Ex-Auburn HC ripped for insinuation his team is among top in his state

Former Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn was ripped by college football personality Ohios Tate for the insinuation that UCF is among one of the top teams in the state of Florida and deserves to be included in a Sunshine State “Big Four.”

“You, here, think about the Big Three,” Malzahn said of Florida, Miami and Florida State. “It’s time for the Big Four. You look at the last six, eight years, we’ve been, as good or better as any of those other programs.”

In response to Malzahn, Ohios Tate said that there is more than likely going to be a “Big Two” in Florida than a “Big Four” — swiping at both UCF and presumably Miami for their struggles the past two seasons, though Florida and FSU have similarly struggled relative to their history over the past half-decade at different points.

“(Malzahn’s) been the coach of UCF for two years, going 8-4 and finishing 3rd in the AAC, and going 9-3 and finishing second,” Ohios Tate prefaced before saying, “No, that’s not the ACC, that’s the AAC. So while you’re out here acting like UCF is a premier team now, it’s on the shoulders of the Scott Frosts and Josh Heupels of the world, not you. Put your head down and turn in your own special season, or ten more, and then we’ll talk about a Big Four in Florida. There’s probably a better chance it becomes a Big 2 before it becomes a Big 4…”

Former Auburn football HC Gus Malzahn has a chance to make UCF a national power in the Big 12

This writer is bullish about the chance Malzahn and UCF have in the Big 12, believing that there’s a real chance the Knights will make noise at a national level playing proud college football fanbases in every conference game as opposed to a small handful.

UCF has had a more meteoric rise than any other program outside of Cincinnati, which made the College Football Playoff as the first Group of Five team in history in 2021, in the entire country in the post-BCS era. That should continue as the Knights continue to outpace their fellow Big 12 transplants just like they did in 2023, and then eventually, do the same for the rest of their conference.