Finally! Gators, UCF about to agree to a football series

It appears the long-awaited football series between the UCF Knights and the Florida Gators is finally going to happen, according to sources from both schools.

The Knights and the Gators are apparently close to signing a contract for a three-game series, with two of the games being in Gainesville and one in Orlando.

If the contract is signed as expected within the next few days, the Knights and the Gators will play in Gainesville in 2024 and 2033 while the Knights will host the Gators on campus at the Bounce House in 2030.

The potential series was made possible when Terry Mohajir replaced Danny White as the athletic director at UCF. White’s stance had always been that UCF, because of financial and competitive reasons, would not play 2-for-1s with Power 5 opponents, even marquee foes such as the Gators.

Wrote White in an email to UF athletics director Scott Stricklin, a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, in 2018: “I am open to playing anyone in the country, but shouldn’t have to put my team at a severe disadvantage by being forced to play two for ones or guarantee games.

“The system should be such that we can schedule home and homes. As someone who sits on the CFP Committee, I am asking for your help in fixing a broken model by expanding the playoff and putting an end to unfair scheduling practices.”

When White and football coach Josh Heupel left for Tennessee, Mohajir and new UCF football coach Gus Malzahn quickly changed UCF’s scheduling policy. Their stance was essentially that the Knights would play any big-time opponent anywhere and anytime.

“I’ll play out in the parking lot,” Malzahn said upon taking the UCF job. “Terry can decide if we’re playing at home or on the road or a two-for-whatever. I just want to play them and I want to beat them.”

It appears UCF will finally have that opportunity in 2024.

The Gators and the Knights have played only two times, with the Gators winning both games — 58-27 in 1999 and 42-0 in 2006.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2