Rivalries are, in a way, like friendships. Both take two to tango. And, like a friendship, calling yourself a rival of someone or something puts you on equal footing with that person or thing. For instance, I could call myself a friend of our own John Taylor, but Taylor could never call himself my friend considering he’s never acknowledged my existence. I could call him my rival but, again, the whole acknowledging-my-existence thing prevents us from having the true rivalry I so desperately crave.
On that note, Connecticut on Tuesday declared a rivalry with Central Florida. They’re calling it the “Civil Conflict.”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
Let’s now cut to Orlando, where the Knights stand with question marks above their heads.
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
The schools have played twice: a 62-17 UCF win in 2013 and a 37-29 UConn upset last October. It was after that Huskies win, the program’s only AAC win last season, that head coach Bob Diaco for what would later become college football’s sparest rivalry.
“Maybe I’ll, with my money, make a trophy,” Diaco said last November, as uncovered by Matt Brown of SportsonEarth. “I’ll buy it myself. I’ll put a big, giant Husky and another big, giant Knight on it. Make a stand. Put it out in the hallway.”