Florida

After the Deion debacle, UCF is even more threatening to Florida football

Published

1 year ago

September 30, 2024

After the Deion debacle, UCF is even more threatening to Florida football

ORLANDO – The answer to Florida’s immediate football worries has become clear. Somehow, get Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter into Gator uniforms by this Saturday.

They wore Colorado uniforms over the weekend and ruined UCF’s big coming out party. The same UCF that loomed as a uniquely existential threat to Florida football and Billy Napier.

“We didn’t get it done,” coach Gus Malzahn said. “We got outcoached and outplayed.”

Outcoached by Coach Prime? Outplayed by a 13½-point underdog?

“It hurts,” quarterback K.J. Jefferson said.

The strange thing is that by losing 48-21 to Deion U., the Knights could be even more of a threat to Florida’s ego and Napier’s job security.

It would have been bad enough to lose to an unbeaten and ranked UCF team. Imagine if the freshly humiliated Knights stick it to the Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium?

“We’re going to beat them good,” Jackson Morse said.

Of course, he said that about five hours before the Colorado kickoff. Morse was one of millions of UCF fans who showed up for Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show on campus.

There weren’t really millions. It just felt that way, and they weren’t just thinking about the Buffaloes.

Beating Colorado with Fox Nation watching would have heralded UCF’s arrival as Big 12 power and playoff contender. That would have been nice, but nothing gets the black-and-gold blood flowing like beating the Gators.

“I have friends who are Florida alumni that I would love to be able to mock,” Jack Dolan said.

He and his wife, Pat, have been Knights fans for 30-plus years. They remember when Gator fans considered UCF an instate version of Tennessee Tech.

A lot still do, despite the fact UCF won the 2017 national championship. Sort of. The Knights have a banner at FBC Mortgage Stadium to prove it.

Nobody in Gainesville recognizes that accomplishment, which helps fuel UCF’s case of Little Brother Syndrome. You know, Little Bro feels he should be considered a worthy rival, but Big Bro barely notices he’s alive.

It played out in scheduling. UCF wanted a home-and-home series, but Florida wouldn’t do that for non-Power Five schools.

That triggered years of social media mockery and sniping. UCF finally agreed to play twice in Gainesville (2024 and 2033) and once in Orlando (2030).

The contract was signed in 2021. UF had gone to three straight New Year’s Day bowls and Dan Mullen was considered a genius.

The Knights were coming off a six-win season, and Malzahn had just been rescued from the Auburn scrap heap.

“I’ll play out in the parking lot,” Malzahn said. “I just want to play them and beat them.”

That came sooner than anyone imagined. Florida’s program unraveled and Mullen was fired. The Gators accepted a Gasparilla Bowl bid against UCF.

Anyone remember Greg Knox?

He was the interim coach who lost to Tennessee Tech 29-17. Watching from the Raymond James Stadium sideline that night was Florida’s prized new hire.

“We’ve got an incredible challenge in front of us,” Napier said. “But we’re excited.”

Three years later, the excitement is gone. The challenge definitely is not.

From an X-and-O standpoint, Saturday doesn’t look quite as challenging. Not after Shedeur Sanders tossed three touchdown passes against UCF and Hunter struck a Heisman pose to the deflated crowd.

“This week, we’ll find out truly who we are,” Malzahn said.

We pretty much know who the Gators are.

On the field, it doesn’t appear they are much better off than the last time they played UCF. At least then, Florida fans could point to a program in transitional disarray.

“Now,” Pat Dorsey said, “there are no excuses.”

Especially after Deion rolled into Orlando and made UCF look like Little Brother.

If Big Brother can’t do the same in Gainesville, the mocking may never end.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun’s sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DavidEWhitley

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Florida

Indiana Fever player has her Florida State women’s basketball jersey retired

Published

16 hours ago

November 17, 2025

Press Room

Indiana Fever player has her Florida State women’s basketball jersey retired

Indiana Fever forward Natasha Howard’s Florida State jersey was retired Sunday.

Howard wore No. 33 for the Seminoles from 2010-14, starting 127 games. She also holds heralded spots in program history:

1,811 points, fourth-most
1,046 rebounds, second
186 blocked shots, fourth

Howard’s scoring total was second when she left the program. She led FSU in career rebounds before Fever teammate Makalya Timpson (2021-25) grabbed more. The blocks were third most when Howard left, but Timpson has more.

The Fever selected Howard fifth overall in the 2014 WNBA Draft, and she played her first two seasons in Indiana. She returned in 2025 free agency, averaging 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds for the league semifinalists.

Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Subscribe to IndyStar’s YouTube page for Fever Insiders Live.

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Florida

Coast Guard rescues eight boaters 35 miles off Florida coast in disabled boat

Published

1 day ago

November 16, 2025

Press Room

Coast Guard rescues eight boaters 35 miles off Florida coast in disabled boat

VENICE, Fla. (CBS12) — A Coast Guard boat crew rescued eight boaters on Saturday after their 26-foot boat broke down 35 miles off the Venice Inlet.

At 9:30 p.m., the US Coast Guard (USCG) says an Air Station Miami aircrew located the disabled vessel in two to three foot seas and sent a boat crew to the boat’s location.

The boat was reported overdue by an officer with the Venice Police Department hours earlier at 1:44 p.m., per USCG.

See also: Florida deputy rushes into blazing trailer to pull residents to safety

The Coast Guard says all eight boaters were brought back to the boat ramp uninjured.

“Before going out on the water, make sure you tell someone where you are going and when you will be back,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Beasley, a Station Cortez boarding officer. “We recommend being as specific as possible so rescue crews have a reliable place to start searching in case of emergency. Boaters should always have Coast Guard-approved life jackets, VHF radio, signaling devices, and an emergency position locator beacon or personal locator beacon.”

USCG also highlighted the importance of mariners taking a safety course before going on the water.

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Florida

Ole Miss football fans chant, ‘We want Lane’ as Rebels defeat Florida

Published

2 days ago

November 15, 2025

Press Room

Ole Miss football fans chant, ‘We want Lane’ as Rebels defeat Florida

Ole Miss football took home a win in the “Lane Kiffin Bowl” in Week 12 with a 34-24 come-from-behind win vs. Florida.

Just as the Rebels closed off their 10th win of the season, moving one step closer to appearing in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history, Ole Miss fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium made one thing clear to the Rebels brass and Kiffin: They want Lane.

As captured by the ESPN broadcast, “We want Lane” chants broke out in the Ole Miss student section after Kiffin has been linked to the Florida open head coach vacancy, on top of numerous other Power Four conference openings. It appeared not to faze him, as he remained locked in on the final 60 seconds of the game:

Given what he has done in seven seasons at Ole Miss, Kiffin has become a regular on coaching hot boards as positions become available across college football.

On top of his ties to the state of Florida, former Gators coach Steve Spurrier, who told USA TODAY Sports’ Blake Toppmeyer last month that he is a fan of Kiffin and thinks he is a “very good coach.”

“I wanted to be Steve Spurrier,” Kiffin said during a recent appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast. “When I watched him and his offenses in the visor and kind of the way he’d throw jabs at other coaches and team and stuff, I was like, Steve Spurrier is the man. That’s what I want to be.”

Kiffin himself has talked at length about his name being tossed around in the coaching carousel, including saying on an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” that he will never “make a decision based on money” and that he hasn’t made one based on money in his coaching career.

The win over Florida moved Ole Miss’ record to 54-19 overall under Kiffin.

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