Florida and UCF will meet in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl on Thursday, December 23 at 7 p.m. Eastern, the bowl announced Sunday.
The pairing had been floated by many — yours truly included — as a logical matchup of one of the Sunshine State’s oft-grouped “Big Three” programs from Power Five conferences as one of the state’s four FBS schools outside them. And even if it’s only likely to be partially as satisfying as the eventual series between the schools, it’s certainly a fresher matchup for Florida than another game against a mid-tier Big Ten team, though it will be the Gators’ sixth trip to Tampa for a bowl game since their first Outback Bowl appearance in 2002.