Cincinnati Releases 2017 Football Schedule

Hype surrounding the Cincinnati Bearcats football program continues to rise as the Luck Fickell era remains in its infancy. Yesterday we got another bit of news to build up the excitement, as UC released its 2017 football schedule. Here’s how it shakes out.

• Thursday Aug. 31 vs. Austin Peay
• Saturday Sept. 9 at Michigan
• Saturday Sept. 16 at Miami (Ohio)
• Saturday Sept. 23 at Navy
• Saturday Sept. 30 vs. Marshall
• Saturday Oct. 7 vs. UCF
• Saturday Oct. 21 vs. SMU
• Saturday Oct. 28 at USF
• Saturday Nov. 4 at Tulane
• Friday Nov. 10 vs. Temple
• Saturday Nov. 18 at East Carolina
• Saturday Nov. 25 vs. UConn

The biggest game on the list is obviously the early September date against Michigan, a team that will undoubtedly be nationally ranked at the time and just missed out on the College Football Playoff this past season.

You’ll also notice that the Bearcats will not face off with Houston and Tulsa and finishes the season with a revenge game against UConn, which was a matchup that was brutal to watch for both sides this past year.

The worst stretch of this slate comes early in the year, beginning at Michigan, which starts a three-game road trip for the Bearcats, who went 1-4 away from home last season. They also go on the road to face USF, which has outscored UC 110-47 in the last two matchups.

Right now, only the game at Navy has a kickoff time (3:30) and that is also one of only two tilts to be officially announced for national television. The Navy game will be on CBS Sports Network and the Friday matchup with Temple will be on ESPN2.

So there you have it. The first 12 games of the Luke Fickell era. Get hyped.

What do you think of the schedule? Too easy? Too difficult? Not enough good games? Sound off in the comments.