UCF settles scores with Florida, Alabama, and Auburn football
UCF has burst onto the national scene in the past six years, mainly due to the influx of NFL players that are representing Central Florida in the pros. Their 2017 co-national champions label certainly helps things too.
In beating the Tigers in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day in 2018, UCF entered the name into the national conversation, and furthered those talks when they lost by one score to Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers a year before they won the National Championship themselves.
Now, with former Auburn football HC Gus Malzahn in town, UCF’s fanbase sees itself as the top team in Florida, igniting a rivalry with the Gators fanbase for Sunshine State superiority.
In addition, if you ask the Palm Beach Post, it sounds as though Malzahn still wants to beat Alabama, whether it be on the recruiting trail or in the court of public opinion:
"(Malzahn’s) goals are much loftier … not just to become the Alabama of the American Athletic Conference but to become Alabama."
That’s three scores to settle in the SEC. UCF’s biggest potential rivalry in the Big 12 would be with Cincinnati, a current AAC team.