Grayson Weir
Videos by OutKick
UCF, the University of Central Florida, does not want to be called Central Florida. The Big 12 doesn’t seem to care.
Over the past decade or so, as the Knights (formerly the Golden Knights) have gained national relevance in athletics, they have made a strong push to solidify its name. The school was often referred to as Central Florida.
Take the 2014 Fiesta Bowl for example.
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That didn’t fly. The school wants to be UCF, not Central Florida.
It was super passive aggressive about it ahead of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in 2012. The Knights are of UCF, not of Central Florida.
For the most part — especially after “winning a college football national title” in 2017 — their demands have been met. They are better known today as UCF than Central Florida. Nobody calls the University of Central Florida “Central Florida” anymore.
However, on Wednesday, that was not the case.
UCF was classified as Central Florida.
As the Big 12 prepares for Texas and Oklahoma to leave for the SEC next year, it added four teams to its roster. UCF is among them, along with BYU, Houston and Cincinnati.
Big 12 Media Days are taking place in the Lone Star State this week, which led to a historic photo of Knightro and Hook ‘Em, the mascots for the Knights and Longhorns.
It also led to the Big 12 indirectly insulting one of its newest members by referring to it as its lesser preferred moniker. The conference lined up all of the schools’ helmets by alphabetical order.
UCF’s helmet was third in line behind BYU and ahead of Cincinnati.
The order went: Baylor, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia.
One of those names looks out of place— the Knights. The Big 12 alphabetized UCF as Central Florida, not UCF.
In the words of Stephanie Tanner…
