1986 UCF Knights football team

The 1986 UCF Knights football season was the eighth season for the team. It was Gene McDowell's second season as the head coach of the Knights. McDowell's 1986 team compiled a 6–5 overall record.

The Knights competed as an NCAA Division II Independent. The team played their home games at the Citrus Bowl in Downtown Orlando. The Knights nearly earned their first-ever victory against a Division I-A team. On October 11, they fell 9-6 at Wichita State, on a miserable, soggy, afternoon after missing an extra point and two botched field goal attempts. It proved to be the Shockers' final football victory; less than two months after the game, Wichita State announced it was disbanding its program.