Tag: Central Florida Knights

An early look at the betting odds for Florida vs UCF in Gasparilla Bowl

We’re still 10 days away but here is an early look at the odds for Florida vs. UCF in thee Gasparilla Bowl.

It was not the best season ever for Florida football in 2021, but the team managed to earn its way into a bowl game with a victory over the Florida State Seminoles to close the schedule. Finishing at 6-6, the Gators eked their way into a bonus matchup with the Central Florida Knights in the Gasparilla Bowl while their garnet and gold rivals went home for the winter.

UCF enters the game with a state-best 8-4 record having had something of a disappointing season of its own. Still, after a fall that saw all of the state schools falter, the Knights came out on top and now have a chance to punch the bullies from the flagship school square in the mouth in front of what will surely be a crowd dominated by black and gold.

To start the week, according to the Tipico Sportsbook, the Gators are favored by 6.5 points over the Knights, with the over-under sitting at 55.5 points. Florida’s money line is set at minus-250 while Central Florida’s is at plus-190 as of 10:30 a.m. EST Monday, December 13.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. EST on Thursday, December 23, inside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, livestreamed on the ESPN app and can be heard on the Gators Radio Network.

All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook

Visit our free to play game lobby at Daily Ticket, Powered by Tipico Sportsbook

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10 things you need to know about UF’s Gasparilla Bowl matchup with UCF

Take a look at 10 fun facts for the upcoming Gasparilla Bowl.

Here is the interesting thing about the Gasparilla Bowl – Central Florida got what it wanted, but I’m sure the Knights would have preferred one of their better teams received the chance to play the cross-state Gators in a bowl game.

Ironically, the Gators feel the same way.

UCF has had some great teams over the last decade. This isn’t one of them. They would like to show the college football world that they are ready for the Power 5 jump to the Big 12 in a couple of years. But not with this team.

And Florida would like to put little brother in his place before the Gators face them in the first of three regular-season games in 2024.

But not with this team and its skeleton staff.

Still, they must play. Just what Billy Napier needed: another rivalry game added to some of the future schedules.

Anyway, it’s still two weeks away, but here’s a quick primer on our neighbors in Theme Park City:

Where Florida’s matchup with UCF stand in CBS Sports’ bowl game rankings

This game would have been a lot more interesting a few years ago, but it still carries a lot of intrigue.

It’s hard to imagine the bowl organizers didn’t know what they were doing. Florida reached bowl eligibility by winning its final game against Florida State, and the reward was a trip to Tampa to take on UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium on Dec. 23.

There has been some controversy between the two fanbases over the last several years. The Knights accused UF of refusing to play a home-and-home, and while the two teams eventually agreed on a two-for-one series, those games will be spread out, with UCF coming to Gainesville in 2024 and 2033 and the Gators heading down to Orlando in 2030.

Now, we get to see them face off in just a few weeks. Though the battle between 6-6 Florida and 8-4 UCF doesn’t have the luster it could have had a couple of years ago, it still carries some interest and ranks No. 31 among the 42 bowl games, according to CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli.

This game would’ve been a lot cooler a few years ago when UCF was going undefeated and talking all that trash about how schools like Florida were afraid to schedule it. Since then, the Knights have lost two coaches to Power Five programs and poached their own Power Five coach in Gus Malzahn. Also, these two schools just announced a three-game series that will begin in 2024, which strips this game of some of its natural appeal.

And then there are the Gators. Florida fired Dan Mullen last month, and although it has already hired his replacement in Billy Napier, how excited is this team going to be to face UCF in Tampa? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised and both teams will show up and ball out, but it isn’t likely.

Fornelli raises an interesting point. Considering the fact that it’s a low-tier bowl game, the odds are very high that there will be some opt-outs, and it’s hard to know just how motivated the Florida players that do choose to participate will be. Still, this is an interesting in-state matchup that carries a lot of intrigue, though the Gators will likely have less to play for than the Knights.

Interim coach Greg Knox will look to pull off another big victory over an in-state team in his final game at the helm before new coach Billy Napier officially takes over.

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Check out the history of the Gasparilla Bowl in its many forms

Take a look at the history behind Florida football’s bowl game against UCF this year.

Florida football snuck into a bowl bid with a home win over the Florida State Seminoles on the final game of the 2021 regular season. In a year that many had hoped to see the Orange and Blue in the College Football Playoff, or at least in a fourth-straight New Year’s Six game, instead, the Gators find themselves in a lower-tier consolation game — the Gasparilla Bowl against the Central Florida Knights.

This will be the first time UF has played in the Tampa Bay area game while UCF has made four prior appearances — tied with the Marshall Thundering Herd for most in the bowl series’ history. While Florida has little direct history in the bowl game formerly known as the magicJack Bowl, the St. Petersburgh Bowl (and a brief stint as the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl in 2014), as well as the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl before taking on its current title, there are still many ties to Gainesville and the state over the years.

Take a look below at the full history of the game, which has been played both at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburgh as well as Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Note that the 2020 iteration, which was scheduled to be called the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

Could Florida and UCF meet earlier than expected?

Will Florida and UCF finally match up on the football field, or will we wait until 2024?

The Gators shut out the Knights the last time Florida and UCF met on the gridiron in 2006, but a potential bowl matchup this year could provide a very different outcome. USA Today’s latest bowl projections have the two Florida programs facing off in the Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium.

This isn’t the first time Florida and UCF have been linked, but it may be the best opportunity for the teams to meet until a three-game series kicks off in 2024 in the Swamp. At 7-5, the Knights finished the year tied with Miami for the best college football record in Florida. The Gators held onto a win over Florida State in the final game of the season and some players took to Twitter to claim that they were still the elite program in Florida.

Prove it then.

This could be the last time Florida has a chance to bully its little brother while UCF is still in the group of five. The Knights will be in the Big 12 by 2024, so why not give them the shot they’ve been asking for since claiming a national championship (technically the Colley-Matrix named them champs, I’m just saying)?

Both teams had their share of trouble this year at the quarterback position. Emory Jones threw 13 interceptions on the year at Florida and Anthony Richardson added five more as his backup. Meanwhile, the Knights lost starter Dillon Gabriel in September to a broken clavicle and he’s now entering the transfer portal (keep on eye on him if he heads to Ole Miss, Gator Nation).

On the other hand, both teams would likely play their hearts out for this game. The Knights are going to play with passion regardless of who they face after losing former running back Otis Anderson Jr. to gun violence earlier in the week.

Florida has a more traditional reason to play hard, and that’s pride. The Gators were bad this year, especially on defense at times. Dan Mullen is no longer Florida’s head coach and the Billy Napier era is set to begin shortly. Even if Greg Knox is the interim coach at the bowl game, a win could convince recruits and fans to take Florida seriously again.

Finally, it would tickle this UCF alumnus to see the team he covers face off against his alma mater in USF’s borrowed stadium, but that’s neither here nor there.

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Are the Gators still the best team in Florida?

4-3 isn’t good enough for Florida to compete nationally, but the Gators are still the No. 1 in-state program.

It’s been a rough season for the Gators. After a hot start, losses to Kentucky and LSU have Florida (4-3) unranked, snapping a streak of 52 consecutive poll appearances. The good news is that UF is still the best college football team in the state, according to The Athletic.

Dan Mullen may be on the hot seat, but his team is on top of the “Sunshine State 7” for now. The performance against Alabama (a two-point loss in the Swamp) won’t be forgotten, but it’s Mullen’s inability to get Florida over the top against the nation’s best that sticks out.

The biggest question is whether coach Dan Mullen will ever get Florida back into legitimate title contention. After leading the Gators to two top-10 AP poll finishes in his first two seasons, Florida has lost seven of 19, mostly to college football’s elites (LSU twice, Alabama twice, Texas A&M, Oklahoma) and are clearly behind Georgia in the pecking order of the SEC East.

UCF (3-3) is second in the state, but the Knights have the excuse of losing star quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Kaila Davia, an impact play on the defensive line. Florida has been without one of the best corners in college football, Kaiir Elam, for some time as well, though.

Florida State (2-4) and Miami (2-4) are third and fourth as both programs are having disappointing years. FAU (3-3), USF (1-5) and FIU (1-5) round out the list with the latter two beating among the worst in football right now.

While the competition isn’t necessarily that strong in the state of Florida, the Gators’ numbers against FBS opponents are still impressive in comparison. Florida scores 34.4 points per game against FBS opponents, which is good for 24th nationally. No other team in Florida makes the top 50. The Gators’ 7.07 yards per play on offense is fourth-best in the country. FIU and Florida State are the next highest-ranked at Nos. 37 and 38.

Defensively, Florida is still on top of the state with possibly even less competition across the state. Todd Grantham isn’t the most beloved figure in Gainesville right now, but some other Florida team may snatch him up quickly if his contract isn’t renewed as many expect.

Finally, four Gators made it onto the Sunshine State 7 Midseason Team. Emory Jones the second quarterback on the list after FAU’s N’Kosi Perry. Offensive lineman Ethan White, defensive tackle Gervon Dexter and defensive end Zach Carter also made it. With Elam sitting out for three weeks, it makes sense to leave him off the list.

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Could UCF joining the Big 12 hurt the Gators?

As UCF continues to grow, Florida fans are wondering how it will affect the Gators.

With UCF being one of the expected teams to join the Big 12, some Florida fans are asking how the move will affect the Gators. The Athletic’s G. Allan Taylor tackled the question to lead this week’s mailbag and outlined two very different possible outcomes.

The best-case scenario outlined for UCF should be frightening for Gators fans but it’s unlikely to happen. Taylor describes a world where the Knights become College Football Playoff regulars thanks to the golden ticket that is entering Power 5. If that happens and Florida isn’t battling alongside them in the CFP, it would be a quick and major power shift within the state.

The flip side of the coin presented has the Big 12 losing its Power 5 shine thanks to Texas and Oklahoma departing and everything flops. While this is obviously ideal from a competition standpoint for the Gators, this outcome also seems unlikely. UCF and Cincinnati have already proven to some degree that they can reach a major bowl game without the Power 5 shine.

So, the answer is likely somewhere in the middle of the two extreme ends of the spectrum presented. As a UCF alumnus, I fully expect to hear from SEC fans that a second-place finish to Alabama overrules a Big 12 Championship when it comes to CFP placement. I expect it because it will be true some years, but the real impact on Florida will come in the years that argument is hollow.

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A more realistic scenario for Gators fans to consider is one where the two schools face off more often. Bowl game matchups are now more likely as UCF won’t have to claw and scratch for a bid, and the schools will faceoff in the regular season in 2024.

Florida dropping any of those games immediately becomes recruitment fodder, and that’s the biggest threat UCF’s move to the Big 12 presents the Gators. Three-star offensive lineman Leyton Nelson chose the Knights over the Gators last month. Florida already has to compete with Florida State and Miami for top in-state prospects, so adding UCF to the list would make the job even harder.

While UCF isn’t threatening to overtake Florida as the top college football destination in the state, it is beginning to level the playing field when it comes to recruitment.

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REPORT: Florida and UCF close to a deal on a two-for-one series

Florida and UCF fans’ wish to play each other might finally come true soon. The two schools are close to a deal for a three-game series.

The Florida and UCF fanbases are about to finally get what they want. Matchups against each school to see which program is superior to the best college football team in the state of Florida. The Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday that the Gators and Knights are close to an agreement for a three-game series, two in Gainesville and one in Orlando.

In 2018, former UCF athletic director Danny White wrote in an email to UF athletic director Scott Stricklin. White said that he’s open to playing anyone in the country but wasn’t willing to put his team at a severe disadvantage by being forced to play two-for-one games.

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White was named the athletic director at Tennessee on Jan. 21, 2021. He was replaced by Terry Mohajir who changed UCF’s stance on those types of series.

Florida will reportedly host UCF in the Swamp in 2024 and 2033. The Gators would travel to Orlando in 2030 to face the Knights.

The two programs have only played each other twice. Florida beat them both times, 58-27 in 1999 and 42-0 in 2006.

If the deal were to be agreed upon, the Gators would be set to play UCF, Miami and FSU in 2024.

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