UCF Knights beat Florida for first college football win over Gators, Sunshine State bragging rights

As the final seconds ticked off UCF’s 29-17 win over Florida in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl on Thursday night, the UCF football Twitter handle was quick to make a declaration: “Sunshine STATEment.”

Indeed, UCF not only made history with its first win over Florida. It was also UCF’s first win over any Power 5 program in the state. At 9-4, UCF finishes this season with the best record in Florida — the same way it did in 2017 and 2018.

For Florida, it was another embarrassing loss to end a season filled with them. The Gators opened the season ranked No. 14. By the end of it, coach Dan Mullen had been fired and they finished 6-7, their first losing season since 2017. It was also the program’s first loss to an in-state school not named Florida State or Miami since Stetson in 1938. And the Knights won the game despite a long injury list to some of their top players, including quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who is no longer with the team after transferring to UCLA.

First-year coach Gus Malzahn was on the injured list, too, having broken his leg last month when he was inadvertently hit on the sideline against Tulane.

“I am so proud of our guys. The character that they have showed through tough times this year is amazing. A lot of teams would have splintered when faced with what we had.”

To be clear, the team Florida took into the bowl matchup Thursday night was irrelevant to anybody at UCF. It was a game UCF had been wanting to play since 2018, when both teams qualified for New Year’s Six games but were sent to different games (UCF to the Fiesta Bowl to play LSU; Florida to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to play Michigan). UCF felt slighted, and that spawned heated takes between the fan bases over the ensuing years.

But now? UCF gets those bragging rights and will never let Florida forget what happened on a cool night in Tampa.

Receiver Ryan O’Keefe had 251 all-purpose yards en route to the game’s Most Valuable Player honors, and Malzahn said the goal was to get…