Gasparilla is SOLD OUT 🎟 KZ's last ride and can't score on us
The Twitter fight between the fans have been fun, but it's going to be good to finally see UCF and Florida battle it out for Sunshine State supremacy on the field.
It’s hard to believe the year is almost over! We’ve had this newsletter up and running since early May. Incredible. Thanks for following along.
As we enter 2022, we’re going to be focusing on expansion and ramping up our content. If you or anyone you know is interested in advertising with #ChargeOn Today, please send us an email: chargeontoday@gmail.com!
Trending in the Kingdom: Gasparilla with the Gators
I’ve seen our friends at Sidelines UCF float the name “GUSparilla Bowl” and I got a kick out of it. How much fun is this going to be? Florida can’t duck UCF now. We’ll get a chance to see who has Sunshine State supremacy in the Gasparilla Bowl, which will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on December 23 at 7 p.m.
Here’s the scoop: While it’s not a major bowl game, this one still has a high-stakes feel to it. UCF wants Florida’s respect. The Gators want to put little brother in its place. Both programs care about this one, and bowl officials are pretty jacked about the match up.
“This is outstanding,” Gasparilla Bowl Executive Director Scott Glaser said. “You’re talking about having a great match up and then it’s in state. You talk about alumni travel, destination and getting people to fill Raymond James Stadium. You just couldn’t draw up a better match up than this.”
Tickets went fast 🎟 In less than a week, the Gasparilla Bowl sold out. It’s the first sell out in the game’s history. Glaser said earlier this week that tickets were "flying off the shelf” and that’s exactly what happened, with limited standing-room only spots left as of Friday.
Raymond James Stadium will be rocking for game day. Glaser told 96.9 The Game on Thursday that “both teams have flown through their allotment and the local fanbase…we’re talking about a capacity crowd, 65,000 people at Raymond James Stadium. You can’t ask for anything else.”
Keep in mind, this is year four at Ray Jay for the Gasparilla Bowl, which had been played at Tropicana Field the previous 10 years. The NFL stadium allows for increased capacity. Here’s where you can go to buy tickets through UCF, if you’re still looking for them.
UCF played in the last Gasparilla Bowl in 2019, since the 2020 game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues. The Knights beat Marshall, 48-25. Overall, UCF is 2-2 in previous Gasparilla Bowl games.
This will be Florida’s first Gasparilla Bowl appearance, but 47th bowl overall.
How each team got here 🏈:
The Gators (6-6, 2-6 in SEC) became bowl-eligible after beating Florida State, 24-21 in the regular season finale, led by interim coach Greg Knox.
The Gators lost nine of its previous 11 games against FBS teams before that FSU win, which led to the firing of Dan Mullen. Florida is 3-0 vs. state teams this season, having beaten FAU (35-14), USF (42-20) and FSU.
The Knights (8-4, 5-2 in AAC) finished with the best regular-season record of any in-state team this year, in coach Gus Malzahn's inaugural season. The Knights have been decimated by injuries, losing star quarterback Dillon Gabriel to a broken clavicle following the loss to Louisville on Sept. 17, among other major key starters missing time. Gabriel announced his intent to transfer on Nov. 27.
The Knights closed out the season winning five of their final six games.
Florida will be the “home” team on the east sideline, while the Knights will be the “road” squad on the west sideline.
These programs last played in 2006, with Florida winning 42-0 in the Swamp, en route to a BCS National Championship. The Gators also beat the Knights in 1999, winning 58-27.
Since that shutout 15 years ago, we’ve seen UCF enjoy its most successful run since the program’s birth, and they haven’t been too far behind the Gators, a blue-blood in the sport, at least in terms of win percentage.
Comparing UCF vs. Florida since 2007:
W-L record:
Florida: 130-62 (.677)
UCF: 124-67 (.649)
10-win seasons:
Florida: 6
UCF: 7
Conference championships:
Florida: 1
UCF: 6
BCS/NY6 bowl wins:
Florida: 5
UCF: 2
National Championships:
Florida: 1
UCF: 1 (😉)
As for Gus Malzahn, he’s pretty familiar recruiting against the Gators during his eight-year run at Auburn, but only faced them once, with the Tigers losing 24-13 in 2019 in Gainesville. He’s looking forward to the in-state match up, and even delivered a cleaver shot at USF ahead of it.
"We're excited to be playing in the Gasparilla Bowl against a quality in-state opponent like Florida," UCF head coach Gus Malzahn said in a press release. "This is a great opportunity for our fans being right down the road at a place our program has had a lot of success. We're really looking forward to heading over to Tampa."
🎓 One other note on Malzahn: He’s eligible for a contract bonus after UCF’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) was 981, best in the state and topping Florida’s by nearly 10 points. Of the 86 bowl-eligible teams, UCF is tied for 16th in overall APR.
As for the battle on the field at Ray Jay, this feels big, as I said earlier, and it’ll be fun to get a game in before the three-game series begins in 2024 in Gainesville. We did just get the payout numbers per the series contract, via Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times. UCF will net $750,000 from the series, barring any cancelations or buyouts.
2024 at Gainesville: Florida will pay UCF $800,000.
2030 in Orlando: UCF will pay Florida $250,000.
2033: Florida will pay UCF $200,000.
Situational awareness 🤔: The Gators could be without a number of key contributors for the Gasparilla Bowl. Their top receiver, Jacob Copeland, has entered the transfer portal. There’s also questions about quarterback Anthony Richardson’s status - and whether or not he’ll enter the portal, too - after he removed the Gators from his Twitter bio.
Give me a Knugget 🐴: This will mark a program-record sixth consecutive bowl appearance for the Knights, the ninth in 10 seasons and 13th in 17 years.
Aloha, KZ’s 👋🏻 One last ride 🤙🏻
Former UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton was just named a semifinalist for the Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year award, an honor he should easily take home. Knight Nation will get a final chance to celebrate one of the greatest players in program history, on his home turf.
Fill me in: The final snaps of Milton’s collegiate career will come at the Bounce House, the stadium he made his name in, during the Hula Bowl, a college football all-star game that’ll be played at UCF on Jan. 15 at noon.
Aloha, KZ 🤙🏻: UCF’s Hawaii pipeline is strong, which was jump-started by Milton’s move to Orlando in 2016 under then-head coach Scott Frost. Dillon Gabriel and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala both followed Milton’s path from the islands to Oviedo.
Over his UCF career, Milton led UCF to 27-6 record as a starter, including an undefeated 2017 season where the Knights went 13-0 and claimed a National Championship after beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
Milton threw for 8,683 yards and 72 touchdowns during his UCF tenure, both ranking fourth all-time.
His career passing efficiency of 152.3 and 24 straight games with a passing touchdown are good for second place in the UCF record books.
Milton has a career record of 16-2 at the Bounce House.
Milton suffered a near-career ending knee injury during the final game of the regular season against USF in 2018, which sidelined him the entire 2019 and 2020 seasons. His miraculous and heroic comeback is well documented, before he transferred to Florida State, where he played this season. He made four starts for the Seminoles and played in six games, throwing for 775 yards, three touchdowns and six picks.
So, why is the game at the Bounce House 🏟? Well, traditionally the Hula Bowl is played in Honolulu, but the historic Aloha Stadium is currently closed for repairs and upgrades. The 2021 Hula Bowl was notably the last sporting event held at the current Aloha Stadium.
The Hula Bowl was first played in 1947, and at one point qualified as the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, but was revived last year in Hawaii after an 11-year hiatus.
The game was also played at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku from 1998 to 2005.
This will mark the first time the game will be played outside the islands.
The game will feature a ton of rich Hawaiian heritage. Its two teams will be titled the AINA and KAI, representing the Land and Sea in Hawaiian
Former Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith will coach the AINA team, while former Super Bowl winning coach Brian Billick will lead the KAI squad.
How to watch 📺: The game will be televised on CBS Sports, but if you want to buy tickets, you can do so here.
More dominating defense 🛑✋
Stingy defense from Coach Abe’s crew is nothing new, but we’ve become spoiled with just how dominant this on-ball pressure has been. It’s helped put this squad on the cusp of the Top 25 rankings in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
Tell me more: Led by the second-best scoring defense in the nation, UCF women’s basketball is off to a 6-1 start, with their only loss coming to No. 9 Tennessee. The Lady Knights beat Arkansas, 52-51, last week thanks to a clutch bucket by Diamond Battles with 8.1 seconds remaining.
UCF held Arkansas to a season-low 51 points. They came in averaging 85 per game.
That’s now 6 of 7 opponents the Knights have held below 50 points this season, and have limited five teams to their season-low total.
Coach Abe’s defense led the nation in scoring defense in 2020-21, at 50.5 points per game. They cut that down to 44.3 opponent points per game this year. Here’s where the Knights rank nationally on defense through seven games:
Scoring defense: 44.3 (2nd)
Opponent FG%: 33.1 (22nd)
Steals per game: 11.1 (T-34th)
Next up 📺: UCF vs. Mercer, Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ (click here to watch)