The Cornflict: The Big 12’s Newest Rivalry
There are many things I love about college football and one of them is its rivalries. I enjoy seeing the pure hatred between two fan bases that fight for bragging rights for an entire year. It can divide an entire state or in some cases, families on one Saturday in the fall.
While there are plenty of great rivalries across college football, sometimes new ones are created from something that happened in the past or in the present. That appears to be the case in the Big 12 between Iowa State and UCF.
Even though UCF is one of the four new schools in the Big 12, it didn’t take long for them to set their sights on a new rival. Thanks to the power of Twitter, a new rivalry was born despite these two campuses being over 1,300 miles away from one another.
What started it exactly? I think I found the answer to that question right here.
Little did we know that that one tweet started a chain reaction. Not only did Larry call out UCF but Houston as well. For whatever reason, the Houston fan base didn’t seem to react to it but UCF’s fan base had PLENTY to say about it.
Meet the UCF Twitter Mafia. It’s a big group of passionate UCF fans showing their support for the school they love. Do they talk trash? Absolutely. And why shouldn’t they? Doesn’t everyone talk a little smack on social media when it comes to college football? I know I sure do.
Over the next few days after Larry’s tweet, both fan bases butted heads on Twitter. Most days I would hop on Twitter and would see endless tweets taking shots at one another. All that drama would then lead to this.
For those who aren’t familiar with the trophy, it was meant to be for the UCF/UConn rivalry which was called the Civil Conflict. It started back in 2013 when UCF and UConn played for the first time. However, a trophy wasn’t made until 2015 when then UConn head coach Bob Diaco made it and announced it on Twitter.
While UConn acknowledged the trophy, UCF did not. After beating UConn in 2016, UCF decided not even bother with it. After the 2016 season, Bob Diaco was fired by UConn, and it appears that the trophy left as well. Where that trophy is today remains to be unknown however, as you can see UCF wasn’t afraid to acknowledge it this time and even changed the name to the Cornflict.
This trophy is exactly the type of thing the Big 12 should be promoting. The conference shouldn’t want to be and act like other conferences. They should want to be different and stand out in their own unique way. So far, we are seeing that from commissioner Brett Yormark. From the conference championship game to new sponsors, the Big 12 is trying to think outside the box and keep up with the times. I mean why not try and create new rivalries?
The fact that this idea came from UCF, is hilarious. Although it is likely a joke, I truly do hope they make this a real thing. My only complaint is that Iowa State and UCF won’t play each other this season. I don’t know about you, but I would love for the Big 12 to make sure that Iowa State plays UCF in 2024 to settle this Cornflict. Who knows, it may end up being the start of a long rivalry between these two.
