Knights to Play Gators in Gasparilla Bowl?

A Florida versus UCF matchup in Tampa appears to be in the works.

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Dec 5, 2021 11:40 AM EST

ORLANDO - According to the Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi, Florida and UCF appear to be headed for a collision in a bowl game.

With a three-game series set to take place in 2024, 20230 and 2033, UCF and Florida fans were thinking they would need to wait to see the two schools collide on the gridiron.

Apparently not.

To be clear, college bowl games do everything they can to create intriguing bowl game matchups. With the dislike for each other that each fanbase has, the firing of Head Coach Dan Mullen by Florida officials, and it being UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn’s first season in Orlando, there’s good reason to place the two teams in a bowl game.

Turmoil sells. Florida has been a disaster this season coming off a 6-6 record, while UCF fended off an incredible amount of injuries to finish its season at 8-4. The Gasparilla Bowl officials would love to pit each of these schools against each other for ratings and ticket sales.

Adding more interest to the game, the Gators hired their new Head Football Coach, Billy Napier. He will be coming to coach in Gainesville after being the Head Coach at the University of Louisiana. Here are the coaching records for Coach Malzahn and Coach Napier during their careers.

Coach Malzahn: 85-42 overall record, with Arkansas State (9-3), Auburn (68-35) and UCF (8-4) being his three head coaches jobs.

Coach Napier: He’s only been the leader of one program, Louisiana (40-12).

You can order tickets to the game on the main Gasparilla Bowl website.

For UCF coverage and recruiting information go to: The Daily Knight podcast. For more college football, UCF and recruiting information, go to Twitter: @fbscout_florida and @UCF_FanNation, as well as my YouTube Channel and Instagram page. Like and Subscribe!