The UCF Knights are trying to improve their strength of schedule, and that’s going to mean playing some unfavorable non-conference matchups.

UCF AD Danny White is trying to fight it, but an offer of a two-for-one deal from Florida might be the Knights’ best chance to get a big-time non-conference series. The Gators won’t budge on the two-for-one, while White and the Knights insist they deserve more respect. So who is right?

When SEC Network analyst Greg McElroy was asked about whether Florida or UCF was in the right when it comes to this scheduling drama, he didn’t even hesitate, siding with the Gators immediately:

“Florida,” he said. “Because right now, UCF has absolutely no leverage against Florida. Right now, the ‘non-autonomous’ five, the Group of 5, as we more commonly declare it, they don’t have any leverage. Why would Florida go for a 1-for-1 with UCF to provide UCF with a very fair advantage? Heck no. UCF needs Florida more than Florida needs UCF. UCF is trying to get on the same playing field as the big boys, trying to find equitable aspects of their schedule, but they can’t do it by playing in the American, so unfortunately, they’re going to have to do some things that just aren’t ‘fair.’ You look at Boise State — Boise State is the gold standard of the Group of 5, right? We’ve seen them go to Athens, we’ve seen them play neutral-site games against Virginia Tech in Landover, Maryland. Sometimes you have to do things you’re not comfortable with in order to gain respectability. I totally applaud UCF for trying to get these games scheduled, but UF is the one that clearly has the leverage.”

The Knights either need to switch to a Power 5 conference (which won’t be easy) or bite the bullet and schedule an unfavorable non-conference series (much like Florida State would do back in the day). We’ll see who budges first, or if the Knights just decide to go on with their weak schedules.