Scott Frost and the UCF Knights kick off the 2026 college football season with Bethune-Cookman on Friday night, and the Week 1 contest gives the Big 12 its first look at James Madison quarterback transfer Alonza Barnett III.
After finishing near the bottom of the Big 12 last year, UCF hopes to make the jump to the middle tier with some key faces back and an emphasis on cutting down a -4 turnover margin severely hurt this team’s chances. UCF enters this contest a 42.5-point favorite in its home opener at the Acrisure Bounce House in Orlando.
BCU enters the conversation in Week 1 with a proven rusher in Khamani Robinson (6.0 yards per carry) and fifth-year safety Naim Lassiter, named Aeneas Williams Award preseason watch list. The Wildcats finished 6-6 overall and 5-3 in the SWAC, its best mark since joining the league in 2021.
Here’s our game preview, prediction and pick.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
ALONZA BARNETT, UCF
Frost and UCF captured quite the quarterback in Barnett this offseason following the Whitsett, North Carolina, native’s prolific four-year career playing for Indiana national championship winner Curt Cignetti and later Bob Chesney, now at UCLA. Barnett led Dukes over Troy in the 2025 Sun Belt Championship to secure the school’s first College Football Playoff appearance.
KHAMANI ROBINSON, BCU
As a freshman, Robinson led the Wildcats with 92 carries for 574 yards and five touchdowns. He’d appear in 11 of 12 games during his collegiate debut, and found himself just about everywhere with roles in the pass game, special teams and helped lead BCU to back-to-back wins last season against Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Mississippi Valley State.
PREDICTION
UCF 44, BCU 3
There should be too much working between Barnett’s arm and the UCF offense, which now features a dynamic runner in Central Arkansas transfer Landen Chambers, for BCU to keep up in this contest. Returning Knights LB Lewis Carter and DB Jayden Bellamy are also getting their first snaps of the 2026 campaign and won’t do their opponent any favors. Take UCF large.
