Dan Mullen supports Florida's interest in playing UCF: I’d have no problem playing them
It’s unclear if Florida and UCF will meet again on the gridiron anytime soon but based on what the Florida coach had to say Thursday during his Orlando media availability, Dan Mullen has no issue playing the Knights.
Florida’s offer to play UCF in a two-for-one series (meaning the teams would meet three times total, twice in Gainesville and once in Orlando) is well-known and something the Gators have agreed upon with USF, but up until this point, UCF has not agreed upon those terms. In the eyes of Florida’s administration, the program has no interest in agreeing to home-and-home series with G5 schools, which is a fairly common stance among Power 5 programs.
Mullen was asked his thoughts on playing UCF on Thursday and he admitted he supports the idea and that the Gators have offered UCF the two-for-one deal previously.
“They’d have to play us to have a rivalry,” Mullen said. “We made an offer to them – and we did a similar offer to USF, who is in their league… I’d have no problem scheduling UCF.”
Based on that response, it sounds like UCF has a standing offer on the table, the real question is whether they will ever step up to the plate and accept it. The two programs have only met twice on the field, with the Gators winning both matchups. The closest UCF has been able to keep up with the Gators came in a 58-27 defeat back in 1999.
#Gators coach Dan Mullen was asked about the ‘blossoming rivalry’ between @UCF_Football and the @FloridaGators #Knights #Gators #CFB pic.twitter.com/EyQMtNlriv
— Courtney Jasmin (@CourtneyWESH2) May 16, 2019
UCF should just take the deal. It will never get any better. Otherwise, they should just stop talking.
I vote for stop talking.
They might not get better from UF, but they might be able to get better elsewhere. Right now it doesn’t make much sense for either of the two to compromise. UCF does need to play a much better schedule if they want to earn respect, but UF isn’t the only option.
I think UF is the only option for them. They know the offer. They get to play the “no respect” card while having an out. They can claim they “want” to play up, but only on equal terms. It doesn’t benefit UF to meet in the middle, and they know it. If they look elsewhere, they may just have their terms accepted. Lose/lose for UCF.
Look what happens when they played LSU at 50% strength. What do you think would happen if they played any SEC team (save for maybe Ark and Vandy) at full strength?
If they could leverage their recent success and into a neutral site opener it would be better than accepting UF’s terms. And they are getting a visit from Stanford this year, a legit P5 school, so they can get better deals than UF’s.
As you point out, UCF was at less than full strength in the bowl. Also, LSU is a better than average SEC team. They could beat several SEC teams, and a good number of P5 teams (though there is still a difference between one game and a season).
secer, LSU was the team playing at 50% strenght, they were missing their entire secondary and their top LB. Granted UCF was playing with their 2nd string QB, but at least he had started several games. LSU has a receiver playing corner most of that game and still was able to wallop them.
UCF would not beat “several” SEC teams nor “a good number”of P5 teams, unless you are talking about Arky in the SEC and Pitt, Wake Forest or any weak sister ACC team, or the bottom teams in the other conferences. If they played several top 25 teams they would have several losses.
This isn’t even the point of what I was saying, but here goes:
That was ambiguously phrased above. I agree both teams were not at full strength. LSU is still an above average SEC team. Beating weak P5 teams is still beating them – it counts when Bama, Clemson, and all the other P5 teams do it, so it would count if UCF did it. Most P5 teams don’t play that many top 25 teams either, but yes, UCF would not have been undefeated the last couple seasons if they had played in any of the P5 conferences – I think only Clemson and Bama managed it in the regular season. They wouldn’t be ranked as highly as they have been, and possibly not at all, but they are still better than a good number of P5 teams – they’d have a decent chance this year against Arkansas, Vandy, Auburn, Ole Miss, Miss St, Kentucky, Tennessee, S Carolina, and Mizzou, depending on where they played and which versions of the teams showed up. Note: they would almost certainly not go undefeated against all of those teams, but they are capable of winning a game against any of them, even if they wouldn’t be favored against all of them. I’d easily bet on UCF against P5 teams like Wake Forest, Rutgers, Illinois, Oregon St, Kansas, etc. They’d probably be average to above average in the Pac12. They aren’t as good as many of their fans think they are, but they are better than a fair number of P5 teams and they are capable of beating a good number of them. FPI isn’t perfect, but it isn’t emotionally biased and ranked them 25 at the end of the season, ahead of 6 SEC teams. Save your hyperbolic arguments for their fanatics.
UCF logic: Notre Dame shouldn’t be in the playoff because their quarterback sucked against Vandy and Ball State.
Also UCF logic: Brandon Wimbush to UCF! Let’s go baby! Come lead us to the promised land!
Not UCF logic: Wimbush was the QB against Ball State and Vandy.
UCF would be 1 or 2 loss at worst in the Pac-12 tho…
@It Wasn’t Me — Obviously you don’t read UCF media. The first thing UCF fans questioned is whether Winbush could outcompete not just Freshman #8, but 2 other incoming QBs …
Including the QB from Hawaii that broke all of Tua’s records.
You might try reading UCF media instead of assuming Winbush is their automatic QB. UCF fans have been very, very down on Winbush since the transfer was announced.
But QB was getting thin at the position, so they took him.
UCF’s AD continues to offer 0-0-1 on a neutral field to UF AD, as long as the ticket sales drive revenue, and it’s not UF walking away with all the money.
But just like Auburn and LSU before it, unless it’s the Natty, UCF fans show up in droves, better than most SEC fanbases. That’s why UF’s AD won’t take anything …
And why UF’s AD is going to offer what UCF’s is going to reject. No one likes to be ‘outsold’ by UCF, especially not right now, with UCF’s TV ratings and ‘Hey, why are we getting 1/5th the money we have earned this entire decade in TV ratings and 3 NY bowls?’
Just the reality. UF’s AD cannot let it happen.
Also remember that, even with the new media deal (where the AAC is getting 3x as much TV money as all the other G5 conferences … combined), UCF still makes 3x as much money on home games than broadcasted road games. That’s just the fiscal reality UCF’s AD has to deal with.
Anything less is irresponsible, finance-wise.
UCF’s bond on its stadium also requires 6 home games a year, which really keeps it from taking 2-for-1s altogether, contractually, beyond the fiscal realities. People literally don’t realize that, it’s a contractual obligation. But all other ADs do.
UCF’s program makes over $40M revenue, before TV is even considered. That’s more than a number of P5s without their TV contracts — many not having the TV ratings of UCF — even before the last few years. People always forget 2010-2014, especially when UCF beat 2x top 10 teams, one ranked higher than Auburn, and only lost to a 3rd (the final AP #4 team).
That’s why just this decade alone — let alone the sheer number of alumni boosters in their prime income earning years that will exist in another generation — UCF is literally saying, “Oh, yeah, we’re that ‘small school’ when half of the P5 cannot even draw like us, or deserve the money they get … and haven’t won jack for decades.”
Sorry, but truth. Keep making fun of UCF. It’s just going to come back and bite people. It’s not some small or remote school. It’s not the commuter school it was in the 20th century. It’s huge …
And travels twice as good twice as far as a lot of SEC teams.
So you know this isn’t a 2 for 1. It’s a 2.5 to 0. 2 games at the swamp and one at the citrus bowl. That is NOT the Knights home stadium. This is a great deal for UF but sucks for UCF.