Florida paid how much to potentially get beat by UCF?

The UCF Knights have always been considered the little brothers to Florida, Florida State and Miami — especially in college football.

But this year, UCF (3-1) sits only behind the Hurricanes (5-0) in the state standings and now they get a head-to-head opportunity against the Gators (1-3) on Saturday.

The Knights are 2.5-point favorites going into Gainesville, according to ESPN Bet, and regardless of the result, they'll head home with a decent chunk of cash in their pockets.

Florida paid UCF $800,000 to play this game as part of a scheduling agreement. So, if the Gators lose, it'll be even more insult to injury that they get embarrassed by their little sibling at home.

This is a rare, lucrative opportunity for UCF

These two teams have only played three times prior, with UCF winning the most recent bout 29-17 in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl. Florida, in its heyday, gave the Knights a beating in the first two meetings by a combined score of 100-27 in 2006 and 1999.

This 2024 season is certainly not Florida's golden age anymore, the team hasn't sported a winning record since 2020.

The Gators last played Florida State and Miami in the same season back in 2019, with athletic director Scott Stricklin telling On3Sports' Jesse Simonton in May that the 2024 schedule (which features them both again) was designed with the expanded College Football Playoff in mind (we all know how that's gone).

UCF being on that gauntlet of a schedule, however? Stricklin seemed a little nervous about that matchup.

"They weren’t in the Big 12 when we made the schedule, so that’s one we might’ve handled differently," he said.

Well, they didn't and now they've got to pay up and show out in order to avoid a schedule blemish arguably more noticeable than their horrid record.