List of UCF Knights football seasons

The UCF Knights college football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), representing the University of Central Florida in the Big 12 Conference. Since the program's first season in 1979 under Don Jonas, the Knights have played more than 517 games, with over 290 victories. UCF has won six division titles (2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2017, 2018), six conference championships (2007, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018), and has made ten postseason appearances since joining FBS, including three BCS/NY6 bowl games.^[1] The Knights also claim a National Championship for the 2017 season, as recognized by the Colley Matrix. The Knights' current head coach is Scott Frost. The Knights have played their home games at FBC Mortgage Stadium, located on the main campus of UCF in Orlando, Florida, since 2007.

FBC Mortgage Stadium, the Knights' home field

UCF playing Texas at FBC Mortgage Stadium, then Bright House Networks Stadium, in 2007

UCF began as a Division III program, moving in succession to Division II, Division I-AA (FCS), and subsequently completed their ascension to Division I-A (FBS) in 1996. Initially a Division I-A Independent the Knights first moved into a "Group of Five" conference in 2002, and then into a "Power Five" conference in 2023.^[2] In doing so, the Knights became the first NCAA football program to play at all four sanctioned levels. As a Division I–AA program, the Knights made the 1990 and 1993 playoffs.^[3]

After George O'Leary took over the program, the Knights gained national prominence as members of C-USA and later the AAC. O'Leary guided UCF to their first division title (2005), first conference championship (2007), first bowl game (2005), first bowl victory (2010), first appearance/victory in a New Year's Six game (2014), first national rankings,^[4][5] and numerous other milestones and superlatives.

The Knights' main rivals are the South Florida Bulls; other historic rivals include East Carolina and Marshall. UCF has played one Consensus All-American, Kevin Smith in 2007, and produced three Heisman Trophy candidates, Daunte Culpepper in 1998, Kevin Smith in 2007, and McKenzie Milton in 2017 and 2018. The program has also produced a long-line of NFL players.^[6] Playing in fourteen Super Bowls and including four pro-bowlers, the list most notably includes Blake Bortles, Brandon Marshall, Bruce Miller, Daunte Culpepper, Matt Prater, Asante Samuel, and Josh Sitton.

Seasons

National Champions †

Conference Champions *

Division Champions ‡

Bowl game berth

College Football Playoff game §

Shared standing T

Not applicable

Season	Team	Head coach	Division	Season results							Championship and postseason results	Final ranking
				Conference				Overall				AP	Coaches'
				Finish [note 1]	Win(s)	Loss(es)	Tie(s)[note 2]	Win(s)	Loss(es)	Tie(s)[note 2]
UCF Knights
NCAA Division III Independent (1978–1981)
1979	1979	Don Jonas			6[n 1]	2	0
1980	1980				4[n 2]	4	1
1981	1981				4	6	0
NCAA Division II Independent (1982–1989)
1982	1982	Sammy Weir			0	10	0
1983	1983	Lou Saban			4	6	0
1984	1984	Lou Saban[15] Jerry Anderson			2	9	0
1985	1985	Gene McDowell			4	7	0
1986	1986				6	5	0
1987	1987				9	4	0				L NCAA Division II semifinal
1988	1988				6	5	0
1989	1989				7	3	0

Year	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Gene McDowell (FCS Independent) (1990–1995)
1990	Gene McDowell	10–4			L NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal
1991	Gene McDowell	6–5
1992	Gene McDowell	6–4[n 3]
1993	Gene McDowell	9–3			L NCAA Division I-AA First Round
1994	Gene McDowell	7–4
1995	Gene McDowell	6–5
Gene McDowell (FBS Independent) (1996–1997)
1996	Gene McDowell	5–6
1997	Gene McDowell	5–6
Mike Kruczek (FBS Independent) (1998–2001)
1998	Mike Kruczek	9–2
1999	Mike Kruczek	4–7
2000	Mike Kruczek	7–4
2001	Mike Kruczek	6–5
Mike Kruczek (Mid-American Conference) (2002–2003)
2002	Mike Kruczek	7–5	6–2	2nd (East)
2003	Mike Kruczek [16]	3–7	2–4	Fired
Alan Gooch (Interim) (Mid-American Conference) (2003)
2003	Alan Gooch	0–2	0–2	5th (East)
George O'Leary (Mid-American Conference) (2004)
2004	George O'Leary	0–11	0–8	7th (East)
George O'Leary (Conference USA) (2005–2012)
2005	George O'Leary	8–5	7–1	1st (East)	L Hawai'i
2006	George O'Leary	4–8	3–5	4th (East)
2007	George O'Leary	10–4	7–1	1st (East)	L Liberty
2008	George O'Leary	4–8	3–5	T-4th (East)
2009	George O'Leary	8–5	6–2	2nd (East)	L St. Petersburg
2010	George O'Leary	11–3	7–1	1st (East)	W Liberty	20	21
2011	George O'Leary	5–7	3–5	5th (East)
2012	George O'Leary	10–4	7–1	1st (East)	W Beef 'O' Brady's
George O'Leary (American Athletic Conference) (2013–2015)
2013	George O'Leary	12–1	8–0	1st	W Fiesta†	12	10
2014	George O'Leary	9–4	7–1	T–1st	L St. Petersburg
2015	George O'Leary [17]	0–8	0–4	Resigned
Danny Barrett (Interim) (American Athletic Conference) (2015)
2015	Danny Barrett	0–4	0–4	6th (East)
Scott Frost (American Athletic Conference) (2016–2017)
2016	Scott Frost	6–7	4–4	3rd (East)	L Cure
2017	Scott Frost	13–0	8–0	1st (East)	W Peach†	7	6
Josh Heupel (American Athletic Conference) (2018–2020)
2018	Josh Heupel	12–1	8–0	1st (East)	L Fiesta†	12	11
2019	Josh Heupel	10–3	6–2	2nd (East)	W Gasparilla	24	24
2020	Josh Heupel	6–4	5–3	T–3rd	L Boca Raton
Gus Malzahn (American Athletic Conference) (2021–2022)
2021	Gus Malzahn	9–4	5–3	3rd	W Gasparilla
2022	Gus Malzahn	9–5	6–2	T–2nd	L Military
Gus Malzahn (Big 12 Conference) (2023–2024)
2023	Gus Malzahn	6–7	3–6	T–9th	L Gasparilla
2024	Gus Malzahn	4–8	2–7	T–14th
Total:		299-241-1
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. § Denotes interim coach.

|- | style="background:#dddddd !important; border-bottom: 2px solid #aaaaaa;text-align:center;" colspan="9" | Scott Frost (Big 12 Conference) (2025–present) |- |scope="row"| 2025 | Scott Frost | || || || || style="text-align:right" | || style="text-align:right" |

Notes

1. The official NCAA Statistics do not include the game against Fort Benning, resulting in a record of 5–2^[8]
2. UCF's 1980 record is disputed. The Carson–Newman Eagles were forced to forfeit their opening day 30–21 victory^[9] over the Knights due to an ineligible player.^[10] The official NCAA Statistics (possibly by error) maintain UCF's 1980 full season record as 3–5–1,^[11] However, the school^[12][13] and local media^[14] claim a record of 4–4–1, interpreting the Eagles forfeit as a Knights win.
3. Does not include a 43–6 victory in an exhibition game against the Moscow Bears of the Russia national American football team

1. When in a division, it shows their position within the division. Otherwise the overall position in the division-less conference is listed.
2. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.^[7]