TAMPA, Fla. — It’s unclear what the future holds for the “War on I-4″ rivalry series but one thing is certain: There will be no love lost the next time UCF and USF meet on the football field.
The Knights almost lost Saturday night, a game they had in control with a 28-0 lead in the second quarter until a disastrous third littered by turnovers could’ve ruined their chances at the AAC championship game.
But they made it with a 46-39 victory at Raymond James Stadium.
UCF, which fell behind 39-38 midway through the fourth and fumbled near midfield afterward only to be saved by a dramatic one-handed TD catch by Alec Holler with 20 seconds left, will play at Tulane next weekend with a Cotton Bowl appearance likely on the line and the status of quarterback John Rhys Plumlee in question yet again.
After coming up limp on a touchdown run, Plumlee left the game while Mikey Keene took over in the second half and delivered the 14-yard strike to Holler.
The competitiveness of the “War on I-4″ rivalry series, despite the Bulls being winless in the conference, speaks to how these campuses — separated by less than 100 miles and rosters loaded with high school athletes from around the state — feel about it.
“I’m not going to say we hate them, but that probably sums it up the best,” UCF junior defensive end Josh Celiscar said earlier in the week.
USF (9-3, 6-2 AAC) won four consecutive times from 2005-08 while the Knights now have won six in a row with Saturday’s result.
The Bulls (1-11, 0-8 AAC) hit the reset button ust before the series goes on pause.
“We really want the bragging rights,” USF senior linebacker Dwayne Boyles said earlier in the week. [When you] step on the field, there’s a lot of intensity on both sides and a lot of hate between both sides. There’s a lot of trash-talking going on.”
All of this likely comes to an end when UCF departs the AAC for the Big 12 Conference next season.
Although they could meet as non-conference opponents in the future, USF doesn’t have an opening on its non-conference slate that would work for UCF until at least 2028.
The rivalry series has gone dormant before. The teams didn’t face each other between 2009-12, but it’s uncertain if the desire to bring the rivalry back to life will remain.
When asked this week if, in a perfect world, he’d like to keep the series alive moving forward, UCF coach Gus Malzahn was unsure.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Me and [UCF athletics director] Terry [Mohajir] will get together and we’ll figure out what’s best for us moving forward. Hard for me to answer that question right now.”
While UCF is leaving the AAC, a familiar Florida program is joining the Group of Five conference: FAU.
USF and FAU have only met four times, from 2002-13, but they will meet annually beginning next season through 2026 as part of the new AAC rotation.
FAU fired coach Willie Taggart only hours after its third consecutive five-win season ended and no bowl bid for the second time in that span.
Although a rivalry between the Bulls and the Owls could grow, Boyles brought up a different AAC program when discussing which school could become USF’s new rival.
“I’d say Tulsa is creeping up here, but we don’t have another team like UCF where we could just battle with each other,” he said.
If it were up to the players on both sides, UCF and USF would likely play each season.
“I feel for those guys because it’s a great rivalry,” Boyles said about his younger teammates. “It’s been great for the past few years I’ve been here even though we haven’t gotten the outcome I wanted, but it is what it is.”
