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Dan Mullen supports Florida’s interest in playing UCF: I’d have no problem playing them
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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 (@IamCourtJasmin) May 16, 2019
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
