Look, the American Athletic Conference is a pretty new league. Apart from perhaps UCF-USF, there really aren't any matchups with any sort of historical significance to them. And hey, those kind of matchups are what college football is all about, right? So it would definitely be cool if a couple of teams developed some kind of...
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
wait what nooooooooooo UConn that's not how rivalries work
There are a lot of confusing aspects to this, namely the fact that UConn and UCF have no sort of history whatsoever. They've played twice, with the Knights trouncing the Huskies 62-17 in 2013 and UConn pulling a 37-29 upset in 2014. They're also not connected by any sort of geographic ties, and likely never would have played each other ever if not for conference realignment making for some really odd bedfellows. Also, the Civil Conflict sounds like in-laws bickering at a family barbecue.
To be fair, UConn head coach Bob Diaco did mention that he'd like to start some sort of trophy series with the Knights after the Huskies' win last season. It's nice to see Diaco is rewarding his team's one conference win accordingly.
UPDATE: UCF apparently had no idea about any of this. We're getting suspicious, Bob Diaco.
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