. Pitt owns a 2-1 advantage in the series.

UCF will make its first trip to Northwestern as the Knights are set to face the Wildcats at Ryan Field on Sept. 9, 2028. Northwestern will return to FBC Mortgage Stadium on Sept. 6, 2031.

“We look forward to welcoming visitors to Orlando from Pitt and Northwestern and the road games are fantastic cities for our fans to travel,” UCF AD Terry Mohajir said in a statement. “Pennsylvania is currently ranked a top-five state UCF students come from and Chicago is home to one of our top alumni communities.

“With a nine-game Big 12 schedule, we’re very strategic in how we schedule each year. Our philosophy for nonconference has been to play a Power Four, a Group of Five team and an FCS program. As we navigate the analytics of the new College Football Playoff, we will continue to evaluate how we schedule.”

UCF also added a pair of nonconference games with teams from the Football Championship Subdivision during the next four seasons with North Carolina A&T (2025), Bethune-Cookman (’26), UT Martin (’27) and Maine (’28). The Knights have never faced North Carolina A&T or UT Martin but are 11-5 overall against B-CU and 2-0 against Maine.

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

Future nonconference schedule

2025

Jacksonville State

North Carolina A&T

North Carolina

2026

Bethune-Cookman

At Pittsburgh

UMass

2027

At North Carolina

UT Martin

Louisiana

2028

Maine

At Northwestern

Florida Atlantic

2029

James Madison

Pittsburgh