War on I-4 participant University of South Florida
The War on I-4 is a college rivalry between the University of Central Florida Knights and University of South Florida Bulls. The rivalry is best known for its college football matchup which originated in a series of football games played from 2005 to 2008 and now takes place on Thanksgiving weekend, the de facto "rivalry weekend" for FBS football. In 2013, when UCF joined the American Athletic Conference, the schools began competing annually in all sports. In 2016, the schools officially adopted the "War on I-4" as an official competition series. Each year, the team with the most wins across all sports receives a gold trophy styled after an Interstate 4 (I-4) road sign with the logos of each school. The winner of the annual football game also receives a similar trophy.
As of April 24, 2023, South Florida holds the all-time series lead for seven of the ten sports in which the schools meet head-to-head: baseball (84–81), men's basketball (27–19), women's basketball (32–17), men's soccer (29–9–4), men's tennis (36–13), women's tennis (20–11) and volleyball (49–45); but UCF disputes the all time records in baseball, women's basketball, men's soccer, and volleyball, claiming the Bulls' records in these sports are 81–80, 29–14, 28–9–4, and 47–44, respectively. The only sports where UCF leads the all time head-to-head series are women's soccer (12–6–4), softball (23–19), and football (8–6). UCF leads the all time trophy series 6–0. The Knights have also lead overall since both schools joined the American Athletic Conference with a 123–81–4 record in conference games against the Bulls across all sports, whereas the all-time total across all sports is 307–237–8 in favor of the Bulls. The Knights lead 11–10–2 all time in conference tournament matches and the teams are tied 4–4–1 in conference championship games (though USF has actually won five conference championships head-to-head against the Knights; the tie denotes that their 2017 women's soccer title was won on penalty kicks). The Bulls are 6–4 against UCF in NCAA tournament games, making the overall postseason total 16–15–2 in favor of the Bulls.Women's Basketball
USF and UCF claim two different women's basketball records, due to when they declare the first meeting occurred. According to USF, they lead the women's basketball series 32–17, with the first meeting occurring on January 20, 1973, with a 41–30 Bulls win in Tampa. According to UCF, the first meeting occurred on January 12, 1978, with USF winning 81–70 in Tampa, resulting in a 29–14 USF lead in the series. South Florida has won two of the three times the schools met in the American Athletic Conference tournament (the 2018 semifinal and the 2021 championship game, with UCF winning in the 2022 championship game). The Bulls hold a 12–8 lead in conference play. In 2021, the Bulls and Knights were in first and second place in the conference respectively going into the final two games of the regular season, both of which were War on I-4 matchups. UCF needed to win both games to clinch the title, while USF only needed to win one. The Bulls beat the Knights in Tampa in the first game to win the conference championship. The Bulls beat the Knights again nine days later in the AAC Tournament championship game. They met again in the championship game the following season, where the Knights came away victorious. The Bulls also won the 2023 regular season AAC title in a win at UCF on February 15.