UCF asks UF for a neutral site game, but the Gators are against the idea. Here’s why
The biggest headlines surrounding this college football bowl season are about two teams that aren’t even playing each other.
UCF and the University of Florida have gotten into a back-and-forth ever since the CFP Selection Show unveiled the Knights were missing the playoff, despite going undefeated, for a second straight season and would settle for a New Year’s Six Bowl.
Then when it was announced UCF wasn’t playing UF in the Peach or Fiesta Bowl, instead taking on SEC power LSU, Knight fans began using social media to accuse the Gators, whose athletic director Scott Stricklin sits on the playoff committee, from ducking the Knights.
Stricklin has refuted those claims and even offered scheduling UCF in the future, but with a 2-for-1 series that involved two games in the Swamp and one game in Orlando — not at UCF’s Spectrum Stadium.
Now a report has surfaced showing emails between Stricklin and UCF athletic director Danny White about a potential future series.
White emailed Stricklin asking for a home-and-home series, or a neutral site game to expedite the process beginning in 2021, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
“UF isn’t in the market for home-and-home or a neutral site games against non-Autonomy 5 opponents,” Stricklin wrote in the emails the Orlando Sentinel obtained through a public records request. “However, we would be open to a series similar to what we’ve agreed to with USF … two games in Gainesville and one in Orlando. We are in need of a home opener for the 2022 season, so the 9/3/2022 date you mention would be a perfect date to begin the series, and we can fill in the remaining games from there.”
The Orlando Sentinel reported White responded that UCF is not a typical non-Power 5 team and that the CFP is a monopoly that needs fixing in an email to Stricklin.
That was the last of the emails the Orlando Sentinel obtained.
UCF plays LSU in the Fiesta Bowl, while UF plays Michigan in the Peach Bowl this season. The Knights have the longest active winning streak in college football at 25 games. Mount Union, a Division III program, held the longest active winning streak at 29 games before losing the D-III national championship game to Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday.
