UConn coach says he doesn't need UCF's consent for rivalry

— -- HARTFORD, Conn. -- UConn football coach Bob Diaco says he doesn't need UCF's permission to create a rivalry game with the Knights.

UConn last week posted a picture of a trophy Diaco had commissioned for the annual game between the American Athletic Conference schools, which he has dubbed "The Civil Conflict." Above the trophy was a countdown clock marking the amount of time until the Oct. 10 game in Orlando.

"Why do I have to call their athletic department to say that we've got them targeted as our rival, period. What control over that would they have? What do I care what they think? If they don't want to be a part of the trophy, I don't care about that either," Diaco said Monday, according to the New Haven Register.

The post created a social media stir last week, especially after UCF coach George O'Leary said knew nothing about any rivalry game with UConn.

"I didn't know anything about that," O'Leary said last week, according to UCFSports.com. "I was asked about it [by our staff]. I didn't know anything about a trophy, a time thing or anything else. My experience is you're more likely to have a rivalry against a team closer to where you live. When I was at [Georgia] Tech it was Georgia. I think it's UCF-USF here. When you go 10 states away, I think it's hard. North and South thing or whatever, I don't know."

Diaco said Monday that UConn considers UCF its football rival, whether that feeling is reciprocal or not.

"Whether [Central Florida] honors it, we will honor it, we don't have control over that so who cares. They don't get to say whether they are our rival or not. We might not be their rival but they don't get to say whether they are our rival, that is for us to decide," he said, according to the New Haven Register.

UConn beat UCF 37-29 at Rentschler Field last season, the Huskies' only win over a Division I opponent, and the Knights' lone conference loss.

"We got here and Central Florida is the best team in the league and I think they are the best coached team in the league. I have ultimate respect for Coach O'Leary, what he does and how he runs his program. They run a class program there so what better team for us to target," Diaco said, according to the newspaper.

"In our locker room they get a little extra work and they are going to get a little extra work. They are a target for us, it is a big game for us and they are going to get an extra heartbeat from us, whether they want to give it back to us or not that is on them."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.