Florida vs UCF: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Prediction, Game Preview
Florida vs UCF: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch, Thursday, December 23
Florida vs UCF: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl How To Watch
Date: Thursday, December 23
Game Time: 7:00 pm ET
Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
How To Watch: ESPN, Live stream on ESPN+
Records: Florida (6-6), UCF (8-4)
Florida vs UCF Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Preview
– You’d think two schools 125 miles away from each other would have a long, storied history of games, but these two have only played twice, and neither one was pretty.
Florida won 42-0 in 2006 and 58-27 in 1999. This time around should be far more entertaining.
– Both teams fought through difficult seasons, but in vastly different ways.
Florida looked great early, pushed Alabama to the edge in a 31-29 loss, and that was about it. The defense fell apart, the offense lost its consistency, and a run of five losses in seven games ended the Dan Mullen era.
The team got it together, though, to take out Florida in a bowl-or-go-home regular season finale.
– UCF was expected to be a contender for the AAC title under new head coach Gus Malzahn, but it lost QB Dillon Gabriel early on, RB Isaiah Bowser couldn’t stay healthy, and a blowout loss to Cincinnati made it seem like a lost season before the team rolled to five wins in the last six games.
There might not be the explosiveness the UCF offense is used to, but the defense has been solid with a great pass rush to help push past a whole slew of issues.
Florida vs UCF Preview
Why Florida, UCF Will Win
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Top Players To Know
NEXT: Why Florida Will Win, Why UCF Will Win, Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Prediction
Why UCF Will Win The Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
Exactly how focused will Florida be?
It might not be quite as ugly as last year’s 55-20 loss to Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl – after the offense lost a slew of key parts to the NFL – but it’ll be interesting.
Top WR Jacob Copeland is in the transfer portal, a whole slew of other parts are either auditioning for a new staff or for a future home, and interim head coach Greg Knox is the transition man before the Billy Napier era kicks in full force.
The Gators fought to get here with a win over Florida State to close out the regular season, but UCF clamped down hard over the entire second half of the year with an improve passing game and a defense that allowed 17 points or fewer in five of the last six games.
Turnovers and interceptions are a major problem for the Gators, and UCF is great at generating takeaways.
Penalties are a major problem for the Gators, and UCF is decent at limiting the flags.
The mistakes aren’t exactly going to clear up in a turmoil-filled environment and UCF will have to capitalize on all of them.
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Why Florida Will Win The Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
Yeah, UCF was great over the second half of the season.
You’d be, too, against Memphis, Temple, Tulane, UConn, and USF.
There’s a decent offensive punch from the Knights, but the running game is inconsistent and there’s not enough happening down the field with the passing attack. Florida shouldn’t have any problems keeping everything in from of its D.
On the other side, pound, pound, pound.
UCF doesn’t care about time of possession, and having an head coach – for the time being – who knows the running backs like Greg Knox does should help. The Gator offensive line should be able to take over early on against a UCF defensive front that was good against the bad teams and struggled against the wrong.
UCF is 0-4 when allowing 190 rushing yards or more. Florida averages 209 per game.
NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Florida vs UCF Prediction, Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl History
Florida vs UCF: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, What’s Going To Happen
We’ll know within the first two minutes whether or not Florida has this.
It might have been a rough year for the Gators, but will the juice of playing UCF for bragging rights matter? They’ve got the talent, the system, and the ability to crank up an easy win, but focus hasn’t exactly been a strong suit for the 2021 team.
UCF will certainly bring the fire, and it’ll stay in the game with takeaways, but the Gator defense will clamp down when it has to.
It won’t be scintillating. Florida will run, and run, and run. It’ll try controlling the clock and the game throughout, and then will run some more.
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: Florida vs UCF Prediction, Lines
Florida 34, UCF 20
Line: Florida -6, o/u: 55.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
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Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl History
2020 Canceled
Dec. 23, 2019 UCF 48, Marshall 25
Dec. 20, 2018 Marshall 38, USF 20
Dec. 21, 2017 Temple 28, FIU 3
St. Petersburg Bowl
Dec. 26, 2016 Mississippi State 17, Miami Univ. 16
Dec. 26, 2015 Marshall 16 Connecticut 10
Dec. 26, 2014 N.C. State 34 UCF 27
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl
Dec. 23, 2013 East Carolina 37 Ohio 20
Dec. 20, 2012 UCF 38 Ball State 17
Dec. 20, 2011 Marshall 20 FIU 10
Dec. 21, 2010 Louisville 31 Southern Miss 28
St. Petersburg Bowl
Dec. 19, 2009 Rutgers 45 UCF 24
Dec. 20, 2008 USF 41 Memphis 14
Florida vs UCF Preview
Why Florida, UCF Will Win
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Top Players To Know
