Perhaps it was a fitting end to one of the more frustrating seasons for the Gators in recent memory when the Central Florida Knights beat them in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl on Thursday night. The win gave UCF sole claim as the best college football team in the state of Florida and sent UF packing with its first losing season since 2017.
While the tumultuous campaign endured by the Orange and Blue was completely unexpected, the program’s performance in the consolation bowl game was not — at least to anyone who has watched this team since the loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in Week 5.
In Pat Dooley’s words:
It was ugly. Again.
It was a loss. Again.
Florida finished off a disappointing season with a disappointing loss. The brutal finish was secondary to seeing Justin Shorter carted off the field at the end, but we will deal with the football for now.
The good, the bad and the ugly of the bad finish to a bad season: