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

Former President Donald Trump is the favorite to win Florida in November’s election, but the race in the Sunshine State could still be close, according to polling.

A recent survey of 600 registered voters by the Independent Center and The Bullfinch Group, conducted September 20 and 23, showed Trump had a 1-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in Florida (48 percent to 47). The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The poll shows a tighter race than other Florida surveys. It was published prior to the Democratic National Committee announcing they consider Florida and its 30 Electoral College votes a “priority state that we know Democrats can win” in November. They will be investing more than $400,000 to boost Harris’ chances.

Florida was once the most vital swing state in the country, as seen when the entire 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore came down to just a few hundred votes in the state. Florida is considered to have shifted more Republican in recent years following Trump’s victories in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also won a resounding reelection victory in 2022, beating Democrat Charlie Crist by 19 points.

Florida will be voting in November on whether to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban. Democrats believe having the hot topic issue of abortion access on the ballot will help them in both presidential and statewide races.

Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, previously said that while Harris “looks likely” to lose Florida, Trump may still need to work harder to appeal to voters in the state than he would like.

“The mere fact that Trump may have to campaign vigorously in Florida could divert resources from true swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan,” Gift told Newsweek.

“Even if Harris loses Florida, which certainly looks likely, this could cost Trump elsewhere if he’s forced to devote scarce time, resources, and energy into shoring up his lead in the Sunshine State.”

Newsweek has contacted the campaign teams for Trump and Harris for comment via email.

Other surveys beyond the Independent Center and The Bullfinch Group poll give Trump a more comfortable lead in Florida.

The former president’s current average lead over Harris in Florida is 4.1 points, according to the live tracker from 538. This is a greater margin of victory than the 3.3 points which Trump beat President Joe Biden by in 2020.

An Emerson College /The Hill poll of 815 likely voters, conducted between September 3-5, showed Trump beating Harris in Florida by 5 points (50 percent to 45). The results have a margin or error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Trump also leads Harris in Florida by 5 points (50 percent to 45) in a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll of 1,602 likely voters conducted September 16-19.

The most recent Morning Consult survey of 2,948 likely voters, conducted September 9-18, gave Trump a 3-point lead over Harris in Florida (50 percent to 47).

Forecaster Race to the White House is giving Trump a 83 percent chance of victory in Florida in November’s election.