On Tuesday morning, the American Athletic Conference announced the finalized conference schedule for 2018. Now all 12 of UConn Football’s games have dates set. All times and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
UConn already had agreements in place with Boise State (Sept. 8) and Syracuse (Sept. 22) for road games as well as home dates with Rhode Island (Sept. 15), and UMass (Oct. 27) out of conference.
In a welcome change, every game but the season opener will be on a Saturday.
It’s going to be a tough year for the Huskies, though, as they open up against noted conFLiCT rival and claimer of the 2017 National Championship UCF on Aug. 30 in their traditional Thursday night game the week the students return to classes. Typically this game is against an FCS opponent, but this year it will be against the probable best team in the conference.
UConn will follow that up with three of its four non-conference games, completing the series with Boise State on the blue turf in Idaho. Last season, the Broncos won the Mountain West and defeated Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl on their way to an 11-3 finish.
UConn will welcome FCS opponent Rhode Island into East Hartford the following week and then travel to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse to complete their home-and-home agreement. Eric Dungey threw for 407 yards in 2016’s 31-24 Syracuse win.
The Huskies resume conference play the next week when Cincinnati makes the visit to Pratt & Whitney Stadium on Sept. 29. The Bearcats were 4-8 in 2017 but did win 22-21 in UConn’s final game of the season.
On Oct. 6, the Huskies will go to the Liberty Bowl to play Memphis, who embarrassed them 70-31 on that same date in 2017. The game set a program record for points allowed. The Tigers lost a wild conference championship game to UCF and finished 10-3 on the year after losing in their hometown Liberty Bowl.
After a bye, UConn travels to USF on Oct. 20, who were 37-20 winners at the Rent on Senior Day last year. The Bulls were 10-2 in 2017 with a Birmingham Bowl win.
UConn will renew its regional rivalry with UMass on Oct. 27 in what will likely be the Homecoming game and head back out on the road Nov. 3 against Tulsa. The Huskies won 20-14 in 2017 on Homecoming in the schools’ first-ever meeting.
Two of UConn’s final three games are at home, including a date with SMU on Nov. 10. The Mustangs were 49-28 winners last season as part of a 7-6 season that ended with a loss in the DXL Frisco Bowl. Rhett Lashlee, UConn’s offensive coordinator in 2017, is now at the same position for SMU.
The Huskies are back on the road to face East Carolina in their penultimate game on Nov. 17 after the Pirates came to East Hartford and win 41-38 last year. They will finish off the regular season against Temple the next week at home in what will be Senior Day. UConn pulled off the upset in Philadelphia last season, 28-24.
Should they make it that far, The American’s championship will be Dec. 1.