Central Florida beat UConn 24-16 on Saturday to seize the Civil ConFLiCT trophy.
The thing is, the Knights do not care one bit about the Civil ConFLiCT trophy, and they made that quite clear after the game.
First some backstory: This “rivalry” game—note the FL for Florida and CT for Connecticut—was born last summer when UConn coach Bob Diaco decided his team needed a rival and created one out of thin air.
First day back on campus for #UConnFootball! And just 130 days until the next Civil Conflict with @UCF_Football ! pic.twitter.com/RgOkXiob0T
— UConn Football (@UConnFootball) June 1, 2015
Central Florida has consistently not cared about this rivalry or the accompanying trophy:
Just checked w/ @UCF_Football: "We have no involvement with the trophy or creating a rivalry game with UConn." They were surprised by tweet.
— Brandon Helwig (@UCFSports) June 1, 2015
I think Regina George said it best pic.twitter.com/OTxNCVo9Mg
— Knightro (@UCF_Knightro) October 10, 2015
Fast-forward to Saturday, when Central Florida came back from down 13-0 to beat UConn for the first time since 2013. The win entitled the Knights to the Civil ConFLiCT trophy and, well, they politely declined.
UCF players and coaches leaving the field without the Civil ConFLiCT trophy.
— Neill Ostrout (@NeillOstrout) October 22, 2016
UConn staffer just picked up the trophy, looked around for advice on what to do with it, and placed in on the UConn bench.
— Neill Ostrout (@NeillOstrout) October 22, 2016
Same UConn staffer just shrouded the trophy with a towel
— Neill Ostrout (@NeillOstrout) October 22, 2016
Surely at the postgame press conference the Central Florida coach and/or players would talk about what it meant to win this made-up rivalry game. Nope.
No one really addressed the trophy. RIP to the Conflict.
— osknights (@osknights) October 22, 2016
You had a good run, Civil ConFLiCT, but it might be time for UConn to give this one up.
