Be proud, UCF — Gators trying to big-time you

You’ve got it all wrong, UCF. Don’t be mad; be glad. Just consider this a rite of passage.

You should be honored the Florida Gators are trying to bigtime you.

It means you’ve arrived as a football program.

For decades, the high-andmighty Gators have been using their stature as Florida’s oldest, richest public university to try to stunt the growth of other emerging football programs in the state.

Let’s not forget, it took immense pressure from the governor and state legislature to get the Gators to even schedule a series with Florida State back in 1958 — a full decade after FSU started playing football. Even then, the Gators demanded that all of the games be played in Gainesville, which they were for the first six years of the series.

Good grief, why is UCF so upset with a potential 2-for-1 series with the Gators? For crying out loud, UF’s original offer to the Seminoles was 6-for-1.

And let’s also remember, the Gators dropped Miami from their annual schedule after 1987 when the SEC expanded its conference schedule from six to seven games. The Gators were naturally accused of being chickens when they eliminated the emerging powerhouse ’Canes from their schedule, but, really, they were being more greedy than cowardly. With the SEC schedule expanding, UF simply