UCF and USF are still stuck at the same familiar roadblock: the War on I-4 isn’t coming back anytime soon.
The latest round of scheduling talks has gone nowhere, with UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir again making it clear the Knights are not interested in a home-and-home against a Group of Six opponent like the Bulls. USF athletic director Rob Higgins, for his part, has no interest in agreeing to a one-off trip to Orlando.
Mohajir said the issue is purely about how UCF builds its schedule and makes its money.
“This has nothing to do with us snubbing our nose at another team in the state,” Mohajir told McMurphy. “It all has to do with our financial model. It has to work financially.”
His approach has been consistent: UCF wants a non-conference slate built around an FCS opponent, a Group of Six game and a Power Four opponent to go along with the Big 12’s nine-game conference schedule. That setup, Mohajir said, helps the Knights lock in seven home games and preserve the nearly $5 million the athletic department brings in from each game at Accisure Bounce House Stadium.
That model also means UCF isn’t planning to travel for non-power, non-conference games.
“Playing one game at UCF and not playing a home/home with USF has nothing to do with USF,” Mohajir told McMurphy. “We wouldn’t play in Boca Raton (Florida Atlantic), Miami (FIU), Statesboro (Georgia Southern), Memphis or Tulsa either.”
Higgins has been pushing to bring the series back since taking over as USF’s AD last November after Michael Kelly’s departure. With the Bulls set to open their new football stadium in 2027, hosting UCF would be a natural fit.
But the talks seem to have moved backward, not forward.
On3 reported that Mohajir offered USF a game in Orlando in 2031, and the Bulls turned it down. Higgins then countered with a home-and-home beginning as early as 2031, and Mohajir declined that as well. Higgins also floated a four-game setup that would start with a home-and-home before shifting to neutral-site games at Camping World Stadium in Orlando and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
For now, the series that began in 2005 remains on hold, and UCF has the upper hand on the field too, having won six straight.
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