The best team in Florida is …
After UCF beat Georgia Tech 49-21 in its season opener — in the same city where it claimed its 2017 national championship* — sophomore standout quarterback Dillon Gabriel proclaimed his Knights “the best team in Florida.”
Asked about that comment again Monday during a media availability with reporters in Orlando, Gabriel held firm. “I said what I said. I still think we’re the best team in Florida.”
Now, we all know how UCF quite enjoys rattling the cages of its Power Five in-state brethren. UCF AD Danny White and Florida AD Scott Stricklin have gotten into several he-said/he-said skirmishes over an inability to schedule each other. UCF fans also accused Florida of refusing to play UCF in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl after the 2018 season at the height of their grudge fest.
The point is that nobody in the state much cares for one another, and that is especially true for the new program on the block trying to get everyone to take it seriously. But what Dillon said begs a very important question. Is UCF the best team in Florida? On its face the question seems like a pretty straightforward “no.” After all, Florida and Miami are both ranked higher than UCF in the AP Top 25.
The Knights are a healthy 27-point favorite against ECU this Saturday, but how would they stack up against the Power 5 competition Gabriel so confidently boasts superiority over? ESPN Stats & Information proves nothing is ever truly straightforward in college football. Especially when it comes to UCF.
The Knights have the highest Football Power Index ranking of any Florida school, sitting at No. 8. On a neutral field and with equal rest, the Knights would be favored by:
- 1.3 points over Florida
- 12.8 points over Miami
- 14.2 points over Florida State
In addition to that, the FPI gives UCF the highest percentage of all the Florida schools to make the College Football Playoff (32.2% for the Knights, compared to 9.6% for Florida, and 0.1% for both Miami and Florida State).
So should we get a 2020 national championship banner ready? Wait, that is a different conversation. — Andrea Adelson
Unless the bowl selection committee intervenes, we likely won’t get an answer any time soon on which Florida squad is superior, but the Gators will at least have their chance to respond on Saturday, when they open their season against Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss.
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