South Bound & Down
Fansided

The state of Florida football’s non-conference scheduling

By Nick Knudsen

GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 01: London Johnson #1 of the Charleston Southern Buccaneers looses the ball during the game against the Florida football team at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 01: London Johnson #1 of the Charleston Southern Buccaneers looses the ball during the game against the Florida football team at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 01: Aaron Cochran #43 of the UCF Knights points to the sky while head coach Josh Heupel calls for him after defeating the Memphis Tigers 56-41 at Spectrum Stadium on December 01, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 01: Aaron Cochran #43 of the UCF Knights points to the sky while head coach Josh Heupel calls for him after defeating the Memphis Tigers 56-41 at Spectrum Stadium on December 01, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

The UCF PR machine

None of this is meant to minimize anything the Knights have done. It’s to point out that UCF football has elevated themselves into a different world over the last two seasons. Want proof? Look at number of fans and commentators who took to Twitter to spew venom toward the UCF after LSU’s Fiesta Bowl victory on Tuesday.

In an ultra-competitive landscape where gaining any significant level of national attention at a Group of Five school constitutes a minor miracle, UCF’s apologetically braggadocios public relations machine not only has had the on-field results to backup the methods employed by UCF AD, Danny White, but should be viewed as the gold-standard for any Group of Five athletic department going forward.

Win. Claim titles. Throw a parade. Don’t apologize to the establishment. Keep winning.

It’s been a brilliant PR strategy that’s landed the Knights all kinds of national attention and a first-ever visit from College Game Day this past season.

Part of that PR strategy has railed against the current system in place and while the argument has its merits and should be continued, in the meantime, the Knights need to fully capitalize on their position by securing non-conference matchups against high quality opponents. The most recent PR dust-up with the Gators created a chance for UCF to lock in some games against the flagship program within their home state.

Gators go public

In an uncommon move, Florida took their negotiations public and offered UCF the same deal it has in place with fellow American Athletic Conference member, USF – a two-for-one series with two games to be played in Gainesville and one game in Orlando.

UCF balked at the offer and attempted to move the conversation toward a home-and-home, home-home-neutral, or just a neutral site matchup, but Florida, which holds the leverage, made it clear that a two-for-one series will be their only offer.

"“We do home-and-homes with like FSUs and Power Five leagues,” Florida AD Stricklin said at a recent press conference. “We haven’t done any home-and-homes with non-Power Five teams. I don’t think we would start that.” (Edgar Thompson, December 7, 2018, Orlando Sentinel)"

The weeks of public back-and-forth ended with UCF’s AD unceremoniously announcing they would not accept Florida’s offer.

In turning down Florida’s offer, UCF took its first loss in two years (LSU was later).

Take the deal, UCF!

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