Play.
The first ever win by UCF against Florida was in the Gasparilla Bowl.
The Knights beat Florida 29-17 to finish with a 9-4 record. There is a time and a place for this.
12:14 AM
As the final seconds of the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl passed, the UCF football account made a declaration: "Sunshine Statement."
The first win over Florida by UCF made history. It was the first time that UCF had beaten a Power 5 program. The same thing happened in the past two years, as the UCF finished this season with the best record in Florida.
It was another embarrassing loss for the Florida team. The Gators were ranked 14th. They finished 6-7, their first losing season in two years, and coach Dan Mullen was fired at the end of it. It was the program's first loss to an in-state school since 1938. The Knights won the game despite a long injury list and the fact that quarterback Gabriel is no longer with the team after transferring to UCLA.
First-year coach Malzahn broke his leg when he was hit on the sideline last month.
I am proud of our guys. The character that they have shown this year is amazing. A lot of teams would have splintered.
The team Florida took into the bowl was irrelevant to anyone at UCF. It was a game that UCF wanted to play since the teams were sent to different games after they qualified for the New Year's Six games. The fan bases took turns taking jabs at each other after UCF felt slighted.
But now? UCF will never let Florida forget what happened on a cool night in the city.
Malzahn said the goal was to get Ryan O'Keefe at least 15 touches, after he had 251 all-purpose yards. You could see what he did when he got the ball. He is one of the best players in the game.
O'Keefe said he was inspired to play in honor of Otis Anderson Jr., who was shot and killed during a domestic dispute with his father last month.
"It hit me hard when he died," O'Keefe said. I saw his jersey and said I was going to play for him.
In the second half, UCF wore Florida down. The Knights finished with over 200 yards rushing.
The quarterback, who had said he would enter the transfer portal, struggled to make accurate throws to wide-open receivers, finishing 14-of-36 for 171 yards. The same mistakes that plagued Florida all year, inconsistency at quarterback, too many penalties and undisciplined play, showed up again in the final game under interim coach Greg Knox.
"I thought our kids played hard, but we just couldn't overcome the mistakes we made," he said. "We made a lot of mistakes as a team and we can't win big ballgames when we do that."
The program that lost the last meeting between the schools is no longer UCF. Over the past five years, the Knights have won 50 games, their most in any five-season span in program history.
They are going to the Big 12 to join the "Big Three" in Florida and to finally have it be known as the "Big Four" once and for all.
"This is just the beginning," Malzahn said after the game. We have big dreams and big goals. We can win the whole thing here. Tonight was the beginning. It's going to go great now.
