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