Courtesy of 930 The Game's Mike Bianchi we now have some details on the ongoing scheduling debate that has UCF and Gator fans all over one another.
The Orlando Sentinel has obtained emails between Florida and UCF’s athletic directors.
Florida is not interested in playing in a home-and-home series. UCF, meanwhile, isn’t interested in playing in a two-for-one series.
“UF isn’t in the market for home-and-home or a neutral site games against non-Autonomy 5 opponents,” Florida’s Scott Stricklin wrote. “However, we would be open to a series similar to what we’ve agreed to with USF … two games in Gainesville and one in Orlando. We are in need of a home opener for the 2022 season, so the 9/3/2022 date you mention would be a perfect date to begin the series, and we can fill in the remaining games from there.”
White then seemed to take umbrage with Stricklin grouping UCF in with other “non-Autonomy 5 opponents” and sent a lengthy email urging Stricklin to help him change an unfair system.
“You mention not playing a neutral site contest versus a non-autonomy 5 opponent, but a UF vs. UCF game held in our state would certainly be a sellout, which would be a positive for both of us financially,” UCF’s Danny White wrote. “I think that our team has shown on the field that we are far from a typical ‘non-autonomy 5’ opponent.”