2020 UCF Knights football team


The 2020 UCF Knights football team will represent the University of Central Florida during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Knights will be led by third-year head coach Josh Heupel and play their home games at Spectrum Stadium in Orlando, Florida. They will compete as members of the American Athletic Conference.

Previous season

After consecutive undefeated regular seasons in 2017 and 2018, the Knights were looking for their third consecutive conference championship, and third consecutive appearance in a New Year's Six bowl game. However, they suffered three road losses to finish 10–3 and in second place in the American Athletic Conference East Division. The Knights were invited to the Gasparilla Bowl where they defeated Marshall by the score of 48–25. At season's end, they ranked 24th in both final polls.
UCF finished the 2019 season riding a 21-game home winning streak at Spectrum Stadium. The team also enters the 2020 season on a streak of 39 consecutive games scoring at least one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown, the such streak in the nation.

Preseason

Spring game

The 2020 UCF Spring exhibition game was originally scheduled for Saturday April 4, 2020 at Spectrum Stadium. However, the game was postponed indefinitely on March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of all 2020 spring athletic activities, including spring football practice, which had begun on February 28. On June 1, student-athletes were permitted to return to campus for voluntary workouts, and sixty football players would be back to begin training as early as June 8. In mid-June 2020, it was reported that three Knights football players had tested positive for COVID-19. A second wave of approximately thirty additional players arrived on campus on June 22.

Schedule

UCF had games scheduled against Florida A&M, Georgia Tech and North Carolina, which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.